Charles “Bubba” Chaney (D)
Term limited in 2019
District Map

2002 Senate Race (Runoff)
Mary Landrieu (D) 4,361 (42%)
Suzy Terrell (R) 5,952 (58%)

2003 Governors Race (Runoff)
Kathleen Blanco (D) 6,963 (58%)
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 5,086 (42%)

2004 Presidential Race
George W. Bush (R) 10,658 (66%)
John Kerry (D) 5,410 (33%)
Others 204 (1%)

2004 Senate Race
David Vitter (R) 9,032 (59%)
Chris John (D) 3,253 (21%)
Others 3,133 (20%)

2006 Secretary of State Race
Jay Dardenne (R) 1,226 (20%)
Francis Heitmeier (D) 1,188 (19%)
Mike Francis (R) 3,042 (49%)
Mary Chehardy (R) 379 (6%)
Others 382 (6%)

2007 Governors Race
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 6,623 (53%)
Walter Boasso (D) 2,105 (17%)
John Georges (I) 1,368 (11%)
Foster Campbell (D) 2,030 (16%)
Others 266 (3%)

2007 Agriculture Commissioner Race
“Bob” Odom (D) 5,386 (46%)
Mike Strain (R) 4,587 (39%)
Wayne Carter (R) 932 (8%)
Don Johnson (R) 846 (7%)

District 19 is located in northeast Louisiana and contains all of Richland Parish, and parts of East Carroll, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita, and West Carroll. Despite the fact that it has a sizable minority voter population, it is a receptive territory for Republicans. Bush carried the district 2 to 1, David Vitter led 59-21%, and other Republicans such as Suzy Terrell and Rodney Alexander have won comfortably here. However, this is also the sort of rural district that helped elect Kathleen Blanco in the 2003 Governor’s race (she received 58% of the vote here), then switched to give “Bobby” Jindal crucial support to win outright in the 2007 primary.

There are two things about District 19 that have remained steady over the years: its population and its legislative representation. Democrat Francis Thompson has represented this district since 1975. Over the course of the past 20 years, he has only received opposition twice and both times he was easily re-elected with at least 76% of the vote.

Though Republicans almost always carry this district in contested elections, Democrats remain in control locally. partially because of the district’s 31% African-American voting population. Rep. Thompson was term-limited this year and was elected to C.D. Jones’ state senate seat, yet Republicans were unable to find anyone to run. Instead, conservative Democrat “Bubba” Chaney was comfortably elected with 72% of the vote and will likely have little trouble being re-elected.