Jerry Huckaby
Encyclopedia
Thomas Jerald Huckaby, usually known as Jerry Huckaby (born July 19, 1941), is a retired businessman who served as a Democratic
U.S. representative from the northeastern portion of the U.S. state
of Louisiana
between 1977 and 1993. He lost his position as an indirect result of congressional reapportionment in 1992, when Louisiana forfeited one of its eight seats in the United States House of Representatives
because the state grew in population
at less than the national average during the 1980s
.
in Jackson Parish
to Thomas Milton Huckaby (1907–1973) and the former Eva Butler (1911–1990). Huckaby is descended on both sides from original Bienville Parish families. In the 1840s, two brothers, Green and James Huckaby, settled in the community of Sparta, between the village of Bienville
and Ringgold
. Sparta was the seat of Bienville Parish from its founding in 1848 until 1893, when the courthouse was relocated to the larger Arcadia
located off Interstate 20
. Nothing remains of Sparta except for two nearby cemeteries
. Green Huckaby's son was John Tom Huckaby, and his son, William Huckaby, was the paternal grandfather of Jerry Huckaby. These Huckabys are interred at Old Sparta Cemetery.
In 1942, the Huckabys moved to Minden
in Webster Parish
when Jerry was six months old. His father operated real estate
and insurance
businesses, and the Huckabys resided in an upper-middle class house at 1104 Victory Drive. Huckaby graduated fifth in his class in 1959 from Minden High School
. He played on the basketball
team, performed in the band, was elected to the student council
, and edited the school newspaper
. He then studied electrical engineering
at Louisiana State University
in Baton Rouge, from which in 1963 he received the Bachelor of Science
degree. He was student body president of the college of engineering and a member of Kappa Alpha
fraternity
. Five years later, he obtained an Master of Business Administration from Georgia State University
in Atlanta
. He was a management executive for Western Electric Company in Chicago
from 1963-1973. He returned from Illinois
to Louisiana to become a dairy farmer at his former Hallmark Farms in Ringgold.
-based Fifth Congressional District. First, he unseated incumbent
Otto Ernest Passman
in a hard-fought Democratic primary
held on August 14. Huckaby received 45,589 votes (52.7 percent) to Passman's 40,888 (47.3 percent). Passman, a 30-year conservative lawmaker was a native of Franklinton
in south Louisiana and a long-term Monroe resident. Passman had been a supporter of the Vietnam War
. A World War II
Navy
lieutenant
, Passman was particularly known for his support of veterans causes and his fervent opposition to most foreign aid programs.
However, Passman was under an ethical cloud. He was engulfed in a bribery
, conspiracy, fraud
, and influence peddling
scandal involving his acceptance of $213,000 from the South Korean lobbyist Tongsun Park (born 1935). Passman had not, however, been indicted
of anything at the time of the primary. The indictments came two years later, but he was acquitted
in a high-profile trial in 1979 in which he retained the services of high-powered Alexandria
attorney
and gubernatorial advisor Camille Francis Gravel, Jr.
man who had been his state's GOP
national committeeman. Spooner was the first Republican even to contest the Fifth District seat since 1900, when Henry E. Hardtner
polled 628 votes (9.2 percent) against the Democrat Joseph E. Ransdell
of East Carroll Parish, who was elected with 6,172 votes (90.8 percent). Ransdell later served in the United States Senate
.
Spooner (born 1937) hoped to assemble a winning coalition based on a strong showing in Ouachita and Lincoln parishes, along with Morehouse, Richland, Natchitoches, and Winn parishes. Former Texas
Governor John B. Connally came to Natchitoches and Monroe to speak for Spooner and the Ford-Dole ticket. Former California
Governor
Ronald W. Reagan, Ford's unsuccessful opponent in the 1976 primaries, appeared in Monroe at a fundraiser on Spooner's behalf. After his failure to gain renomination, Passman never again spoke to Huckaby and "threatened" to endorse Spooner as his successor but never did so.
Huckaby won the exchange, helped in part by the popularity of Jimmy Carter
in Louisiana and throughout the South. Huckaby received 83,696 votes (52.5 percent) to Spooner's 75,574 ballots (47.5 percent). Spooner outpolled Passman's primary showing by 0.2 percent. In a much higher general election turnout, Spooner received some 35,000 more votes than Passman had netted in the primary. Spooner polled 59 percent in Ouachita Parish and also won in Lincoln, Morehouse, Union, and Richland, but his strength was insufficient to overcome hefty Democratic margins in rural districts stretching from Huckaby's Ringgold on the west to Vidalia
on the east and the most northern precincts of Rapides Parish on the south.
The 1976 congressional elections were the last in Louisiana under the longstanding closed primary system. Starting in 1978, when Huckaby was reelected, congressional elections went to the nonpartisan blanket primary (or jungle primary
), which had already begun for state elections in November 1975. The jungle primary proved beneficial for the popular Huckaby, who was re-elected seven times over the next fourteen years, often with landslides of more than 80 percent. He ran only once in each of those elections against a combined field of mostly other Democrats.
In 1978, Huckaby polled some 57 percent of the vote over several Democratic rivals, including then Louisiana State Senator
James H. "Jim" Brown, then of Ferriday
in Concordia Parish. The next year, Brown was elected Louisiana secretary of state, when incumbent Paul J. Hardy ran unsuccessfully for governor. Perennial candidate L.D. Knox of Winnsboro
opposed Huckaby in 1978, 1980, 1982, 1990, and 1992. He even changed his legal name to "None of the Above Knox" to support his call for the "None of the Above" option being offered on ballots to enhance voter choice.
In 2008, Louisiana returned to closed primaries for the U.S. House and U.S. Senate but retains the jungle primary format for state and local elections.
, rice
and sugar
. His marketing loan legislation was credited with bringing American agriculture out of a major recession
during the early 1980s. His controversial legislation defining elgibility for farm payments and limiting the amount of the payments a farmer could receive withstood the test of time and was still in effect twenty years after it was enacted.
Huckaby was a key defender of the sugar industry in the 1990 debate over the farm bill. Louisiana is a major sugar cane state, with some 750 farms that produce hundreds of thousands of tons of sugar. He was even called "Mr. Sugar" in the House. In his last campaign for Congress, Huckaby collected more than $50,000 from sugar interests. "I was in the race of my life, and I went out everywhere soliciting funds," Huckaby recalled. Huckaby said that raising money from Political Action Committees is a necessary evil. "It would be nice if the PAC system didn't exist. It is the most distasteful thing in politics," he said.
' choice for a seat informally designated for a Southern Democrat on the House Budget Committee. Huckaby did not shy from highly technical issues, was not afraid to work out compromises, and could serve as a bridge to lawmakers in both parties. The Budget Committee assignment came during his last two terms in Congress.
, and water
levels to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
in Washington, D.C.
, so that its experts may monitor and advise on the situation. The national monitoring center has prevented other "Three Mile Island" threats.
Huckaby's seat on the Interior Committee enabled him to secure legislation through the years that created the Tensas National Wildlife Refuge, the Upper Darbonne National Wildlife Refuge, the Poverty Point National Monument, the Saline Bayou Wild and Scenic River, and the Kisatchie Hills Wilderness, all in his congressional district.
issued a directive requiring Louisiana to create a second African-American
district. The legislature responded by creating a new Fourth District, which received most of the black voters in Huckaby's former district. Huckaby's revised district absorbed a large portion of the former Shreveport-based Fourth District, represented by Republican Representative Jim McCrery
, who retired from Congress in January 2009.
Although the new Fifth District was geographically more Huckaby's district, its demographics heavily favored McCrery. The new district was considerably more urban than its predecessor; due to the presence of Shreveport, 60 percent of the registered voters in the revised district had been represented by McCrery. In addition, the minority population was reduced from 30 percent to less than 5 percent. Thus, despite Huckaby's geographic advantage, the district was Republican-leaning, and McCrery was the favorite in an otherwise Democratic year nationally. Huckaby had the option of retiring and keeping $250,000 in campaign funds, as 1992 was the last year that members of Congress could retire and keep surplus campaign funds for personal use. However, Huckaby chose to stay in the race despite the odds.
McCrery won in a rout, taking 153,501 votes (63 percent) to 90,079 for Huckaby (37 percent). Huckaby carried only a few small parishes.
in Benton County
in the northwestern corner of Arkansas. Sue died after a four-year fight with colon cancer. She had a brother, Scott Woodard of
Sherman
, Texas
, and a sister, Stephanie Woodard of Ringgold.
Jerry and Sue Huckaby did not return to Louisiana after his congressional defeat. Instead Huckaby became a lobbyist but left after two months. "I was never comfortable sitting on the other side of the table," he said. "I wasn't comfortable asking members like (former U.S. Senator) John Breaux
to see such and such a person or (former U.S. Representative) Bob Livingston
to go to such and such a reception."
Huckaby instead became president of his wife's residential real estate business in McLean, Virginia
. Nationally, Mrs. Huckaby was ranked No. 10 of more than two million Realtors in the United States in sales. For many years, she was the leading Realtor in northern Virginia. In her 30-year career, which began when he became a congressman, Mrs. Huckaby sold more than one thousand homes valued in excess of a billion dollars. Mrs. Huckaby graduated from Ringgold High School in 1961 and attended Stephens College
in Columbia, Missouri
and Louisiana State University
in Baton Rouge. She graduated with a degree in human ecology
from Louisiana Tech in Ruston, where the Sue Woodard Huckaby Endowed Professorship honors her memory. At the time of her death, the Huckabys lived in Great Falls
in Fairfax County
, Virginia. They had been active members of Trinity United Methodist Church in McLean for some three decade
s.
The Huckabys' daughter, Michelle Huckaby Lewis (born 1967 in Atlanta, Georgia), and their son-in-law, Todd Lewis, are physician
s of Hummelstown, Pennsylvania
, where Todd had a cardiology
fellowship at the Penn State University Hospital
. Both have undergraduate degrees from Stanford University
in Palo Alto, California
, and medical degrees from Tulane University
in New Orleans. Both were previously on the staff of the Johns Hopkins University
Hospital in Baltimore. Michelle also has a law
degree from Vanderbilt University
in Nashville
, Tennessee
. Her specialty centers upon legal issues involving genetic
testing of newly-born babies. The Lewises have two sons, Carter (born 2002) and Spencer (born 2005).
The Huckabys also had a son, Thomas Clay Huckaby (January 2, 1975 - June 1, 2002), who was born in Ringgold while his father operated the dairy farm and his mother taught school. Mrs. Huckaby's funeral services were held on September 14, 2008, at the First United Methodist Church of Ringgold. Interment was at the family plot at Providence Cemetery in Ringgold.
In April 2010, Huckaby married the former Marie Hammon, a retired English
professor at Louisiana Tech University
and the widow of a former Ruston
police chief. The couple resides in Choudrant
in Lincoln Parish
.
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
U.S. representative from the northeastern portion of the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
between 1977 and 1993. He lost his position as an indirect result of congressional reapportionment in 1992, when Louisiana forfeited one of its eight seats in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
because the state grew in population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
at less than the national average during the 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
.
Early years
Huckaby was born in HodgeHodge, Louisiana
Hodge is a village in Jackson Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 492 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Ruston Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
in Jackson Parish
Jackson Parish, Louisiana
Jackson Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish was formed in 1845 from parts of Claiborne, Ouachita, and Union Parishes. In 2010, its population was 16,274. The parish seat is Jonesboro...
to Thomas Milton Huckaby (1907–1973) and the former Eva Butler (1911–1990). Huckaby is descended on both sides from original Bienville Parish families. In the 1840s, two brothers, Green and James Huckaby, settled in the community of Sparta, between the village of Bienville
Bienville, Louisiana
Bienville is a village in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 262 at the 2000 census.There are seven cemeteries located near the village....
and Ringgold
Ringgold, Louisiana
Ringgold is a town in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,660 at the 2000 census. Ringgold is named for United States Army Major Samuel Ringgold, the hero of the battle of Palo Alto near Brownsville, Texas, in the Mexican-American War. Ringgold, the son of a U.S...
. Sparta was the seat of Bienville Parish from its founding in 1848 until 1893, when the courthouse was relocated to the larger Arcadia
Arcadia, Louisiana
Arcadia is a town in and the parish seat of Bienville Parish in north Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,041 at the 2000 census....
located off Interstate 20
Interstate 20
Interstate 20 is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. I‑20 runs 1,535 miles from near Kent, Texas, at Interstate 10 to Florence, South Carolina, at Interstate 95...
. Nothing remains of Sparta except for two nearby cemeteries
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
. Green Huckaby's son was John Tom Huckaby, and his son, William Huckaby, was the paternal grandfather of Jerry Huckaby. These Huckabys are interred at Old Sparta Cemetery.
In 1942, the Huckabys moved to Minden
Minden, Louisiana
Minden is a city in the American state of Louisiana. It serves as the parish seat of Webster Parish and is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census...
in Webster Parish
Webster Parish, Louisiana
Webster Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The seat of the parish is Minden. In 2010, its population was 41,207....
when Jerry was six months old. His father operated real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
and insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
businesses, and the Huckabys resided in an upper-middle class house at 1104 Victory Drive. Huckaby graduated fifth in his class in 1959 from Minden High School
Minden High School (Minden, Louisiana)
Minden High School is the public secondary educational institution in Minden, a small city of 13,000 and the seat of Webster Parish located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport in northwestern Louisiana...
. He played on the basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
team, performed in the band, was elected to the student council
Student council
Student council is a curricular or extra-curricular activity for students within elementary and secondary schools around the world. Present in most public and private K-12 school systems across the United States, Canada and Australia these bodies are alternatively entitled student council, student...
, and edited the school newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
. He then studied electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
at Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
in Baton Rouge, from which in 1963 he received the Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree. He was student body president of the college of engineering and a member of Kappa Alpha
Kappa Alpha Order
Kappa Alpha Order is a social fraternity and fraternal order. Kappa Alpha Order has 124 active chapters, 3 provisional chapters, and 2 commissions...
fraternity
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
. Five years later, he obtained an Master of Business Administration from Georgia State University
Georgia State University
Georgia State University is a research university in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Founded in 1913, it serves about 30,000 students and is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities...
in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. He was a management executive for Western Electric Company in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
from 1963-1973. He returned from Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
to Louisiana to become a dairy farmer at his former Hallmark Farms in Ringgold.
Unseating Otto Passman
In 1976, Huckaby was elected to Congress from the MonroeMonroe, Louisiana
Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...
-based Fifth Congressional District. First, he unseated incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Otto Ernest Passman
Otto Passman
Otto Ernest Passman was a conservative Democratic congressman from Monroe in northeastern Louisiana, who served from 1947 to 1977. He is primarily remembered for his detailed knowledge and mostly opposition to foreign aid...
in a hard-fought Democratic primary
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
held on August 14. Huckaby received 45,589 votes (52.7 percent) to Passman's 40,888 (47.3 percent). Passman, a 30-year conservative lawmaker was a native of Franklinton
Franklinton, Louisiana
Franklinton is a town in and the parish seat of Washington Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,657 at the 2000 census. It is an average of above sea level....
in south Louisiana and a long-term Monroe resident. Passman had been a supporter of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. A World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Navy
Navy
A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
, Passman was particularly known for his support of veterans causes and his fervent opposition to most foreign aid programs.
However, Passman was under an ethical cloud. He was engulfed in a bribery
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
, conspiracy, fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, and influence peddling
Influence peddling
Influence peddling is the illegal practice of using one's influence in government or connections with persons in authority to obtain favors or preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment. Also called traffic of influence or trading in influence ...
scandal involving his acceptance of $213,000 from the South Korean lobbyist Tongsun Park (born 1935). Passman had not, however, been indicted
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
of anything at the time of the primary. The indictments came two years later, but he was acquitted
Acquittal
In the common law tradition, an acquittal formally certifies the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as the criminal law is concerned. This is so even where the prosecution is abandoned nolle prosequi...
in a high-profile trial in 1979 in which he retained the services of high-powered Alexandria
Alexandria, Louisiana
Alexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes....
attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and gubernatorial advisor Camille Francis Gravel, Jr.
Camille Gravel
Camille Francis Gravel, Jr. , was a Louisiana, Democratic politician.Gravel spent much time and money supporting the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII honored Gravel with the "Order of St. Gregory" for his outstanding service to the church.-Education:Gravel graduated in 1935 from the University...
Defeating Frank Spooner
Huckaby then faced a determined Republican challenge from Frank Spooner, a conservative Monroe oilOil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
man who had been his state's GOP
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
national committeeman. Spooner was the first Republican even to contest the Fifth District seat since 1900, when Henry E. Hardtner
Henry E. Hardtner
Henry Ernest Hardtner was a Louisiana businessman and conservationist regarded as "the father of forestry in the South." He founded and named the town of Urania in La Salle Parish and served single terms as a Democrat in both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature...
polled 628 votes (9.2 percent) against the Democrat Joseph E. Ransdell
Joseph E. Ransdell
Joseph Eugene Ransdell was a United States Representative and Senator from Louisiana. Born in Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish in central Louisiana, Ransdell attended public schools. In 1882, he graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York...
of East Carroll Parish, who was elected with 6,172 votes (90.8 percent). Ransdell later served in the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
.
Spooner (born 1937) hoped to assemble a winning coalition based on a strong showing in Ouachita and Lincoln parishes, along with Morehouse, Richland, Natchitoches, and Winn parishes. Former Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
Governor John B. Connally came to Natchitoches and Monroe to speak for Spooner and the Ford-Dole ticket. Former California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
Ronald W. Reagan, Ford's unsuccessful opponent in the 1976 primaries, appeared in Monroe at a fundraiser on Spooner's behalf. After his failure to gain renomination, Passman never again spoke to Huckaby and "threatened" to endorse Spooner as his successor but never did so.
Huckaby won the exchange, helped in part by the popularity of Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
in Louisiana and throughout the South. Huckaby received 83,696 votes (52.5 percent) to Spooner's 75,574 ballots (47.5 percent). Spooner outpolled Passman's primary showing by 0.2 percent. In a much higher general election turnout, Spooner received some 35,000 more votes than Passman had netted in the primary. Spooner polled 59 percent in Ouachita Parish and also won in Lincoln, Morehouse, Union, and Richland, but his strength was insufficient to overcome hefty Democratic margins in rural districts stretching from Huckaby's Ringgold on the west to Vidalia
Vidalia, Louisiana
Vidalia is a city in and the parish seat of Concordia Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 4,543 at the 2000 census.- Geography :Vidalia is located at and has an elevation of ....
on the east and the most northern precincts of Rapides Parish on the south.
The 1976 congressional elections were the last in Louisiana under the longstanding closed primary system. Starting in 1978, when Huckaby was reelected, congressional elections went to the nonpartisan blanket primary (or jungle primary
Jungle primary
A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for elected office run in the same primary regardless of political party. Under this system, the top two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the next round, as in a runoff election...
), which had already begun for state elections in November 1975. The jungle primary proved beneficial for the popular Huckaby, who was re-elected seven times over the next fourteen years, often with landslides of more than 80 percent. He ran only once in each of those elections against a combined field of mostly other Democrats.
In 1978, Huckaby polled some 57 percent of the vote over several Democratic rivals, including then Louisiana State Senator
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
James H. "Jim" Brown, then of Ferriday
Ferriday, Louisiana
Ferriday is a town in Concordia Parish in northeastern Louisiana, United States. The population, which is three-fourths African American, was 3,723 at the 2000 census....
in Concordia Parish. The next year, Brown was elected Louisiana secretary of state, when incumbent Paul J. Hardy ran unsuccessfully for governor. Perennial candidate L.D. Knox of Winnsboro
Winnsboro, Louisiana
Winnsboro is a city in and the parish seat of Franklin Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of July 2009, the estimated city population was 4,377...
opposed Huckaby in 1978, 1980, 1982, 1990, and 1992. He even changed his legal name to "None of the Above Knox" to support his call for the "None of the Above" option being offered on ballots to enhance voter choice.
In 2008, Louisiana returned to closed primaries for the U.S. House and U.S. Senate but retains the jungle primary format for state and local elections.
Huckaby on Agriculture Committee
For ten years, Huckaby was chairman of the subcommittee on cottonCotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
and sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
. His marketing loan legislation was credited with bringing American agriculture out of a major recession
Recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
during the early 1980s. His controversial legislation defining elgibility for farm payments and limiting the amount of the payments a farmer could receive withstood the test of time and was still in effect twenty years after it was enacted.
Huckaby was a key defender of the sugar industry in the 1990 debate over the farm bill. Louisiana is a major sugar cane state, with some 750 farms that produce hundreds of thousands of tons of sugar. He was even called "Mr. Sugar" in the House. In his last campaign for Congress, Huckaby collected more than $50,000 from sugar interests. "I was in the race of my life, and I went out everywhere soliciting funds," Huckaby recalled. Huckaby said that raising money from Political Action Committees is a necessary evil. "It would be nice if the PAC system didn't exist. It is the most distasteful thing in politics," he said.
Huckaby on Budget Committee
In 1989, Huckaby was the Boll WeevilsBoll weevil (politics)
Boll weevils was an American political term used in the mid- and late-20th century to describe conservative Southern Democrats.During and after the administration of Franklin D...
' choice for a seat informally designated for a Southern Democrat on the House Budget Committee. Huckaby did not shy from highly technical issues, was not afraid to work out compromises, and could serve as a bridge to lawmakers in both parties. The Budget Committee assignment came during his last two terms in Congress.
Huckaby on Interior Committee
Huckaby introduced House-passed legislation in 1988 to require commercial nuclear plants, during any unusual event, to transmit electronically data on pressure, temperatureTemperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
, and water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
levels to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, so that its experts may monitor and advise on the situation. The national monitoring center has prevented other "Three Mile Island" threats.
Huckaby's seat on the Interior Committee enabled him to secure legislation through the years that created the Tensas National Wildlife Refuge, the Upper Darbonne National Wildlife Refuge, the Poverty Point National Monument, the Saline Bayou Wild and Scenic River, and the Kisatchie Hills Wilderness, all in his congressional district.
A casualty of reapportionment, 1992
Louisiana lost a district as a result of the 1990 United States Census. The Justice DepartmentUnited States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
issued a directive requiring Louisiana to create a second African-American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
district. The legislature responded by creating a new Fourth District, which received most of the black voters in Huckaby's former district. Huckaby's revised district absorbed a large portion of the former Shreveport-based Fourth District, represented by Republican Representative Jim McCrery
Jim McCrery
James Otis "Jim" McCrery, III , is an American lawyer who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1988 to 2009; he represented the 4th District of Louisiana, based in the northwestern quadrant of the state.McCrery was a ranking member on the House Ways and...
, who retired from Congress in January 2009.
Although the new Fifth District was geographically more Huckaby's district, its demographics heavily favored McCrery. The new district was considerably more urban than its predecessor; due to the presence of Shreveport, 60 percent of the registered voters in the revised district had been represented by McCrery. In addition, the minority population was reduced from 30 percent to less than 5 percent. Thus, despite Huckaby's geographic advantage, the district was Republican-leaning, and McCrery was the favorite in an otherwise Democratic year nationally. Huckaby had the option of retiring and keeping $250,000 in campaign funds, as 1992 was the last year that members of Congress could retire and keep surplus campaign funds for personal use. However, Huckaby chose to stay in the race despite the odds.
McCrery won in a rout, taking 153,501 votes (63 percent) to 90,079 for Huckaby (37 percent). Huckaby carried only a few small parishes.
Huckaby in Virginia
In December 1962, Huckaby married the former Suzanna "Sue" Woodard (October 12, 1943—September 9, 2008), the daughter of farmer Ernest Scott "Scotty" Woodard (born 1921) and the former Molly Covey (1923–1987), originally from GentryGentry, Arkansas
Gentry is a city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 3,158 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers, AR-MO Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
in Benton County
Benton County, Arkansas
Benton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2000 census, the population was 153,406. The U.S. Census Bureau 2010 population is 221,339. The county seat is Bentonville. Benton County was formed on 30 September 1836 and was named after Thomas Hart Benton, a U.S...
in the northwestern corner of Arkansas. Sue died after a four-year fight with colon cancer. She had a brother, Scott Woodard of
Sherman
Sherman, Texas
Sherman is a city in and the county seat of Grayson County, Texas, United States. The city's estimated population as of 2009 was 38,407. It is also one of two principal cities in the Sherman-Denison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, and a sister, Stephanie Woodard of Ringgold.
Jerry and Sue Huckaby did not return to Louisiana after his congressional defeat. Instead Huckaby became a lobbyist but left after two months. "I was never comfortable sitting on the other side of the table," he said. "I wasn't comfortable asking members like (former U.S. Senator) John Breaux
John Breaux
John Berlinger Breaux is a former United States senator from Louisiana who served from 1987 until 2005. He was also a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1972 to 1987. He was considered one of the more conservative national legislators from the Democratic Party...
to see such and such a person or (former U.S. Representative) Bob Livingston
Bob Livingston
Robert Linlithgow "Bob" Livingston Jr. is a Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist and a former Republican U.S. Representative from Louisiana...
to go to such and such a reception."
Huckaby instead became president of his wife's residential real estate business in McLean, Virginia
McLean, Virginia
McLean is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. The community had a total population of 48,115 as of the 2010 census....
. Nationally, Mrs. Huckaby was ranked No. 10 of more than two million Realtors in the United States in sales. For many years, she was the leading Realtor in northern Virginia. In her 30-year career, which began when he became a congressman, Mrs. Huckaby sold more than one thousand homes valued in excess of a billion dollars. Mrs. Huckaby graduated from Ringgold High School in 1961 and attended Stephens College
Stephens College
Stephens College is a women's college located in Columbia, Missouri. It is the second oldest female educational establishment that is still a women's college in the United States. It was founded on August 24, 1833 as the Columbia Female Academy. In 1856, David H. Hickman turned it into a college,...
in Columbia, Missouri
Columbia, Missouri
Columbia is the fifth-largest city in Missouri, and the largest city in Mid-Missouri. With a population of 108,500 as of the 2010 Census, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, a region of 164,283 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Boone County and as the...
and Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
in Baton Rouge. She graduated with a degree in human ecology
Human ecology
Human ecology is the subdiscipline of ecology that focuses on humans. More broadly, it is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments. The term 'human ecology' first appeared in a sociological study in 1921...
from Louisiana Tech in Ruston, where the Sue Woodard Huckaby Endowed Professorship honors her memory. At the time of her death, the Huckabys lived in Great Falls
Great Falls, Virginia
Great Falls is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 15,427 at the 2010 census.Although primarily a bedroom community for Washington, D.C., one major attraction is Great Falls Park which overlooks the Great Falls of the Potomac River, for which...
in Fairfax County
Fairfax County, Virginia
Fairfax County is a county in Virginia, in the United States. Per the 2010 Census, the population of the county is 1,081,726, making it the most populous jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Virginia, with 13.5% of Virginia's population...
, Virginia. They had been active members of Trinity United Methodist Church in McLean for some three decade
Decade
A decade is a period of 10 years. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek dekas which means ten. This etymology is sometime confused with the Latin decas and dies , which is not correct....
s.
The Huckabys' daughter, Michelle Huckaby Lewis (born 1967 in Atlanta, Georgia), and their son-in-law, Todd Lewis, are physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
s of Hummelstown, Pennsylvania
Hummelstown, Pennsylvania
Hummelstown is a borough in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,360 as of the 2000 census. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, where Todd had a cardiology
Cardiology
Cardiology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the heart . The field includes diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease and electrophysiology...
fellowship at the Penn State University Hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
. Both have undergraduate degrees from Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
, and medical degrees from Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
in New Orleans. Both were previously on the staff of the Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
Hospital in Baltimore. Michelle also has a law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
degree from Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. Her specialty centers upon legal issues involving genetic
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
testing of newly-born babies. The Lewises have two sons, Carter (born 2002) and Spencer (born 2005).
The Huckabys also had a son, Thomas Clay Huckaby (January 2, 1975 - June 1, 2002), who was born in Ringgold while his father operated the dairy farm and his mother taught school. Mrs. Huckaby's funeral services were held on September 14, 2008, at the First United Methodist Church of Ringgold. Interment was at the family plot at Providence Cemetery in Ringgold.
In April 2010, Huckaby married the former Marie Hammon, a retired English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
professor at Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 1 school in the national universities category by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings...
and the widow of a former Ruston
Ruston, Louisiana
Ruston is a city in and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,546 at the 2000 census. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Its economy caters to its college population...
police chief. The couple resides in Choudrant
Choudrant, Louisiana
Choudrant is a village in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 582 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Ruston Micropolitan Statistical Area.Former U.S...
in Lincoln Parish
Lincoln Parish, Louisiana
Lincoln Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Ruston. In 2004, its population was estimated to be 42,382...
.