Democrat Troy Carter wins Louisiana special election runoff for U.S. House seat

April 25 (UPI) -- Democratic state Sen. Troy Carter won the special election runoff in Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District, defeating fellow Democratic state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson on Saturday night.

Carter captured 55% of the votes, 48,511 to 39,295, with all precincts in the district that serves serves nearly all of New Orleans, stretching west and north to Baton Rouge. Democrat Cedric Richmond resigned in January to join the administration of President Joe Biden.

In an earlier election in March, no candidate received more than 50% of the votes. Carter received 34,402 votes, or 36% compared with Peterson 21,673 votes, or 23% followed by Democrat Gary Chambers Jr. with 20,163, or 21%.

"This was a hard fought race, and now it is time to come together," Carter posted on Twitter on Sunday. "The hard part starts now. We have so much work to do together. We celebrated upon victory. Today, we get back to work! "

Carter, 48, is the state Senate minority leader who received Richmond's endorsement before he resigned from Congress. Peterson, 52, joined the state Senate in 2010 and has also served as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee after serving in the Louisiana House.

Louisiana's other five representatives and two senators are all Republicans.

The Democrats currently hold a 218-212 edge the U.S. House with five vacancies, including the Louisiana seat. The four other open seats were held by three Democrats and one Republican.