Bob Livingston

Robert Linlithgow Livingston, Jr., known as Bob Livingston (born 1943 in Colorado Springs, Colorado), is a Republican former member of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana's First Congressional District, based largely in the New Orleans suburbs. In August 1977, Livingston won a special election for the U. S. House seat by defeating the Democratic State Representative Ron Faucheux. Livingston succeeded Richard Alvin Tonry (1935-2012), the last Democrat to hold the First District seat. Livingston resigned from the House in the spring of 1999 after nearly twenty-two years of service, just a few months after he had won his last term in November 1998.

In 1987, Congressman Livingston ran a weak third in the race for governor of Louisiana. Victory went to then Democrat U.S. Representative Buddy Roemer, who led the nonpartisan blanket primary. The second-place candidate, third-term Governor Edwin Edwards, withdrew from what would have been the general election. Roemer subsequently was defeated for reelection in 1991, when Edwards reclaimed the governorship in a contested runoff with then State Representative David Duke of Jefferson Parish.

Extra-marital affair

Livingston resigned from Congress during the time of the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton after it was revealed that Livingston was having an extra-marital affair. The Speaker's position then went to J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois. Livingston reconciled with his wife, the former Bonnie Robichaux, a niece of the late Democratic U.S. Senator Allen J. Ellender of Louisiana. The Livingstons' son, Richard, was killed in 2006 by a live wire while he was trimming a tree.