Tom McVea (R)
Term limited in 2011
District Map

2002 Senate Race (Runoff)
Mary Landrieu (D) 6,516 (49%)
Suzy Terrell (R) 6,834 (51%)

2003 Governors Race (Runoff)
Kathleen Blanco (D) 8,398 (55%)
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 6,824 (45%)

2004 Presidential Race
George W. Bush (R) 12,170 (62%)
John Kerry (D) 7,346 (37%)
Others 213 (1%)

2004 Senate Race
David Vitter (R) 10,388 (55%)
Chris John (D) 4,499 (24%)
Others 3,931 (21%)

2006 Secretary of State Race
Jay Dardenne (R) 4,126 (47%)
Francis Heitmeier (D) 2,302 (27%)
Mike Francis (R) 1,373 (16%)
Mary Chehardy (R) 466 (5%)
Others 449 (5%)

2007 Governors Race
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 8,103 (52%)
Walter Boasso (D) 2,638 (17%)
John Georges (I) 1,824 (12%)
Foster Campbell (D) 2,651 (17%)
Others 279 (2%)

2007 Agriculture Commissioner Race
“Bob” Odom (D) 6,905 (47%)
Mike Strain (R) 5,186 (35%)
Wayne Carter (R) 2,187 (15%)
Don Johnson (R) 503 (3%)

As you drive along I-10 or I-12 through Baton Rouge and the Florida Parishes, the land seems very flat. If you were to travel north, the flatness gives way to hilly terrain in an area known as the Felicianas. This area is a series of contradictions: behind the image of graceful plantation homes is the reality of rampant rural poverty. Areas with some of the best funded schools in the state are close to schools that are some of the poorest.

District 62 embodies some of these contrasts. Before the 1990s reapportionment, the district contained the Felicianas and areas near Zachary in East Baton Rouge Parish. After 1990, the Felicianas were horizontally divided between two state House districts (Districts 62 and 72), with the “whiter” parts being placed in District 62. District 62 actually contains parts of six parishes: areas around St. Francisville in W. Feliciana, the southern portion of E. Feliciana, the area around Zachary in East Baton Rouge, a precinct in northeast Livingston Parish, the area around Natalbany and Independence in Tangipahoa, and the southern fringe of St. Helena. Overall, the district is 27% African-American, with a 16-29% presence in all of the parishes except in African-American majority St. Helena. Baton Rouge suburbanization has also begun to touch most of the district, as its 9% growth rate is several times faster than the overall statewide average. Zachary has grown an impressive 17%, thanks to the recent creation of an independent Zachary school district. Tangipahoa and Livingston have also grown at a healthy rate, with 13 and 12% growth rates, respectively. The Felicianas have shown only slight growth, and St. Helena Parish has actually lost voters.

Even with increasing suburbanization here, the district has a Republican lean, but is not reliably Republican, due to a “populist coalition” of African-Americans, rural whites, and the numerous state workers employed by prisons and hospitals scattered throughout the area. Suzy Terrell’s 51% victory here was entirely due to her margins from Zachary in East Baton Rouge Parish, although she did have a slight lead in the Felicianas. Kathleen Blanco’s 55-45% margin here helped lift her to victory, with leads in all of the rural parishes overtaking Jindal’s 59-41% margin in East Baton Rouge Parish. However, Bush and Vitter swept the district in 2004 with 62-37 and 55-24% margins. In Bush’s case, he posted nearly 2 to 1 margins everywhere but African-American majority St. Helena Parish. Since David Vitter represented parts of the district in Congress, he led in every parish, receiving absolute majorities everywhere but St. Helena Parish. And in Tangipahoa Parish, he actually ran 2 points ahead of President Bush. “Bobby” Jindal’s 2007 run for Governor echoed the 2004 Republican performance, with a solid 52% of the vote, with absolute majorities in all but East Feliciana and St Helena parishes.

The district has had steady representation, although it has had competitive races here for years. Then-Democrat Tom McVea from St. Francisville (in West Feliciana Parish) was elected here in 1979, but was defeated in the 1983 Edwards landslide by populist Democrat John Travis from Jackson in East Feliciana Parish. John Travis served until 2000, when he appointed Commissioner of Financial Institutions from former Governor Mike Foster. He was succeeded by former Representative McVea, who switched to the Republican Party and has represented the district since 2000.

Unlike other rural districts, District 62 has had robust partisan competition here. In all four of John Travis’ re-election races, his re-election percentages ranged from 51 to 60% against a series of Republican opponents, with changing patterns of support each time. And Representative McVea’s 2000 comeback was a close race, as he defeated his Democratic opponent 52-48% that year. In that race, hometown support from W. Feliciana support combined with a strong 65% Republican vote from East Baton Rouge helped lift McVea to victory. Representative McVea was unopposed in 2003 (the first time in years that the district has not been seriously contested), but received fairly strong opposition in 2007. Though he was re-elected with a 57-34% margin, his “hometown” support in the Felicianas and East Baton Rouge Parish showed up again in the results. He actually ran behind everywhere else with less than 40% support.

Representative McVea is term-limited in 2011. The district’s turn to the right since 2004, combined with a general Republican trend in the Florida Parishes leads us to rate this district as a “likely Republican hold” in 2011, but a strong Democrat could still make this seat competitive.