South Louisiana
House District 46
Sydnie Mae Durand (D)
Term limited in 2007
View District Map (pdf)House District 46 Map

Voting History

2002 Senate Race (Runoff) 2003 Governors Race (Runoff)
Mary Landrieu (D) 6,855 (57%) Kathleen Blanco (D) 9,933 (65%)
Suzy Terrell (R) 5,240 (43%) “Bobby” Jindal (R) 5,288 (35%)

2004 Presidential Race 2004 Senate Race
George W. Bush (R) 10,093 (51%) David Vitter (R) 7,220 (37%)
John Kerry (D) 9,399 (47%) Chris John (D) 9,420 (49%)
Others 373 (2%) Others 2,646 (14%)

District Analysis

There are several districts in South Louisiana that fit the stereotype of Louisiana being covered by swamps. District 46 is one of those districts. It can be simply described as “the St. Martin Parish district”, as it contains all of St. Martin Parish except for four precincts that are part of House Districts 39 and 50.

While most of South Louisiana has trended Republican over the years in Presidential and statewide races, there are several parishes (like St. Martin and Assumption) that remain staunchly Democratic. Some of this Democratic preference can be attributed to the large (31%) African-American voter registration here, a percentage that has changed little over the last several years. Also, there has been little population growth - the increase in voter registration has been about two-thirds the statewide increase from 2003-2006.

District 46 is the kind of district that can be counted on to support Democrats in closely contested races, particularly south Louisiana Democrats. It gave good (57 and 65%) margins to Mary Landrieu and Kathleen Blanco. It also was one of a few districts to support Chris John in his Senate race, as he won here 49-37%. And although President Bush did carry St. Martin Parish in 2004, it was a narrow 51-47% win.

The district normally supports its incumbents: since 1981, Democrats Harry Benoit and Sydnie Mae Durand have been its only representatives. The one seriously contested race was in 1991, when Durand defeated Benoit 53-47% in the primary. Since then, her lowest re-election percentage was 70% she received against a Republican in 1995. Even when she ran for the Public Service Commission in 1996 and lost 48-52%, she still received 83% of the vote in her district.

Representative Durand is term-limited in 2007. We rate this district as a “Democratic hold” due to its current demographics and its electoral performance – its support for President Bush was marginal, and a local Democrat can easily exceed the 47% John Kerry received.

There was modest damage from Hurricane Rita, but the worst damage was to the west.

Candidate info

Possibly Running

Fred Mills
• Democrat
• St. Martin Parish Council Member, District 6