David Vitter won the Louisiana House seat that former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke gave up in 1991 in an unsuccessful bid for governor, polling 68 percent of the vote against two opponents. Vitter won a second term in 1995 without opposition.
After House Speaker-designate Bob Livingston publicly announced in late 1998 that he had had extramarital affairs and would resign early in 1999, Vitter entered a crowded field to fill the remaining months of Livingston's term.
In the open primary, former Republican Gov. Dave Treen picked up 25 percent of the vote, followed by Vitter, with 22 percent.
In the runoff, which was marked by a light turnout and Treen's absence from campaigning for several days to help find his missing grandson, who got lost on a hiking trip in Oregon, Vitter won 51 percent of the vote.
A few months later, Vitter won his first full two-year term, handily winning in the primary against five political unknowns.
He was re-elected to his third term in 2002 with 81 percent of the vote.
