Despite the heavy Democratic tilt of the district, voters froze indicted Rep. William Jefferson out in the cold just like the $90,000 in cash the FBI found in his freezer. The New Orleans congressman, under indictment since 2007 on multiple bribery related charges, was defeated for reelection on Saturday in a run-off race with Republican Ahn “Joseph” Cao in Louisiana. Jefferson, who I’ve been following here at Sunlight since his alleged corruption became apparent back in 2006, previously won reelection under a cloud of corruption allegations in 2006.

The best resource to review the background of Jefferson’s case is his page at Congresspedia.

This makes two defeats for lawmakers under a cloud of corruption. Sen. Ted Stevens was convicted of seven felonies prior to his November 4th defeat. All other lawmakers facing known investigations either retired (Reps. Rick Renzi and John Doolittle) or won reelection.