BATON ROUGE (AP) — Republican newcomer Vance McAllister has been sworn in as the newest member of Congress, to represent northeast, central and a portion of southeast Louisiana.

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner held the swearing-in ceremony Thursday.

The rural 5th District had been without a congressman since September, when Republican Rodney Alexander left his seat midterm to take a job in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration.

McAllister won an unexpected landslide victory over Republican state Sen. Neil Riser in last weekend’s runoff election.

A businessman in the oil and gas industry, McAllister ran an upstart campaign, with no heavyweight fundraising and little political help.

He paid for his campaign effort largely from his own personal wealth and grabbed attention with the endorsement of the bearded men of the popular “Duck Dynasty” reality TV show.