David Bruce Vitter is an American lobbyist, lawyer, and politician who served as United States Senator for Louisiana from 2005 to 2017. He was the first Republican elected to the Senate from his state since the Reconstruction Era. Previously, he served in the United States House of Representatives, representing the suburban Louisiana's 1st congressional district. He served as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives before entering the U.S. House.
After his Senate term ended, Vitter joined the Washington, D.C. lobbying firm, Mercury LLC, for which he will focus such issues as energy, transportation, banking, the judiciary, military, and small business. Vitter currently lobbies for sanctioned Chinese surveillance company Hikvision.In 2010, Vitter won a second Senate term by defeating a Democrat, then U.S. Representative Charlie Melancon of Napoleonville in Assumption Parish. In the Republican primary held on August 28, 2010, Vitter handily defeated former Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Chet D. Traylor of Monroe, formerly from Winnsboro.
Vitter unsuccessfully ran for governor to succeed the term-limited Bobby Jindal in the 2015 gubernatorial election. He lost in the general election to Democrat John Bel Edwards, a state representative from Tangipahoa Parish, in the November 21 general election for the governorship, who led a multi-candidate field in the primary. After conceding defeat to Edwards, Vitter announced that he would not seek reelection to his Senate seat in 2016 and would retire from office at the completion of his term.In 2007, Vitter admitted to and apologized for prior involvement with a Washington, D.C. escort service. He was first accused of soliciting a prostitute by a New Orleans newspaper in 2002. Since the statute of limitations for prostitution had expired when the scandal was uncovered, Vitter was never charged with a crime.
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3. May 1961
