Boustany (pronounced boo-STAN-ie) won an open race in 2004, when Christopher "Chris" John, the incumbent Democrat, did not seek re-election in order to run for the U.S. Senate. Boustany, another Republican (the late David Thibodaux of Lafayette) and two Democrats vied for the House seat.
In the primary election, Boustany won 39 percent, with the next highest vote-getter being Democratic State Senator Willie Landry Mount, the former mayor of Lake Charles, who received 25 percent. Under Louisiana's jungle primary system, in the event no candidate wins a "50 percent plus one vote" total, a runoff is conducted between the two top candidates, regardless of party.
In the resulting December 4 runoff election, in which then Vice President Richard B. Cheney campaigned on behalf of Boustany, the Republican prevailed, 55 percent to 45 percent for Willie Mount.
In the Louisiana House elections of 2006, Boustany won with 71 percent of the vote, handily defeating Democrat Mike Stagg despite the national tide that favored Democratic congressional nominees.He was reelected over Don Cravins, Jr., and Peter Vidrine in the United States House of Representatives elections in Louisiana in 2008.
His wife Bridget Edwards Boustany is a niece of former Democratic Governor Edwin Washington Edwards.
Representative Boustany presented the Republican response to President Obama's joint address to congress on Wednesday September 8th, 2009.
Congressional career
Committee assignments
* Committee on Ways and Means
o Subcommittee on Oversight (Ranking Member)
o Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support
Political positions
Boustany's plan for reinvigorating the economy of his district is known as the Prescription for Prosperity.
Personal life
Boustany was born in Lafayette to the former Madlyn M. Ackal and Charles W. Boustany, Sr., M.D. (1930-2009); his paternal grandparents, Alfred Frem Boustany and the former Florida Saloom, were immigrants from Lebanon. The senior Boustany, a Democrat, served for sixteen years as coroner of Lafayette Parish. The senior Boustanys had ten children: Representative Boustany, James Boustany, Jon Boustany, Ron Boustany, Dr. Stella Boustany Noel, Terese Reggie, Kathryn Scurlock, Madlyn Juneau, Adele Weber, and Cheryn Eppley.[4] Rachel Maddow of MSNBC reports he attempted to purchase a "Lordship Title" from British scam artists.[citation needed]
Boustany, Jr., attended the [University of Louisiana at New Orleans], where he was a member of Kappa Alpha Order. He earned his medical degree from Louisiana State University. Boustany is a heart surgeon, who initially practiced in Rochester, New York before taking a job at Charity Hospital in New Orleans.
The 2008 congressional elections in Louisiana occurred November 4, 2008 to determine representation for the state of Louisiana in the United States House of Representatives. Louisiana has seven seats in the House, apportioned according to the 2000 United States Census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected will serve in the 111th Congress from January 4, 2009 until January 3, 2011. The election coincided with the 2008 U.S. presidential election.
The primary elections were to be held September 6, 2008, but were rescheduled for October 3, 2008 due to storm damage following Hurricane Gustav. The necessary party runoffs were held on November 4, the same date as the presidential election, and the general election for those races were held December 6th.
Before the 2008 elections, four seats were held by Republicans, three by Democrats. In the November 4 vote, and the December 6 vote that followed, the seats in Districts 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 were won by Republicans; the one in District 3 was won by a Democrat.
Louisiana's 1st congressional district comprises mostly land on the North Shore and South Shore of Lake Pontchartrain, although it also contains areas west of Lake Pontchartrain. The district includes some or all of the following Louisiana parishes: Washington, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Jefferson, Orleans and St. Charles. It includes the cities of Hammond and Slidell and most of the western suburbs of New Orleans that include Metairie and Kenner, along with a small portion of the city itself.
The seat was most recently held by former Representative and current Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican. The Republicans have held the seat since 1977, when Bob Livingston won a special election after Richard Alvin Tonry, who won the seat in the 1976 general election, was forced to resign the seat and lost the Democratic primary in the special election.
Republican Steve Scalise represents the district. The seat was vacant, since Representative Jindal was sworn in as Governor of Louisiana on January 14, 2008. This triggered a special election on May 3 which Scalise won; he was sworn in on May 7.
District 1
The African-American population percentage is lowest in the 1st District among the U.S. House electoral districts of Louisiana. Prior to 1974 the 1st District was entirely south of Lake Pontchartrain; as a result of the 1970 census and a concern to ensure the 2nd District as majority African-American, in 1974 the 1st District shed precincts south of the Lake and acquired Saint Tammany Parish, which borders Lake Pontchartrain on the north, from the 6th District. Subsequently the 1st District has acquired Tangipahoa Parish and Washington Parish, both north of the Lake, from the 6th District. Correspondingly the 1st District has shed conservative Saint Bernard Parish and other areas south of the Lake to the 3rd District, but overall the 1st has become a very safe district for the Republican Party. The number of registered voters north of the Lake is, as of 2008, slightly higher than south of the Lake; but the 1st District has yet to be represented by a resident from north of Lake Pontchartrain. The reformulation of the 1st District so that it virtually surrounds "the nation's second-largest saltwater lake" has generated a local joke that in the 1st District of Louisiana the voters are outnumbered by the fish.
District 2
The district includes nearly all of New Orleans and some of its suburbs, and is heavily Democratic: John Kerry won 75% of the vote here in 2004. CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'Safe Democrat'. The primary runoff in this district was held on November 4 in place of the general election, with the general election moving to December 6.
Incumbent William Jefferson has been indicted on 16 counts of corruption, complicating his reelection bid. His opponents in the primary were New Orleans city councilman James Carter, former New Orleans city councilman Troy Carter, Jefferson Parish councilman Byron Lee, former TV anchor Helena Moreno, State Representative Cedric Richmond, and former mayoral aide Kenya Smith. No candidate received 50% of the vote or more in the 4 October 2008 primary; so Jefferson and Moreno, the two candidates with the most votes, competed in a runoff on 4 November, which Jefferson won.
Jefferson faced Anh "Joseph" Cao, the sole Republican running, along with Green candidate Malik Rahim, Libertarian candidate Gregory Kahn, and Independent candidate Jerry Jacobs on 6 December 2008. Some 2 hours after the polls closed, CNN declared Cao the winner, defeating Jefferson by a plurality of less than 3 percent. By the next morning Cao's victory was widely acclaimed.
District 3
The 3rd Louisiana Congressional District surrounds the southern tier of the Greater New Orleans area. The district contains large portions of southeast and south central Louisiana, including River Parishes and East Acadiana. It contains the cities of Chalmette, Gonzales, Houma, Thibodaux, Morgan City, and New Iberia.
Louisiana gained its second and third congressional districts in 1823 as part of the 18th United States Congress. Since at least the 1870s, the district has borne heavy influence of south Louisiana's Acadian culture and several of the related parishes.
Although through much of its history the 3rd District has been Democratic, 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 Democrats; 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, in 1972 electing Dave Treen Louisiana's first Republican congressman since Reconstruction.
Redistricting in the 1990s pushed 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 district also unique in 20th-century Louisiana politics as the sole district to have two representatives who switched parties (Martin, who switched from the "Bull Moose" 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 Melancon won the seat in 2004 (seated in 2005), was reelected in 2006, and was unopposed in 2008.
District 4
The election was held on December 6, 2008.
Incumbent Jim McCrery retired, making this an open seat. The district contains northwestern Louisiana, including the cities of Shreveport, DeRidder, and Natchitoches. The district usually, but not reliably, votes Republican. Bill Clinton won it comfortably in 1996. CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'No Clear Favorite'.
The Republican nominee was physician John C. Fleming (campaign website) of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish. Fleming, a former Webster Parish coroner and a businessman defeated trucking company executive Chris Gorman in the Republican runoff primary held on November 4.
The Democratic candidate was Caddo Parish District Attorney Paul Carmouche (born June 23, 1943) (campaign website), who defeated African American attorney Willie Banks, Jr., in his party runoff on November 4. Republican candidate Jeff Thompson, despite being endorsed by Jim McCrery, was defeated in the first Republican primary, as were Democratic candidates Artis Cash and John Milkovich. Patti Cox, local party organizer and environmental consultant and a 2006 candidate against McCrery, did not enter the 2008 race.
With all 640 precincts reporting from the general election held on December 6, 2008, the office of Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne posted 44,501 votes (48.07 percent) for Fleming to 44,151 (47.69 percent for the Democratic nominee Paul J. Carmouche (born 1943) of Shreveport, the retiring 30-year district attorney of Caddo Parish. Two conservative independents held the remaining votes, Chester T. "Catfish" Kelley, a restaurant owner from Shreveport, polled 3,245 votes (3.51 percent), and Gerard J. Bowen, Jr., of Bossier City received 675 votes (0.73 percent).
