Charles de Gravelles - Lafayette's First Registered White Republicans

Lafayette's First Registered White Republicans

Charles deGravelles, Sr., in addition to his role in various medical associations, had been a member of the Iberia Parish Democratic Executive Committee. Charles and Virginia deGravelles, however, became in 1941 the first two white persons in many years to register as Republican voters in Lafayette Parish. The only open Republicans then were a few African Americans, who were frozen out of the pivotal Democratic primaries. However, the Republican David W. Pipes, Jr., a favorite of sugar growers, switched parties to seek the Acadiana-based Third Congressional District seat in 1940 and polled a third of the vote

The deGravelleses hence were included among the oldest living Republicans in the state of Louisiana. They worked steadily to promote Republican principles and goals, even as Louisiana seemed permanently tied to the Democratic Party. He supported the 1960 Republican gubernatorial nominee, Francis Grevemberg (1914–2008), a former Democrat. Old-timers remember the gatherings at their home, when the Republican membership was so small that it fit comfortably in the deGravelles' living room. As Louisiana began to vote Republican, particularly in presidential elections, deGravelles could claim some of the credit for the changes. In time, Lafayette itself became one of the most Republican of Louisiana’s sixty-four parishes. Even in defeat in 2003, current Governor Bobby Jindal, still carried Lafayette Parish, the residence of his successful opponent, former Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco.