Dudley Anthony Gautreaux, known as Butch Gautreaux (December 12, 1947 – February 22, 2020) was an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the

Louisiana State Senate The Louisiana State Senate (; ) is the upper house of Louisiana’s legislature. Senators serve four-year terms and participate in various committees. Composition The Louisiana State Senate has 39 members elected from single-member districts ...

from Morgan City,

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. From 2000 to 2012, he represented Senate District 21. In 2012, the reconfigured district incorporated mostly Republican portions of

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...

, Lafourche,

St. Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

, and Lafourche parishes. Gautreaux won his last election to the Senate in 2007, when he defeated the Republican Clayton D. Diaz, 25,348 (71 percent) to 10,372 (29 percent). At that time the district also included two precincts in St. Martin Parish, since removed from the reconfiguration. From 1996 to 2000, Gautreaux was a member of the

Louisiana House of Representatives The Louisiana House of Representatives (; ) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 representatives, each of whom represents approximately 4 ...

from District 51 but vacated the post after the single term to run for the Senate. In the 1995 general election, Gautreaux defeated the Democrat-turned-Republican Joe Harrison, 8,457 votes (69 percent) to 3,809 ballots (31 percent). Harrison was subsequently elected in 2007 to House District 51 and still holds the seat.

Background

Gautreaux attended

Nicholls State University Nicholls State University is a public university in Thibodaux, Louisiana. Founded in 1948, Nicholls is part of the University of Louisiana System. Originally named Francis T. Nicholls Junior College, the university is named for Francis T. Nichol ...

Thibodaux Thibodaux ( ) is a city in and the parish seat of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, United States, along the banks of Bayou Lafourche in the northwestern part of the parish. The population was 15,948 at the 2020 census. Thibodaux is a principal city ...

, Louisiana. He served from 1967 to 1972 in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. He is active in

Rotary International Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and p ...

, having been secretary of the Morgan City chapter. Gautreaux has served as vice president of marketing for Marsianin Industrial Contractors

LLC A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

in Morgan City and

administrator Administrator or admin may refer to: Job roles Computing and internet * Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database * Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum * N ...

for Arabie Trucking Services LLC in Thibodaux.

Race for lieutenant governor

Gautreaux sought the

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

ship of Louisiana in a 2010

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

occasioned by the resignation of incumbent

Mitch Landrieu Mitchell Joseph Landrieu ( ; born August 16, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician who served as Mayor of New Orleans from 2010 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana from 2004 t ...

when Landrieu became

mayor of New Orleans The post of Mayor of the City of New Orleans () has been held by the following individuals since New Orleans came under American administration following the Louisiana Purchase — the 1803 acquisition by the U.S. of of the French province '' ...

. In a field of eight candidates Gautreaux, who had the official endorsement of the Louisiana

AFL-CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...

, polled 4 percent of the vote. He then endorsed fellow Democrat Caroline Fayard in the runoff against the frontrunner, the Republican

Jay Dardenne John Leigh "Jay" Dardenne, Jr. (born February 6, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who served as commissioner of administration for Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards. A Republican, Dardenne previously se ...

, a former State Senate colleague of Gautreaux's. Dardenne won a full term as lieutenant governor in the

nonpartisan blanket primary A nonpartisan primary, top-two primary, or jungle primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of political party. This distinguishes them from partisan primaries, w ...

held on October 22, 2011. Gautreaux was term-limited in the state Senate and ineligible to run in the October 22 primary. His successor is Republican R. L. "Bret" Allain, II, who received 14,618 votes (51.4 percent) in the contest with another Republican, Darrin Guidry, who polled 13,846 votes (48.6 percent). No Democrat sought Gautreaux's seat in the revised district.

Personal life

Gautreaux and his wife, the former Marilyn Mire, were

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. He died on February 22, 2020, in

Morgan City, Louisiana Morgan City is a small city in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, United States, located in the Acadiana region. The population was 11,472 at the 2020 census. Known for being "right in the middle of everywhere", Morgan City is located southeast of ...

at age 72.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gautreaux, Butch 1947 births 2020 deaths Cajun people Democratic Party Louisiana state senators Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives Nicholls State University alumni United States Navy sailors Businesspeople from Louisiana Military personnel from Louisiana 20th-century members of the Louisiana State Legislature 21st-century members of the Louisiana State Legislature