Louisiana's 3rd congressional district

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Louisiana's 3rd congressional district
Population (2000) 638,322
Median income $34,463
Ethnic composition 70.9% White, 24.7% Black, 1.0% Asian, 2.1% Hispanic, 1.6% Native American, 0.2% other
Cook PVI R+5

The 3rd Louisiana Congressional District is contained in Greater New Orleans. It contains all of Southeast and South Central Louisiana, including River Parishes and East Acadiana. It contains the cities of Houma, Chalmette, Gonzales, 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 been centered on Southern Louisiana's Acadian parishes. Throughout much of its history, the 3rd District has been Democratic, but has been more competitive in recent years, 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.) In 2006, Democrat Charlie Melancon won reelection.

[edit] Representatives

Representative Party Term District home Notes
William Leigh Brent Adams-Clay Republican 1823 - 1829
Walter Hampden Overton Jacksonian Democrat 1829 - 1831
Henry Adams Bullard Anti-Jacksonian 1831 - 1834
Rice Garland Whig 1834 - 1840
John Moore Whig 1840 - 1843
John Bennett Dawson Democratic 1843 - 1845
John Henry Harmanson Democratic 1845 - 1850
Alexander Gordon Penn Democratic 1850 - 1853
John Perkins Jr. Democratic 1853 - 1855
Thomas Green Davidson Democratic 1855 - 1861
Civil War 1861 - 1865
Vacant 1865 - 1868-07-18
Joseph Parkinson Newsham Republican 1868-07-18 - 1869-03-03,
1870-05-23 - 1871-03-03
Chester Bidwell Darrall Republican 1877-03-04 - 1878-02-20 Election contested by Joseph H. Acklen
Joseph H. Acklen Democratic 1878 - 1881 Successfully contested 1876 election
Chester Bidwell Darrall Republican 1881 - 1883 Morgan City Lost reelection to William Pitt Kellogg
William Pitt Kellogg Democratic 1883 - 1885
Edward James Gay Democratic 1885 - 1889 Died
Vacant 1889 - 1889
Andrew Price Democratic 1889 - 1897
Robert Foligny Broussard Democratic 1897 - 1915
Whitmell P. Martin Democratic 1915 - 1929
Numa Francois Montet Democratic 1929 - 1937
Robert L. Mouton Democratic 1937 - 1941
James Domengeaux Democratic 1941 - 1949
Edwin E. Willis Democratic 1949 - 1969
Patrick T. Caffery Democratic 1969 - 1973 New Iberia
David C. Treen Republican 1973 - 1981 Jefferson Parish
Billy Tauzin Democratic 1981 - 1995 Chackbay
Republican 1995 - 2005-01-03 Chackbay
Charlie Melancon Democratic 2005-01-03 - present Napoleonville