BATON ROUGE - Louisiana's newest U.S. senator, Republican John Kennedy, has taken the oath of office as the latest term of Congress began.

Also sworn in Tuesday were two new U.S. House members for Louisiana's delegation: Republicans Clay Higgins in the southwest Louisiana-based 3rd District and Mike Johnson in the northwest Louisiana-based 4th District.

All three won runoff elections last month.

Kennedy, who had been Louisiana's treasurer, defeated Democratic Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell for the Senate seat, getting 61 percent of the vote. He's taken the seat previously held by Republican David Vitter, who didn't run for re-election.

Kennedy resigned as treasurer mid-day Monday. An Oct. 14 special election will be held to fill the position. Ron Henson, Kennedy's top assistant, is leading the agency until a new treasurer is elected.