Congressional Comeback Attempt Fails By 1,812 Votes
In 1999, Treen attempted a political comeback by running for the U.S. House. By this time, his home in Mandeville had been drawn into the 1st District. That seat was being vacated by Representative Bob Livingston, who left Congress in a sex scandal amid the House vote on the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. This was the eighth election that Treen's name appeared on a Louisiana ballot for Congress.
In the special election with David Duke, also trying to score a comeback, and Republican state Representative David Vitter, Treen finished first with 36,719 votes (25%) to Vitter's 31,741 (22%) and Duke's 28,055 (19%). (Six other candidates, including New Orleans businessman Rob Couhig, shared the remaining 33% of the votes cast.) In the low-turnout special election runoff, Vitter defeated Treen, 61,661 ballots (51%) to 59,849 (49%), a margin of 1,812 votes. The race against Vitter was a bitter contest, with attacks flying back and forth. Many of Vitter's colleagues in the state legislature, including Republicans, supported Treen and charged that Vitter was difficult to work with as a legislator. Duke endorsed Treen over Vitter, perhaps to get back at Treen, hoping to defeat him, because Treen had supported Edwards against Duke in 1991. Vitter ultimately won the seat. In 2005, Vitter left the House to become the first Republican to be elected to the U.S. Senate from Louisiana since Reconstruction.
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