House District 20
Lelon Kenney (D)
Term limited in 2007
District Map

2002 Senate Race (Runoff)
Mary Landrieu (D) 5,286 (48%)
Suzy Terrell (R) 5,749 (52%)

2003 Governors Race (Runoff)
Kathleen Blanco (D) 9,076 (65%)
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 4,950 (35%)

2004 Presidential Race
George W. Bush (R) 12,771 (67%)
John Kerry (D) 5,967 (31%)
Others 257 (2%)

2004 Senate Race
David Vitter (R) 9,959 (56%)
Chris John (D) 4,028 (23%)
Others 3,748 (21%)

2006 Secretary of State Race
Jay Dardenne (R) 1,310 (16%)
Francis Heitmeier (D) 1,793 (22%)
Mike Francis (R) 3,876 (48%)
Mary Chehardy (R) 509 (6%)
Others 657 (8%)

2007 Governors Race
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 7,918 (47%)
Walter Boasso (D) 2,984 (18%)
John Georges (I) 2,157 (13%)
Foster Campbell (D) 3,156 (19%)
Others 531 (3%)

2007 Agriculture Commissioner Race
“Bob” Odom (D) 7,400 (47%)
Mike Strain (R) 5,792 (36%)
Wayne Carter (R) 1,591 (10%)
Don Johnson (R) 1,098 (7%)

District 20 is located in northeast Louisiana and contains all of Caldwell, Franklin, Catahoula, and part of Tensas Parish. It has a modest (25%) African-American population, which has remained steady because the district has been losing population for years – it lost 1% of its registered voters from 2003 to 2007. It generally supports Republican candidates for statewide elections, but has an independent streak characteristic of a swing district: Mary Landrieu’s 48% of the vote in 2002 and Blanco’s whopping 65% were crucial in both candidates’ victories against strong Republican challenges. The district strongly supported victorious conservative Republican candidates in 2004, however, as Bush and Congressman Rodney Alexander both received nearly 70% of the vote and David Vitter carried the district 56-23%.

While the district is a swing district in contested statewide races, it has been steady in its legislative representation, solidly supporting its candidates, with contested races only when the incumbent vacates the seat to run for another office. This was the late Fox McKeithen’s House seat from 1983-1987 until he successfully ran for Secretary of State in 1987. Noble Ellington succeeded him and served from 1987-1995, vacating the seat in 1995 to run for the state Senate. Since 1995, Lelon Kenney of Columbia has represented the district and is term-limited in 2007.

While term-limits caused a lot of House candidates to run for vacated Senate seats, this is one of two House districts with a term-limited state senator is running, as former Rep. Noble Ellington is running for the vacated seat and is facing two Democrats: Cleve Womack and Jeff Wyant.

Though this district moved far to the right in 2004, the lack of Republican competition for the seat this year makes it unlikely that a Republican will be elected here any time soon. In fact, the failure of Republicans to compete for this seat and Francis Thompson’s adjacent seat under favorable circumstances makes Republican control of the state house less than a sure thing.