Cao: Why I Lost
Congressman Joseph Cao was one of only two incumbent Republicans defeated on election night. He sat down with FF to discuss his defeat and his future plans.
GOP Congressman Joseph Cao was one of only two incumbent Republicans defeated on election night. In an interview with FrumForum, Cao who represents Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District, which covers much of New Orleans, discussed the difficulties he faced running against a candidate personally endorsed by Obama, the damage done by the Family Research Council attack ad released in the last days of his campaign and his future political plans.
The soft-spoken Cao, who is the first Vietnamese-American ever elected to Congress, says that the reason he lost on November 2nd was that, despite his personal friendship with Barack Obama, the President had done everything he could to win the seat back for the Democrats. “I was running against the President of the United States, and not against Cedric Richmond. This was a seat that the President wanted back, and he did everything he could to get it back,” said Cao.
During the campaign, President Obama did a commercial for Cedric Richmond, and took part in a conference call with community groups to encourage them to get out the vote. “It was an obstacle too high for me to overcome,” admitted Representative Cao.
“I’m not going to hide that I was disappointed that the President supported my opponent, given the fact that I tried to reach out to him over the last two years. I was possibly the lone Republican who tried to reach out and work with him… But hey, that’s part of life,” he said.
Cao’s defeat means that the Republican conference will be losing the member who was closest to the White House, and that both parties will continue to be pushed further and further away from compromise.
“I hope that we can still come together as leaders,” said Cao. But asked whether that is likely to happen, he said, “No… given the environment, the wave of anger that was shown in the last election, many people here on the Hill are fearful. And they are fearful of making decisions that will ignite that anger again.”
In the waning days of his campaign, the Family Research Council had bought airtime on a local radio station to attack the Republican congressman. “Who is Rep. Joseph Cao representing in Washington?” the FRC ad had asked. “Cao has repeatedly voted for extra protections for homosexuals at the cost of religious liberty. Cao voted to use the military to advance the radical social agendas of homosexual activists and he voted for a so-called hate crimes bill that places your personal liberties at jeopardy.”
Looking back on it, Cao says he didn’t think the ad made the difference in his election, but expressed surprise as to why the interest group would attack him. “I don’t know why they did that. I am strongly pro-life, I strongly adhere to family values. I love my wife, I love my children, and I live my life morally,” said the former Jesuit seminarian, “So I don’t know why the Family Research Council did what they did.”
Cao said that he doesn’t condone gay marriage, but that “society needs to recognize that there are gay people, and that they are similar to heterosexuals… Whether one is gay, or whether one is straight, if you want to serve your country, and you have the ability to do it, then [government] should not obstruct that.”
The congressman has always been the anti-politician: quiet, humble, straightforward. Speaking to FrumForum, he opened up about how he doesn’t like the attention that politicians get. “Do I enjoy being a politician and doing this interview? Probably not, no,” said Cao. “At the end of the day, because it comes with the job, we have to do what we have to do, whether we like it or not – like giving people interviews, or making public appearances, or asking people for money.”
“Often times when you make public appearances, people seem to view me as something that is somehow big or somehow more special than others: that sometimes makes me a little uncomfortable,” continued Cao. “Me being a U.S. congressman, in my view, does not make me any more special than someone who is a chef, or a person who is a teacher. I just happen to hold a position that makes different decisions.”
His discomfort with reporters notwithstanding, Cao seems willing to consider throwing his hat in the ring at least one more time. “The Louisiana Secretary of State’s position is going to be open, which I may or may not run for. And [they are], possibly looking at redistricting, seeing how the districts are going to look,” the congressman told FrumForum.
Cao also expressed curiosity about how he would be treated after he leaves Washington, D.C., telling FrumForum, “that’s what makes me uncomfortable… because people seem to [see] the position, rather than the person. And I wonder how they’ll view me when I’m not a congressman. You understand? I’m still the same person –my role will just be different,” said Cao solemnly.
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