Indiana Voters
Choose New Congressman

Voters are deciding Tuesday whether the grandson of the late U.S. representative Julia Carson will replace her in Congress.

Democrat Andre Carson was facing Republican Jon Elrod to represent the district that covers most of Indianapolis for the remainder of the year. If elected, Carson would become the second Muslim in Congress.

Mississippi was also choosing candidates Tuesday to fill two rare open congressional seats. One of those seats became vacant when Republican Roger Wicker was appointed to replace Sen. Trent Lott after his resignation.

In Indiana, District 7 is predominantly Democratic, and Carson had a large fund-raising advantage over Elrod, along with more than $150,000 in spending by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Carson's behalf.

But Carson also faces several obstacles, including expected low voter turnout and potential backlash over complaints of political nepotism.

Elrod has promoted himself as a moderate focused on fiscal reforms, such as eliminating most earmark funding for projects sought by members of Congress. He's also refused to join the other 48 Indiana house Republicans in backing a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages.

Both candidates are young and have little political experience.

Carson, 33, has been a member of Indianapolis city-county council since August. Elrod, 30, is a first-term state representative who won election in 2006 by eight votes over a five-term Democratic incumbent.

Also on the ballot is Libertarian Sean Shepard.

Julia Carson, a Democrat who first won election to Congress in 1996 and died in December, was the first black to represent Indianapolis in Congress -- from a district that is nearly two-thirds white.

Carson, whose grandmother raised him in a Baptist church, converted to Islam more than a decade ago. If elected, he would join Rep. Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat, as the only Muslims in Congress. His religious identity has drawn little attention during the campaign, and Carson says he doesn't believe it hurts him politically.

In Mississippi, Republicans and Democrats were choosing their candidates for two congressional seats.

Mississippi's 3rd District is open for the first time in 12 years after Republican representative Chip Pickering decided not to seek a seventh term. The heavily Republican district stretches from Oktibbeha County in the north to Adams and Wilkinson counties in the southwest.

Nine Republicans and two Democrats are competing for their party nominations.

Democrats say they have a chance to claim north Mississippi's 1st District, which has been vacant since Wicker's appointment last year to the U.S. Senate. The district leans Republican but could be a toss-up this fall.

Four Democrats and three Republicans are vying to become their party's candidates in the general election.

A runoff in the congressional races, if necessary, will be April 1. The general election is November 4. (AP)