With Congressman Charles Boustany, a Lafayette Republican, apparently abandoning the 3rd District to run for the U.S. Senate in 2016, a long and complicated line of potential successors is forming up.

The latest name to surface belongs to state Rep. Stuart Bishop, also a Lafayette Republican, who has the personal finances to jumpstart a media-based campaign. Bishop said he has not made up his mind and is being encouraged to run by voters in the district and his donor base.

Should he run, it would partly be a race of legislators and former legislators. Two other outgoing lawmakers, Rep. Brett Geymann of Lake Charles, who has already started campaigning, and Sen. Elbert Guillory of Opelousas, who is merely flirting at this point, are both part of the mix. Both men are Republicans.

Lafayette Parish School Board Member Erick Knezek is meeting with supporters and looks to be a candidate in the developing race and Greg Ellison, the general manager of Kitty Hawk Energy, appears to be in the beginning stages of a potential run as well.