Rep. David Vitter (R) Elected May 1999, 2d term
Born:	May 3, 1961, New Orleans
Home:	Metairie
Education:	Harvard U., A.B. 1983, Rhodes Scholar, Oxford U., B.A. 1985, Tulane Law Schl., J.D. 1988
Religion:	Catholic
Marital Status:	married (Wendy)
Elected  Office:	LA House of Reps., 1991-99.
Professional Career:	Practicing atty., 1988-99; Adjunct Law Prof., Tulane U. & Loyola U., 1995-98.
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New Orleans, founded in 1718, the nation's fifth-largest city at the outbreak of the Civil War, is ancient for an American metropolis; yet it is still closely girded by the peculiar wilderness of the mushy Delta lands of the sluggish Mississippi River. Climb a levee overlooking the Mississippi and you will see an expanse of water with untidy clumps of trees and disorganized-looking, seemingly abandoned docks--what Mark Twain had in his mind's eye while writing Life on the Mississippi in the 1870s. Or drive just past the last block of a suburban subdivision, and you are in unreclaimed swamp, vegetation and wetness, thick with herons and alligators, flat as far as the eye can see. For years the river has funneled the products of half a continent down to a single port with an international heritage and flair; the New Orleans metropolitan area is still living off that geography and history, with an inward-looking elite preoccupied with who is in which Mardi Gras krewe and interested more in old families' genealogy than in Oil Patch geology. The old buildings of New Orleans are finely proportioned and its old neighborhoods charming, like those in France; and its early 20th century improvements, like Olmstead's City Park, are grand. But its middle and late 20th century streetscapes and subdivisions, like those of France, are without ornament or charm, utilitarian works of man made to master the below-sea-level environment.

The 1st Congressional District includes much of the newer part of the New Orleans metropolitan area, spread over the soggy lands of the lower Mississippi and Lake Pontchartrain. A bit less than half of its people live in affluent white neighborhoods in New Orleans, in the Uptown area and west of City Park, in mostly white neighborhoods on the West Bank of the Mississippi opposite New Orleans and in the vast suburb of Metairie in Jefferson Parish, divided by slanting grids and elevated only where bridges jut out over the many canals. It also includes part of suburbanizing St. Charles Parish to the west. The boundaries have been drawn so that the next-door 2d District has a black majority; the black percentage in the 1st (13%) is the lowest of any Louisiana district. The 1st extends across the 26-mile Lake Pontchartrain Causeway to include St. Tammany Parish, the state's fastest-growing areas, with old towns lush with trees and clusters of new growth around giant intersections; it also includes, to the north and west, Washington and Tangipahoa Parishes, still mostly rural country. Altogether 53% of the district's population is north of the Lake: much of New Orleans has moved across Lake Pontchartrain. This is the most upscale, affluent, highly educated district in Louisiana, and by far the most Republican, supportive of political reformers and against economic redistribution. George W. Bush got 66% of the vote here in 2000.

The congressman from the 1st District is David Vitter, a Republican first chosen in a May 1999 special election. He grew up in the New Orleans area, graduated from Harvard and Tulane Law School and was a Rhodes Scholar. He was a business attorney and taught law at Tulane and Loyola. Vitter was elected in 1991 to the state House, where he passed a term-limits bill through a reluctant state legislature. Slim and boyish-looking, he is noted for his ability to irritate other politicians; many were enraged by his crusade for term limits, and a popular sheriff sued him three times after Vitter criticized his ethics.

The chance to run for Congress came suddenly. When Newt Gingrich was forced to retire as speaker three days after the 1998 election, 1st District Congressman and Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston quickly rounded up the votes and became Speaker-designate. But six weeks later, as the House was debating impeachment, Livingston confessed that he had had affairs and stunned everyone by announcing that he was resigning, even as he called on Bill Clinton to do so. Many Republicans jumped into the race, but the chief preoccupation of the national press, and the chief fear of Louisiana and national Republicans, was that former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke would run and make it into the runoff. This seemed a bit farfetched, since his career peaked almost a decade before, and his 1998 book My Awakening that asserted, "belief in racial equality is the modern equivalent of believing the earth is flat," was gathering dust on bookshelves. The establishment choice was David Treen, 70, who won four terms in the House starting in 1972 and was elected governor in 1979. In contrast, Vitter said, "We need a younger congressman like me, so we can start building up the seniority we lost when Bob Livingston resigned." Treen, with 25%, and Vitter, with 22%, advanced to the runoff. Duke, unnervingly close to making the runoff, finished third with 19%. Subtle differences emerged during the runoff: Vitter denounced all forms of gun control; Treen said he supported some restrictions on more sophisticated automatic or semiautomatic weapons and would require dealers at gun shows to perform background checks. Both opposed racial quotas and preferences but Treen also said the federal government should not prevent colleges and universities from deciding their own racial admission policies. Low turnout was probably a factor, as Vitter rallied his troops and won 51%-49%.

In the House, Vitter has compiled the most conservative voting record in the delegation and one of the most conservative in the House. On the Appropriations Committee, like his predecessor he worked on local projects, including $140 million for clean-up of Lake Pontchartrain. After enactment in 2000 of the bill to require more disclosure of political activity by Section 527 tax-exempt groups, Vitter sought to relax the new rules, arguing they were burdensome at the state and local level; a scaled back version was approved in 2002. He enacted easier access to prescription drug coverage for military retirees and advocated aggressive controls of HMOs. When the House debated the education bill in 2001, it passed his amendment to require secondary schools that take federal money to allow military recruiters to visit the school. Vitter became a vigorous advocate of a national missile defense. After the House passed his amendment to block the Chinese government's purchase of land near the Pentagon, which he feared could become a "spy tower," the Chinese dropped their plans. He showed his maverick tendencies when he sought a new regional authority to replace the city's control of the New Orleans International Airport; that caused an angry battle within the Louisiana delegation on the House floor.

Vitter has twice won reelection with at least 80% of the vote. In 2002, one of his opponents was Republican Monica Monica, an ophthalmologist who spent $1.4 million in the 1999 special, including $900,000 of her own money, but only got 16%; this time, she spent far less and got 11%. Vitter considered running for governor in 2003, but decided not to.

Update: February 4, 2004
On December 17, 2003, two days after Democratic Senator John Breaux said he would not seek reelection, Vitter announced his intention to run for the open Senate seat in 2004.

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DC Office
414 CHOB 20515, 202-225-3015; Fax: 202-225-0739; Web site: www.house.gov/vitter

State Offices
Hammond, 985-542-9616; Metairie, 504-589-2753.

Committees

• Appropriations (30th of 36 R): Commerce, Justice, State & Judiciary (Vice Chmn.); Foreign Operations & Export Financing; Military Construction.
• Budget (16th of 24 R).

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	0	7	0	0	25	88	59	95	100	94	100
2001	0	--	0	0	--	--	66	100	100	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	0%	--	94%		0%	--	91%
Social	0%	--	81%		0%	--	75%
Foreign	14%	--	85%		0%	--	85%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 2. Limit Patients' Bill of Rights Y 3. Campaign Finance Reform N 4. Ban ANWR Development N 5. Faith-Based Charities Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts Y		7. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  8. Arm Commercial Pilots Y  9. Trade Promotion Authority Y 10. Bar Funds for Intl. Court Y 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Deny Home. Sec. Dept. Union Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 primary	David Vitter (R)	147,117	81%	$1,703,084
	Monica Monica (R)	20,268	11%
	Robert Namer (R)	7,229	4%
	Other	5,956	3%
2000 primary	David Vitter (R)	191,379	80%	$1,604,204
	Michael A. Armato (D)	29,935	13%
	Cary J. Deaton (D)	10,982	5%
	Other	5,514	2%
1999 spec. runoff	David Vitter (R)	61,661	51%	$807,505
	David Treen (R)	59,849	49%	$494,789

2000 presidential
	Bush (R)	179,196	66%
	Gore (D)	83,779	31%
	Other	6,650	2%
For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the First District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R +18
• District Size: 2,840 square miles
• Population in 2000: 638,355; 79.6% urban; 20.4% rural
• Median Household Income: $40,948; 12.1% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 20.2% blue collar; 65.3% white collar; 14.5% gray collar; 13.1% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 79.6% White, 12.8% Black, 1.5% Asian, 0.3% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 1.0% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 4.7% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 13.3% French, 10.9% German, 9.4% Irish
• Click here for statewide demographic data.