Boustany stepped down from the U.S. House in January 2017; he was a candidate for the United States Senate in 2016 in a bid to succeed the retiring Republican David Vitter. Boustany did not advance beyond the primary election, finishing third in the jungle primary behind Republican John Neely Kennedy and Democrat Foster Campbell. He was succeeded in the House of Representatives by Clay Higgins, a Republican who is a Lafayette law enforcement officer residing outside the district in St. Landry Parish.