33 Facts About Foster Campbell

Foster Campbell served in the Louisiana State Senate from 1976 to 2002.

Foster Campbell was an unsuccessful candidate for governor in the 2007 election against Republican Bobby Jindal.

Foster Campbell ran unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives for Louisiana's 4th congressional district three times: in 1980,1988, and 1990.

In 2012, Campbell became chairman of the five-member Public Service Commission.

Foster Campbell was re-elected to a third term on the commission in 2014.

Foster Campbell won a fourth six-year term as Louisiana Public Service Commissioner in 2020.

Foster Campbell owns two insurance agencies, both of which are located in Bossier City.

Foster Campbell has six children from his first wife, Paula Wright, from whom he is divorced: Zach, Peter, Kate, Nicholas, Mary Claire, and Sarah Elizabeth.

In 2009, Foster Campbell was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.

In 1975, Foster Campbell was elected to the Senate to succeed the retiring Conservative Democrat Harold Montgomery of Doyline in Webster Parish.

In hopes of enticing labor-intensive industries to relocate to Louisiana, Foster Campbell proposed to earmark $30 million from the oil and natural gas surplus trust fund.

Foster Campbell then polled 21,652 votes to defeat three Republican candidates, Neil Fox, Roy Underwood, and Helaine George, who was a former unsuccessful candidate for the state House of Representatives against Democrat Everett Doerge.

Foster Campbell chastised the governor for refusal to keep schools open during the summer of 1996 and for other extended hours on the grounds that remediation services were needed in light of poor test scores for fourth graders.

Foster Campbell opposed Foster's proposed tax relief for the oil industry.

In 1988, Foster Campbell narrowly lost the congressional race to a former Roemer aide, Republican Jim McCrery, a native and resident of Shreveport who was reared in Leesville.

Foster Campbell's car dropped more than a foot in a section where concrete was missing from the roadway.

In that 1988 race, Foster Campbell was challenged about his support for Governor Edwin Edwards' $1 billion tax hike.

In 1990, Foster Campbell made this third and final race for the US House, but he was again defeated by McCrery, who solidified his hold on the district.

In 1984, Foster Campbell considered running for the Public Service Commission when the two-term incumbent, Edward Kennon of Minden, stepped down, but he did not seek the position at that time.

In 2002, Foster Campbell was elected from District 5 to the Public Service Commission, the statewide regulatory body in charge of public utilities and the petroleum industry.

Foster Campbell narrowly unseated incumbent Donald Lynn "Don" Owen, a native Oklahoman and a former news anchorman for KSLA-TV, the CBS affiliate in Shreveport.

Foster Campbell prevailed with 123,749 votes to Owen's 120,413.

Foster Campbell garnered 198,033 votes to Monroe Republican challenger Shane Smiley's 177,228 votes to claim his fourth six-year term representing the Fifth District on the Louisiana Public Service Commission in the November 3,2020 election.

In November 2006, Foster Campbell informed the press that he was considering challenging incumbent Governor Kathleen Blanco, a fellow Democrat, in the 2007 primary election.

Foster Campbell subsequently toured the state, raised money, and hired political consultant George Kennedy, who has been described by LAPolitics.

Foster Campbell estimated that this fee would raise $5.5 billion per year, enough to eliminate the state's income tax with nearly $2 billion per year left for discretionary spending.

On March 19,2007, in a press conference held in New Orleans, Foster Campbell officially announced his gubernatorial candidacy.

Foster Campbell faced Jindal and Boasso in the nonpartisan blanket primary as well as a liberal independent, John Georges of New Orleans.

Foster Campbell has no idea what's going on in rural communities and agriculture.

Foster Campbell lost his home parish of Bossier Parish to the successful Republican candidate, Bobby Jindal.

Foster Campbell was a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate vacated in January 2017 by David Vitter.

Foster Campbell's opponents included Republican US Representatives John Fleming of Foster Campbell's own Louisiana's 4th congressional district and Charles Boustany of Louisiana's 3rd congressional district, State Treasurer John Neely Kennedy, former US Representative Joseph Cao of Louisiana's 1st congressional district, and Colonel Rob Maness of Madisonville, a leader in the Tea Party movement.

The race received national attention: Foster Campbell was invited for interviews on MSNBC and CNN.