John B. Breaux (last name pronounced BRO) was a United States senator from Louisiana from 1987 until 2005. He was also a member of the U.S. House from 1972-1987. He was considered one of the more conservative national legislators from the Democratic Party. Breaux was born in Crowley, Louisiana, on March 1, 1944. He graduated from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette in 1964 and from Louisiana State University Law School in Baton Rouge in 1967. After graduation, he practiced law, and then served as an assistant to U.S. Representative Edwin Edwards.
Breaux was elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-second Congress in a special election on September 30, 1972, to fill the vacancy caused by Edwards' resignation. At the age of 28, he was then the youngest member of the United States House of Representatives. Breaux was re-elected to the seven succeeding Congresses and served until January 3, 1987. He was not a candidate for re-election to the House of Representatives in 1986 but was instead elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1986. In the 1986 jungle primary, Breaux finished second (447,328 or 37.3 percent) to Sixth District Republican Congressman W. Henson Moore, III, of Baton Rouge (529,433 or 44.2 percent). State Senator Samuel B. Nunez polled another 73,504 votes (6.7 percent). In the general election, Breaux turned the tables on Moore: 723,586 (52.8 percent) to 646,311 (47.2 percent), a margin of 77,275 ballots. Thereafter, Moore took a sub-Cabinet position with the administration of George Herbert Walker Bush, and Breaux took the Senate seat that he would hold for eighteen years. Breaux was not seriously opposed in the 1992 and 1998 elections.
Breaux was seen as a centrist in the partisanly divided Senate and frequently was sought out by Republican leaders to corral a few Democratic votes when they needed them; conversely he also served often as the Democrat emissary in attempts to gather a few moderate Republicans to win votes on their proposals. He was pro-life and a supporter of Second Amendment rights, though he gradually moderated his position on gun control. He was more conservative on taxes than most in his party and was challenged many environmental protections. He announced that he would not run for re-election in 2004. While many Democrats look for a moderate to support in the 2008 Presidential race, Breaux is considered an unlikely candidate. He never mounted a serious exploration of the possibility in previous years. He was succeeded in the Senate by Republican David Vitter of suburban New Orleans. Though Breaux was considered a popular politician in Louisiana, he was unable to dictate his successor in the Senate. He endorsed the losing Democratic candidate, Chris John, retiring congressman from the same Seventh District that Breaux had once represented.
In 2003, Breaux campaigned hard for the successful Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Lafayette. Breaux has been mentioned as a possible successor to Blanco if she does not seek reelection in 2007.
In February 2005, Breaux took a position as Distinguished Professor in the {Douglas} Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
