This will be the first opportunity for voters in the largest city in what beginning Jan. 1, 2013 will be the new 3rd Congressional District to hear the candidates side-by-side.
UL journalism professor Dr. Robert Buckman has confirmed by email that sitting U.S. Congressmen Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, and Jeff Landry, R-New Iberia, will participate in a political forum on the UL campus on Monday, Oct. 15. The forum will also include candidate Ron Richard, a Lake Charles attorney and Democrat.
Buckman indicates that details on the forum are still being worked out. It might be televised live by KATC and will likely be held in Burke Theater. Regardless of venue and broadcast, the forum will be held at 2 p.m.
This will be the first opportunity for voters in the largest city in what beginning Jan. 1, 2013 will be the new 3rd Congressional District to hear the candidates side-by-side. The new 3rd is a redrawn district that largely combines Boustany's current 7th District with a swath of Landry's 3rd, including Landry's hometown, New Iberia. In effect, when the Legislature redrew the congressional districts after Louisiana lost one of its seven districts following the 2010 census, Landry's southeast Louisiana district was eliminated.
The race between the two sitting congressmen has become increasingly ugly as Landry, a tea party freshman, tries to paint Boustany, a four-term "establishment" pol with close ties to House Speaker John Boehner, as a closet liberal who votes with President Obama, which isn't true but it's fun to imagine.