Editing David Vitter (section)

{{Short description|American politician (born 1961)}}
{{distinguish|David Vetter}}
{{redirect|Senator Vitter|the South Dakota state senate member|Drue Vitter}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name         = David Vitter
|image        = DVitterOfficial.jpg
|caption      = Official portrait, 2005
|jr/sr        = United States Senator
|state        = [[Louisiana]]
|term_start   = January 3, 2005
|term_end     = January 3, 2017
|predecessor  = [[John Breaux]]
|successor    = [[John Kennedy (Louisiana politician)|John Kennedy]]
|office1      = Chair of the [[United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship|Senate Small Business Committee]]
|term_start1  = January 3, 2015
|term_end1    = January 3, 2017 
|predecessor1 = [[Maria Cantwell]]
|successor1   = [[Jim Risch]]
|state2       = [[Louisiana]]
|district2    = {{ushr|LA|1|1st}}
|term_start2  = May 29, 1999
|term_end2    = January 3, 2005
|predecessor2 = [[Bob Livingston]]
|successor2   = [[Bobby Jindal]]
|state_house3 = Louisiana
|district3    = 81st
|term_start3  = 1992
|term_end3    = 1999
|predecessor3 = [[David Duke]]
|successor3   = Jennifer Sneed Heebe
|birth_name   = David Bruce Vitter
|birth_date   = {{birth date and age|1961|5|3}}
|birth_place  = [[New Orleans]], Louisiana, U.S.
|death_date   = 
|death_place  = 
|party        = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|spouse       = {{marriage|[[Wendy Vitter|Wendy Baldwin]]|1990}}
|children     = 4
|relations    = [[Jeffrey Vitter]] (brother)
|education    = [[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />{{nowrap|[[Magdalen College, Oxford]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])}}<br />[[Tulane University]] ([[Juris Doctor|JD]])
|signature    = David Vitter Signature.svg
|module       = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Sen. David Vitter on the Fifth Anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.ogg|title=David Vitter's voice|type=speech|description=David Vitter highlights the fifth anniversary of the [[Deepwater Horizon oil spill]]<br/>Recorded April 20, 2015}}
}}
'''David Bruce Vitter''' (born May 3, 1961) is an American politician who served as a [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] from [[Louisiana]] from 2005 to 2017. A member of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], Vitter served in the [[Louisiana House of Representatives]] from 1992 to 1999 and in the [[U.S. House of Representatives]] from 1999 to 2005.

Vitter was first elected to the U.S. Senate in [[2004 United States Senate election in Louisiana|2004]]. He was the first [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] to represent Louisiana in the Senate since the [[Reconstruction Era]], and the first ever Republican to be popularly elected. In 2007, Vitter admitted to and apologized for past involvement with prostitution as a client of a Washington, D.C. [[escort service]].<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Murray|first1=Shailagh|title=Senator's Number on 'Madam' Phone List|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070902030.html|access-date=October 13, 2014|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 10, 2007}}</ref> Despite Vitter's disclosure, he was re-elected to the Senate in [[2010 United States Senate election in Louisiana|2010]]; however, the disclosure is believed to have played a part in his loss of the [[Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2015|2015 gubernatorial election]]. Vitter ran for [[Governor of Louisiana|governor]] to succeed the [[Term limits|term-limited]] [[Bobby Jindal]] in the [[Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2015|2015 gubernatorial election]], losing the general election to Democrat [[John Bel Edwards]]. While conceding defeat to Edwards, Vitter announced that he would not seek reelection to the Senate in [[United States Senate election in Louisiana, 2016|2016]] and would retire from office at the completion of his term. Following the conclusion of his second Senate term, Vitter became a lobbyist.