Louisiana's 3rd congressional district

Louisiana's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The district covers the southwestern and south central portion of the state, ranging from the Texas border to the Atchafalaya River.

"LA-3" redirects here. For the state highway, see Louisiana Highway 3.

Louisiana's 3rd congressional district
Louisiana's 3rd congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
Representative	Clay Higgins R–Port Barre
Distribution	73.4% urban[1] 26.6% rural
Population (2016)	785,686[2]
Median income	$47,741[2]
Ethnicity	70.08% white 25.1% black 3.49% Hispanic 1.37% Asian 0.33% Native American
Cook PVI	R+20[3]

The district is currently represented by Republican Clay Higgins, a former sheriff's deputy from Point Barre known for his controversial Crime Stoppers videos. He won the December 10th runoff against public service commissioner Scott Angelle to replace Charles Boustany.[4]

History

Louisiana gained its 2nd and 3rd congressional districts in 1823 as part of the 18th United States Congress. Since at least the 1870s, the district has been strongly influenced by southern Louisiana's Acadian culture.

Although the 3rd congressional district had been Democratic through much of its history, it is the sole district in Louisiana to have been represented by three parties during the 20th century, in that Whitmell P. Martin represented the district as a "Bull Moose" Progressive from 1915 to 1919, when he switched to the Democratic Party. Since the turn of the 20th century, it had dominated Louisiana as a one-party state after the legislature passed a new constitution that effectively disenfranchised African Americans through the 1960s. Martin remained in office as a Democrat until his death in 1929.

The district became more competitive for the Republicans later in the 20th century, when conservative whites shifted into the Republican Party after passage of civil rights legislation by Congress. In 1966, Hall Lyons of Lafayette, polled 40 percent of the vote as a Republican candidate against veteran Democratic incumbent Edwin E. Willis. In 1972, the district elected David C. Treen as the first Republican U.S. representative from Louisiana since 1891.

The state legislature redistricted in the 1980s, pushing the district out of the fast-growing suburbs of Metairie and the city of Kenner, to help keep the seat in the hands of Treen's Democratic successor, Billy Tauzin. Tauzin eventually switched to the Republican Party in 1995, making the 3rd congressional district unique in 20th-century Louisiana politics as the sole district to have two representatives who switched parties (Martin, who switched from the Progressives to the Democrats in 1918, and Tauzin, who switched from the Democrats to the Republicans in 1995). As a Republican, Tauzin continued to serve until retiring from Congress in 2005. Democrat Charlie Melançon won the seat in 2004 (seated in 2005), was reelected in 2006, and was unopposed in 2008.

For most of the time from 1823 to 2013, the district contained large portions of southeastern and south central Louisiana, including the River Parishes and East Acadiana, In its final configuration, it included many exurban and rural areas near New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette. It contained the cities of Chalmette, Gonzales, Houma, Thibodaux, Morgan City, and New Iberia.

However, when Louisiana lost a district after the 2010 census, the old 3rd was dismantled. The new 3rd included most of southwestern Louisiana, including Lafayette and Lake Charles. Most of this territory had been the 7th district before the 2010 census. The old 3rd's last congressman, freshman Republican Jeff Landry, had his home in New Iberia, along with much of the western portion of his district, drawn into the new 3rd. He opted to challenge the 7th district's four-term incumbent, fellow Republican Charles Boustany, in the GOP primary. However, Landry could not overcome the fact that he was running in a district in which more than 60 percent of his constituents were new to him. He lost to Boustany in the primary, ending his brief congressional career. The new 3rd, like both the old 3rd and 7th, has a rich Cajun culture.

Recent presidential elections

Election results from presidential races
Year	Office	Results
2000	President	Bush 52 - 45%
2004	President	Bush 58 - 41%
2008	President	McCain 61 - 37%
2012	President	Romney 66 - 32%
2016	President	Trump 67 - 29%

List of members representing the district

Member	Residence	Party	Years	Cong ress	Electoral history	District location
District created			March 4, 1823
William Leigh Brent	Saint Martinville, St. Martin Parish	Adams-Clay Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825	18th 19th 20th	Elected in 1822. Re-elected in 1824. Re-elected in 1826. Retired.	1823–1833 Avoyelles, Catahoula, Concordia, Natchitoches, Ouachita, Rapides, Saint Landry, Saint Martin, and Saint Mary parishes[5]
		Anti-Jacksonian	March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1829
Walter Hampden Overton	Rapides Parish	Jacksonian	March 4, 1829 – March 3, 1831	21st	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Henry Adams Bullard	Natchitoches Parish	Anti-Jacksonian	March 4, 1831 – January 4, 1834	22nd 23rd	[data unknown/missing] Resigned to become judge of Supreme Court of Louisiana.
						1833–1843 [data unknown/missing]
Vacant			January 4, 1834 – April 28, 1834	23rd
Rice Garland	Opelousas, St. Landry Parish	Anti-Jacksonian	April 28, 1834 – March 3, 1837	23rd 24th 25th 26th	Elected to finish Bullard's term. Resigned to become judge of Supreme Court of Louisiana.
		Whig	March 4, 1837 – July 21, 1840
Vacant			July 21, 1840 – December 17, 1840	26th
John Moore	Franklin, St. Mary Parish	Whig	December 17, 1840 – March 3, 1843	26th 27th	Elected to finish Moore's term. Lost re-election.
John Bennett Dawson	St. Francisville, West Feliciana Parish	Democratic	March 4, 1843 – June 26, 1845	28th 29th	Redistricted from the 2nd district. Died.	1843–1853 [data unknown/missing]
John Henry Harmanson	Avoyelles Parish	Democratic	????, 1845 – October 24, 1850	29th 30th 31st	[data unknown/missing] Died.
Vacant			October 24, 1850 – December 30, 1850	31st
Alexander Gordon Penn	St. Tammany Parish	Democratic	December 30, 1850 – March 3, 1853	31st 32nd	[data unknown/missing]
John Perkins Jr.	Madison Parish	Democratic	March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855	33rd	[data unknown/missing]	1853–1863 [data unknown/missing]
Thomas Green Davidson	Springfield, Livingston Parish	Democratic	March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1861	34th 35th 36th
Vacant			March 3, 1861 – July 18, 1868	36th 37th 38th 39th 40th	Civil War and Reconstruction era
Joseph Parkinson Newsham	Saint Francisville, West Feliciana Parish	Republican	July 18, 1868 – March 3, 1869	40th	[data unknown/missing]
Chester Bidwell Darrall	Morgan City, St. Mary Parish	Republican	March 4, 1869 – February 20, 1878	41st 42nd 43rd 44th 45th	[data unknown/missing] Lost election contest.
Joseph H. Acklen	St. Mary Parish	Democratic	February 20, 1878 – March 3, 1881	45th 46th	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Chester Bidwell Darrall	Morgan City, St. Mary Parish	Republican	March 4, 1881 – March 3, 1883	47th	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
William Pitt Kellogg	New Orleans	Republican	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1885	48th	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
Edward James Gay	New Orleans	Democratic	March 4, 1885 – May 30, 1889	49th 50th 51st	[data unknown/missing] Died.
Vacant			May 30, 1889 – December 2, 1889	51st
Andrew Price	Franklin, St. Mary Parish	Democratic	December 2, 1889 – March 3, 1897		51st 52nd 53rd 54th	Elected to finish Gay's term. [data unknown/missing]
Robert Foligny Broussard	New Iberia, Iberia Parish	Democratic	March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1915	55th 56th 57th 58th 59th 60th 61st 62nd 63rd	[data unknown/missing] Retired to run for U.S. Senator.
Whitmell P. Martin	Thibodaux, Lafourche Parish	Progressive	March 4, 1915 – March 3, 1919	64th 65th 66th 67th 68th 69th 70th 71st	[data unknown/missing] Died.
		Democratic	March 4, 1919 – April 6, 1929
Numa Francois Montet	Thibodaux, Lafourche Parish	Democratic	August 6, 1929 – January 3, 1937	71st 72nd 73rd 74th	[data unknown/missing] Lost renomination.
Robert L. Mouton	Lafayette	Democratic	January 3, 1937 – January 3, 1941	75th 76th	[data unknown/missing] Lost renomination.
James Domengeaux	Lafayette	Democratic	January 3, 1941 – April 15, 1944	77th 78th	[data unknown/missing] Resigned to join the Armed Forces
Vacant			April 15, 1944 – November 7, 1944	78th
James Domengeaux	Lafayette	Democratic	November 7, 1944 – January 3, 1949	78th 79th 80th	Elected to finish his own term. Retired to run for U.S. Senator
Edwin E. Willis	Arnaudville, St. Landry Parish	Democratic	January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1969	81st 82nd 83rd 84th 85th 86th 87th 88th 89th 90th	[data unknown/missing] Lost renomination.
Patrick T. Caffery	New Iberia, Iberia Parish	Democratic	January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1973	91st 92nd	[data unknown/missing] Retired.
Dave Treen	Metairie, Jefferson Parish	Republican	January 3, 1973 – March 10, 1980	93rd 94th 95th 96th	[data unknown/missing] Resigned to become Governor of Louisiana.
Vacant			March 10, 1980 – May 22, 1980	96th
Billy Tauzin	Chackbay, Lafourche Parish	Democratic	May 22, 1980 – August 8, 1995	96th 97th 98th 99th 100th 101st 102nd 103rd 104th 105th 106th 107th 108th	Elected to finish Treen's term. Retired.
		Republican	August 8, 1995 – January 3, 2005
						2003–2013
Charlie Melançon	Napoleonville, Assumption Parish	Democratic	January 3, 2005 – January 3, 2011	109th 110th 111th	[data unknown/missing] Retired to run for U.S. Senator.
Jeff Landry	New Iberia, Iberia Parish	Republican	January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2013	112th	[data unknown/missing] Lost re-election.
Charles Boustany	Lafayette	Republican	January 3, 2013 – January 3, 2017	113th 114th	Redistricted from the 7th district. Retired to run for U.S. Senator.	2013–present
Clay Higgins	Port Barre, St. Landry Parish	Republican	January 3, 2017 – present	115th 116th	Elected in 2016. Re-elected in 2018.

Recent Election Results

2002

Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District Election (2002)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Billy Tauzin*	130,323	86.68
	Libertarian	William Beier	12,964	8.62
	Independent	David Iwancio	7,055	4.69
Total votes			150,342	100.00
Turnout				44.2
	Republican hold

2004

Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District Runoff Election (December 4, 2004)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Charlie Melançon	57,611	50.25
	Republican	Billy Tauzin III	57,042	49.75
Total votes			114,653	100.00
Turnout				27.8
	Democratic gain from Republican

2006

Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District Election (2006)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Charlie Melançon*	75,023	55.03
	Republican	Craig F. Romero	54,950	40.31
	Democratic	Olangee Breech	4,190	3.07
	Libertarian	James Lee Blake, Jr.	2,168	1.59
Total votes			136,331	100.00
Turnout				34.4
	Democratic hold

2008

Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District Election (2008)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Charlie Melançon*		100.00
Total votes				100.00
Turnout
	Democratic hold

2010

Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District Election (2010)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jeff Landry	108,963	63.77
	Democratic	Ravi Sangisetty	61,914	36.23
Total votes			170,877	100.00
Turnout				44.8
	Republican gain from Democratic

2012

Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District Election (2012)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Charles Boustany	58,820	60.90
	Republican	Jeff Landry	37,764	39.10
Total votes			96,584	100.00
Turnout				19.3
	Republican hold

2014

Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District Election (2014)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Charles Boustany	185,867	79
	Republican	Bryan Barrilleaux	22,059	9
	No Party	Russell Richard	28,342	12
Total votes			236,268	100.00
Turnout				51.1
	Republican hold

2016

Louisiana's 3rd Congressional district election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Clay Higgins	77,671	56.1
	Republican	Scott Angelle	60,762	43.9
Total votes			138,433	100
Turnout				28.1
	Republican hold

See also

• Louisiana's congressional districts
• List of United States congressional districts

References

1. Bureau, US Census. "Geography Program". The United States Census Bureau.
2. Center for New Media & Promotion (CNMP), US Census Bureau. "My Congressional District". www.census.gov.
3. "Partisan Voting Index – Districts of the 115th Congress" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
4. "Republicans Angelle, Higgins Set for Runoff in Louisiana's 3rd District". Rollcall.com. 2016-11-08. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
5. "A New Nation Votes". elections.lib.tufts.edu.

Sources

• Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
• Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
• Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present, bioguide.congress.gov; accessed November 18, 2016.

External links

• Rep. Clay Higgins's official House of Representatives website