Charlie DeWitt (D)
Term limited in 2007
District Map

2002 Senate Race (Runoff)
Mary Landrieu (D) 4,630 (41%)
Suzy Terrell (R) 6,681 (59%)

2003 Governors Race (Runoff)
Kathleen Blanco (D) 6,266 (51%)
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 6,053 (49%)

2004 Presidential Race
George W. Bush (R) 12,659 (71%)
John Kerry (D) 5,050 (28%)
Others 212 (1%)

2004 Senate Race
David Vitter (R) 9,983 (59%)
Chris John (D) 4,277 (25%)
Others 2,571 (16%)

2006 Secretary of State Race
Jay Dardenne (R) 2,134 (25%)
Francis Heitmeier (D) 2,054 (24%)
Mike Francis (R) 2,829 (33%)
Mary Chehardy (R) 746 (9%)
Others 801 (9%)

2007 Governors Race
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 7,611 (58%)
Walter Boasso (D) 2,194 (17%)
John Georges (I) 1,737 (13%)
Foster Campbell (D) 1,378 (10%)
Others 233 (2%)

2007 Agriculture Commissioner Race
“Bob” Odom (D) 4,730 (38%)
Mike Strain (R) 5,065 (40%)
Wayne Carter (R) 1,935 (15%)
Don Johnson (R) 827 (7%)

The Alexandria area has been a political paradox; it normally supports Republicans in closely contested races, yet Republicans have made little headway in local races – it has the only all-Democratic legislative delegation of any metropolitan area in Louisiana

One of those Democratic House districts is District 25. Though it could be characterized as a “suburban district”, it’s more accurate to say that the district is made up of three distinct parts: the western suburban fringe of Alexandria beyond MacArthur Drive, the rural fringes of Rapides due west of the suburban areas, and (added after the 2000 redistricting) a finger of land in Vernon Parish stretching all the way to the eastern edge of Leesville. Due to modest suburban growth from Alexandria, it gained registered voters at about a 6% rate, which is three times faster than the state as a whole between 2003-2007. It has a relatively low (16%) African-American population, and is receptive to Republicans at the statewide level. Suzy Terrell received about 60% of the vote, Bush received over 70% of the vote, and David Vitter won 59-25%. Even during Kathleen Blanco’s sweep of Central Louisiana and Rapides Parish in the 2003 governor’s race, she only broke even in this district.

Since 1980, Democrat Charlie DeWitt of Lecompte (a small town southeast of Alexandria) has represented the district with little competition for the seat. The closest race he had was 1987 re-election, where he received 62% of the vote in the primary against two opponents. He was unopposed in 2003. Representative DeWitt has been a major player in the House for years, and was chosen by then-Governor Foster as Speaker from 2000-2004 for that reason.

He is term-limited in 2007, and three candidates are running to succeed him: Republican Lance Maxwell (who worked for Senator Vitter) is running against Democrats Glen Beard and Chris Roy. Though Republicans never really targeted this seat while Rep. DeWitt occupied it, we see this seat as “leans Republican” and a likely Republican pickup.