Joseph Cao

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Joseph Cao

Republican Party

Candidate, Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education District 1

Prior offices:

U.S. House Louisiana District 2

Years in office: 2009 - 2011

Successor: Cedric Richmond (D)

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2022

Next election

May 16, 2026

Education

Bachelor's

Baylor University

Graduate

Fordham University

Joseph Cao (Republican Party) is running in a special election to the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to represent District 1. He declared candidacy for the special Republican primary scheduled on May 16, 2026.^[source]

Cao (Republican Party) was a member of the U.S. House, representing Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District. He assumed office on January 3, 2009. He left office on January 3, 2011.

Biography

Joseph Cao is a native of Vietnam. He earned a B.S. in physics from Baylor University and an M.A. in philosophy from Fordham University in 1995. For several years after he graduated from college, Cao was a member of the Society of Jesus, a Catholic religious order.

Cao taught philosophy and ethics at Loyola University in New Orleans for a year after earning his master's, then worked a year as a parochial school teacher in Virginia. Cao studied law at the Loyola School of Law from 1997 to 2000; after earning his J.D., he became an associate at the Waltzer Law Firm. After leaving Waltzer, he worked as in-house counsel for Boat People SOS, an organization "seeking to aid the social and cultural assimilation for poor immigrants." He opened a private practice, which he continues to operate, in 2002. Cao has also served on the Board of Elections for Orleans Parish, the Republican Parish Executive Committee and the Louisiana State Republican Executive Committee.

Elections

2026

See also: Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education election, 2026

Beginning in the 2026 elections, Louisiana elections for U.S. Congress, the Louisiana Supreme Court, the Public Service Commission, and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education use a closed partisan primary and primary runoff system. Candidates for those offices no longer run in majority-vote system primaries.

General election

The primary will occur on May 16, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

Democratic primary

Special Democratic primary for Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education District 1

Angela Hershey (D) is running in the special Democratic primary for Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education District 1 on May 16, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Angela Hershey

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Republican primary

Special Republican primary for Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education District 1

Joseph Cao (R) and Ellie Schroder (R) are running in the special Republican primary for Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education District 1 on May 16, 2026.

		Candidate
		Joseph Cao
	Submit photo	Ellie Schroder

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

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2022

See also: Louisiana intermediate appellate court elections, 2022

Louisiana elections use the majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Louisiana 4th Circuit Court of Appeal At large

Karen K. Herman won election outright against Joseph Cao and Marie Williams in the primary for Louisiana 4th Circuit Court of Appeal At large on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Karen K. Herman (D)	57.7	72,317
		Joseph Cao (R)	22.0	27,620
		Marie Williams (D)	20.3	25,445

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 125,382
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Paul N. Sens (D)

2016

See also: United States Senate election in Louisiana, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated Louisiana's U.S. Senate race as safely Republican. The seat was open following incumbent David Vitter's decision to retire. A total of 24 candidates filed to run and competed in the primary election on November 8, 2016. John Kennedy (R) and Foster Campbell (D) took the top two spots in the election, advancing to the general election on December 10, 2016. Kennedy subsequently defeated Campbell in the general election.

U.S. Senate, Louisiana General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	John Kennedy	60.7%	536,191
	Democratic	Foster Campbell	39.3%	347,816
Total Votes				884,007
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State

U.S. Senate, Louisiana Primary Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	John Kennedy	25%	482,591
	Democratic	Foster Campbell	17.5%	337,833
	Republican	Charles Boustany	15.4%	298,008
	Democratic	Caroline Fayard	12.5%	240,917
	Republican	John Fleming	10.6%	204,026
	Republican	Rob Maness	4.7%	90,856
	Republican	David Duke	3%	58,606
	Democratic	Derrick Edwards	2.7%	51,774
	Democratic	Gary Landrieu	2.4%	45,587
	Republican	Donald Crawford	1.3%	25,523
	Republican	Joseph Cao	1.1%	21,019
	Independent	Beryl Billiot	1%	19,352
	Libertarian	Thomas Clements	0.6%	11,370
	Independent	Troy Hebert	0.5%	9,503
	Democratic	Josh Pellerin	0.4%	7,395
	Democratic	Peter Williams	0.4%	6,855
	Democratic	Vinny Mendoza	0.3%	4,927
	Independent	Kaitlin Marone	0.2%	4,108
	Libertarian	Le Roy Gillam	0.2%	4,067
	Republican	Charles Marsala	0.2%	3,684
	Independent	Arden Wells	0.1%	1,483
	Independent	Bob Lang	0.1%	1,424
	Independent	Gregory Taylor	0.1%	1,151
Total Votes				1,932,059
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State

2011

See also: Louisiana attorney general election, 2011

Cao announced in April 2011 that he would run for Attorney General of Louisiana, setting up a challenge with one-term Republican incumbent Buddy Caldwell in the October 22 primary. He announced he was pulling out of the race on September 19, 2011, after his campaign struggled to build financial momentum. Cao was also dogged by persistent questions regarding his conservative credentials following his initial support as a congressman for Democratic President Barack Obama's 2009 health care reform bill.

2010

Cao lost his 2010 run for re-election as U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 2nd District, falling to Democrat Cedric Richmond in the general election.

Louisiana, 2nd Congressional District -- 2010 General Election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Democratic Party	a Cedric Richmond	64.59
	Republican Party	Joseph Cao	33.47
Total Votes			129,604

2008

Cao first won election as U.S. representative for Louisiana's 2nd District in 2008, when he narrowly defeated Democrat William J. Jefferson.

Louisiana, 2nd Congressional District -- 2010 General Election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Democratic Party	William J. Jefferson	46.83
	Republican Party	a Joseph Cao	49.54
Total Votes			66,882

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

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2022

Joseph Cao did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Joseph Cao campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2022	Louisiana 4th Circuit Court of Appeal At large	Lost primary	$33,100	$24,361
Grand total			$33,100	$24,361
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

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