Politics

Vitter Wins Louisiana Runoff

May 30, 1999 / 5:07 PM EDT / AP

His opponent had the backing of the state's political elite, but David Vitter's anti-establishment campaign prevailed as voters elected him to replace Bob Livingston in the House of Representatives.

Vitter defeated former Gov. Dave Treen on Saturday despite Treen's garnering of endorsements from more than a dozen high-profile politicians, including Gov. Mike Foster, Livingston and Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee.

"They may have been the past, but we are the future," a jubilant Vitter said in his victory speech Saturday night.

Complete but unofficial returns gave Vitter 61,661 votes, or 51 percent, to Treen's 59,849 votes in Louisiana's affluent, predominantly white and largely suburban 1st Congressional District.

Both Vitter and Treen are Republicans. They finished atop a field of nine in a May 1 primary.

Vitter benefited by portraying himself as an outsider shunned by many influential Louisiana politicians, said Ed Renwick, a political science professor at Loyola University. "Running against the establishment probably helped him in the end," Renwick said.

Low voter turnout also helped Vitter because he had a dedicated group of supporters who show up to vote, Renwick said.

A former Rhodes scholar, Vitter, 38, made a name for himself by pushing a term limits bill for state lawmakers through a reluctant Louisiana Legislature in 1995. And he is noted more for his ability to get under his fellow politicians' skins than for his willingness to compromise.

Livingston's popularity during more than 20 years in Congress stemmed in part from his successful steering of defense contracts to Avondale Shipyards and money for flood control. He had risen to the chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee and was in line to be speaker until he resigned after confessing to marital infidelities as news of them was about to break.

The runoff campaign was interrupted in its final week when Treen's 20-year-old grandson disappeared during a hike in the Oregon wilderness. He was found safe on Wednesday.

Treen congratulated Vitter Saturday but could not hide his anger at the Vitter camp's campaign tactics in the final days.

Treen decried opposition campaign material claiming or implying he was running to increase the congressional pension he had earned during a seven-year stint in Congress in the 1970s, that he had voted for congressional pay increases and that he was supported by ex-Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.