Editing David Vitter (section)

===2004 election===
{{main|2004 United States Senate election in Louisiana}}
In 2004, Vitter ran to replace Democrat [[John Breaux]] in the U.S. Senate.

During the campaign, Vitter was accused by a member of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee of having had a lengthy affair with a prostitute in New Orleans. Vitter responded that the allegation was "absolutely and completely untrue" and that it was "just crass Louisiana politics."<ref name="WP-07-10-07">Shailagh Murray, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070902030.html "Senator's Number on 'Madam' Phone List"], ''The Washington Post'', July 10, 2007</ref>

On November 2, 2004, Vitter won the [[jungle primary]], garnering a majority of the vote, while the rest of the vote was mostly split among the Democratic contenders.

Vitter was the first Republican in Louisiana to be popularly elected as a U.S. Senator. The previous Republican Senator, [[William Pitt Kellogg]], was chosen by the state legislature in 1876, in accordance with the process used before the [[Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] went into effect in 1914.<ref>{{cite web|date=November 1, 2004|last=Rudin|first=Ken|author-link=Ken Rudin|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4136425|title=Final Call: Kerry Wins Narrow Electoral Margin; GOP Gains in House, Senate|publisher=[[NPR]]|access-date=April 30, 2008}}</ref>