Charlton Lyons - Lyons Opposes Waggonner For Congress, 1961

Lyons Opposes Waggonner For Congress, 1961

Three years before his gubernatorial campaign, Lyons ran in a special election for the Fourth Congressional District seat based in the northwestern quadrant of the state. A vacancy developed with the death of long-term Democratic Representative Thomas Overton Brooks of Shreveport.

In a campaign advertisement, the Republicans proclaimed that "A Vote for Charlton Lyons for Congress Is a Vote Against the New Frontier", the domestic program of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

Lyons declared that the "election of a Republican from this district would have a profound impact upon the rest of the nation and upon Democratic congressmen in the South." He vowed if elected not to "trade votes" with colleagues to obtain passage of bills. "I think the trading of votes is one of the reasons this country is in such bad shape today. . . . When a central government becomes all powerful, a dictator inevitably takes over."

Both Lyons and his opponent, Joe Waggonner, ran as segregationists. Waggonner had once been president of the Louisiana Citizens Council. Lyons was considered a trade protectionist. In an advertisement underwritten by his friend George Burton, Lyons opposed the "vast influx of imported products which are flooding the country" and causing unfair competition to American manufacturers.

Lyons made a much stronger showing in the northwest Louisiana district, but the seat remained in Democratic hands. Waggonner, a native and resident of Plain Dealing in Bossier Parish, held the seat until he retired in 1979. He had already announced that he would challenge Brooks for renomination in 1962 because of Brooks' vote in 1961 to enlarge the membership of the House Rules Committee. This permitted Speaker Sam Rayburn of Texas to add new liberal representation to the panel which had long been chaired by the Virginia conservative Howard W. Smith.

Lyons claimed that victory by Waggonner would be interpreted as support for Kennedy-Johnson policies. Waggonner claimed that the election of Lyons would mean increased importance being placed on black bloc voting through the establishment of a two-party system. In the special election, Lyons won his own Caddo Parish with 58.7 percent, but district-wide, the totals were 28,250 votes (45.5 percent) for Lyons and 33,892 (54.5 percent) for Waggonner. After the Lyons campaign of 1961, no other Republican opposed Waggonner, who was customarily reelected without opposition.

In 1988, a Republican, Jim McCrery, a Shreveport native who grew up in Leesville in Vernon Parish, won the district in another special election created by the election of Congressman Buddy Roemer of Bossier Parish, as governor. With relatively little difficulty McCrery remained in Congress until 2009, when he was succeeded by Republican John C. Fleming.