The two incumbent congressmen vying for a newly drawn 3rd Congressional District seat now have two political newcomers from Lake Charles running against them. One of the most heated congressional races on the Nov. 6 ballot was made official Wednesday when Republican U.S. Reps. Charles Boustany and Jeff Landry qualified to run for the newly drawn 3rd Congressional District seat.
With redistricting eliminating one of Louisiana's seven congressional seats, the race for the 3rd District seat has turned into an inter-party match up between two incumbents. Landry represents the current 3rd district, but the new 3rd district effective Jan. 1, 2013 is essentially Boustany's current 7th District.
Joining them on the ballot are Bryan Barrilleaux and Jim Stark, both first-time office seekers from Lake Charles, The Times-Picayune reports:
Barrilleaux, a Republican and doctor of internal medicine, showed up Wednesday with 1,174 constituent signatures, which he used to qualify for the ballot. That's a departure from most candidates, who typically just pay a fee to get on the ballot. He promised not to accept or spend any money on the race, relying instead on word of mouth, grass-roots efforts and social media, and he decried the influence of campaign donations on politics.
Stark is a Libertarian and like Barrilleaux is making his first race.
Read more on the predictably ugly upcoming battle here and here.