The congressman from the 7th District is Charles Boustany, who in 2004 became the first Republican elected from this area since 1884. Of Lebanese ancestry, Boustany (Boo STON nee) grew up in Lafayette, where his father was parish coroner. He is a cousin of Victoria Reggie Kennedy, widow of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. He graduated from the University of Southwestern Louisiana and from Louisiana State University’s medical school. He worked as a cardio-thoracic surgeon and was active in civic and political affairs. Read More

The congressman from the 7th District is Charles Boustany, who in 2004 became the first Republican elected from this area since 1884. Of Lebanese ancestry, Boustany (Boo STON nee) grew up in Lafayette, where his father was parish coroner. He is a cousin of Victoria Reggie Kennedy, widow of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. He graduated from the University of Southwestern Louisiana and from Louisiana State University’s medical school. He worked as a cardio-thoracic surgeon and was active in civic and political affairs.

In 2004, when Democrat Chris John ran for the Senate, Boustany was one of five candidates running to succeed him. The other Republican was David Thibodaux of Lafayette, who had run unsuccessfully for the seat three times. But he raised little money, some party leaders viewed him as too conservative and Boustany quickly became the Republican favorite. The Democratic front-runners were two state senators: Don Cravins, who was seeking to become the first African-American to hold this seat, and state Sen. Willie Mount. Boustany raised plenty of money early and campaigned on his “prescription for prosperity”—expansion of health savings accounts, high-speed Internet access for local small businesses and opposition to the Central American Free Trade Agreement. The National Republican Congressional Committee ran ads attacking Mount’s support for higher taxes in the legislature, presumably because it saw Cravins as a weaker candidate in a runoff. Boustany led the November primary with 39% of the vote, to 25.2% for Mount, 24.6% for Cravins, and 10% for Thibodaux. In the December runoff, Cravins refused to endorse Mount, still angry over the state Democratic Party’s “unity ballot” sent to black voters, which included Mount’s name and not his. Cravins’ neutrality hurt Mount in the Lafayette area. She pointed to her legislative experience, while Boustany emphasized his “values” agenda. Boustany won 55%-45%. Mount won 60% in Lake Charles’s Calcasieu Parish, which cast 32% of the vote. But Boustany trumped that with 70% in Lafayette Parish, which cast 30% of the vote.

In the House, Boustany’s voting record has been relatively moderate for a Southern Republican, though he sticks with his party on major legislation. On the Education and the Workforce Committee, he was an active proponent of legislation to permit small businesses to join together in associations to pay less for health insurance. He also sought increased federal support for computerizing health records, which he said remain “trapped in the 20th century.” His local priorities included more federal funding to restore Louisiana’s eroding coastline and to complete Interstate 49 from Shreveport to Lafayette. After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, he enacted initiatives to provide special rules for disaster relief employment for individuals displaced by the storms and to assist the disabled. He pledged that southwest Louisiana would not be “a stepchild” to New Orleans in hurricane recovery. He pushed for expedited assistance payments from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and criticized the slow cleanup of debris in Cameron Parish.

In recent years, Boustany developed a close relationship with Republican Leader John Boehner, which proved helpful to him in early 2009, when he secured a seat on the powerful tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. As that panel’s only physician in the 111th Congress (2009-10), he took on a prominent role during the health care debate. With his soft-spoken yet authoritative manner, he became a popular television news guest. He was tapped to give the Republican response to President Obama’s September 2009 address to Congress on health care, and used the opportunity to talk up GOP ideas such as allowing people to cross state lines to buy insurance. He had initially expressed hope that any overhaul could be bipartisan, and persuaded Boehner and other leaders to let him work with Ways and Means colleague Xavier Becerra, D-Calif. He later became an adviser to other Republican physicians seeking House seats in 2010, appearing at some of their campaign events and further elevating his national profile.

After the 2010 BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Boustany and Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, pressed for allowing new drilling in shallower Gulf waters. He also worked with Democrats in 2009 on reducing tax penalties on small businesses that employ tax shelters. Boustany has shifted positions on trade matters depending on how he perceives its impact on his state. He opposed the 2005 Central American Free Trade Agreement, but backed later pacts with Colombia and Peru. He took over the chairmanship of the oversight subcommittee in the 112th Congress (2011-12), promising to look at tax code reform to spur economic growth.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tried to recruit Chris John to run for his old seat in 2006, but he declined. With John out of the running, Boustany had an easy race against Democrat Mike Stagg, and won 71%-29%. In 2008, when state Sen. Don Cravins Jr., the son of Boustany’s 2004 opponent, decided to challenge him, some Democrats were hopeful. But Cravins’ pro-gun ownership, anti-abortion rights stances discouraged national party support. Boustany won 62%-34%, carrying each parish except for Evangeline, which he narrowly lost. He ran unopposed in 2010.