Charles J. (Charlie) Melancon (pronounced Meh-lahn-son) (born October 3 1947 in Napoleonville, Louisiana) is a Democrat who was elected to represent Louisiana's Third Congressional District (map) in a December 4, 2004 runoff election.
The grandson and great-grandson of sugarcane farmers, Melancon owned and operated several small businesses (including two Baskin Robbins) before winning a 1987 special election for the Louisiana House of Representatives. After serving 2 more terms, he headed the American Sugar Cane League from 1993 to 2004. Melancon lives in Napoleonville, a village an hour and a half south of Baton Rouge. He has been married to Peachy Melancon (nee Clark) for over 30 years and they have 2 children, Charles Joseph (Seph) and Claire.
Melancon threw his hat into the 3rd CD ring after longtime incumbent Billy Tauzin announced his retirement. Considered an underdog for much of the race, he managed to squeak into a runoff due to an especially ugly intraparty battle between Republican candidates Billy Tauzin III (the incumbent's son) and Craig Romero. In the runoff campaign, Melancon repeatedly hammered away at Tauzin III's youth, inexperience, criminal record, and family ties (many members of both major parties resented Tauzin's status as frontrunner for the seat solely because his father was the incumbent). Due to the attacks, makeup of the district, and Romero's refusal to endorse Tauzin, Melancon eked out a victory of about 600 votes.
Very soon after being sworn in in January of 2005, Melancon joined the Blue Dog Democrats. He is a fairly conservative Democrat by national standards--in fact, a section of his campaign site, "Louisiana Values," detailed his opposition to gun control, abortion and same-sex marriage. He later said that the 2004 election campaign was the first time in his life that he was called a liberal.
Melancon has been a harsh critic of the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated much of his district. However, some post-Katrina analyses indicate that the political fallout from Katrina may lead to an unseating of incumbents generally, and for demographic reasons, Democratic incumbents in particular.