Incumbent – Yvonne Dorsey (D – Term Limited in 2019)

District Map

Senate District 14

Vote History

Current District

Anyone writing about Senate District 14 really has two stories to tell: the history of this Senate district, and the ups and downs of Senator Cleo Fields’ political career up to this point.

Senate District 14 was originally created in the 1981 reapportionment as an inner-city district with the intent of being one of the first districts outside of New Orleans to elect a black state senator, which it did in 1983. It was then significantly modified after the 1991 reapportionment. Then Senate President Sammy Nunez (an ally of former Governor Edwards), in the words of John Maginnis, “plotted all summer to twist the GOP grand strategy in order to create more African-American seats but also to protect its own populist majority (that is, the guys who voted to throw out Roemer’s president and to reinstate Sammy Nunez).” Part of this protection of the once solid populist Democratic majority meant that “opposition” senators would receive unfavorable districts wherever possible. One of those opposition senators was former senator Larry Bankston, whose South Baton Rouge district was fragmented. Precincts in the Garden District/Hundred Oaks area, the area to the south of LSU, and black neighborhoods in South Baton Rouge were then added to the first incarnation of this district. After the 2001 reapportionment, the Burbank/Gardere area was also added. The end result of these changes has been a district that contains the major Baton Rouge landmarks (Southern, ExxonMobil, Downtown, and LSU) that has a 63% black voter registration – a figure that has not changed much since 2001. These demographics would already make this a Democratic district, except that the Democratic tendencies are further strengthened by the fact that the white neighborhoods in the district are “Garden District liberal.” Democratic candidates can expect 3 to 1 margins here; even with hometown roots and appeal to more moderate voters, Jay Dardenne was only able to get 32% of the district vote in his race for Lt. Governor last year.

The other “story” to tell is the story of Cleo Fields. As a 24 year old Southern law graduate and SGA President, he was first elected in 1987 in an upset, defeating Dick Turnley, who was part of the “first wave” of African-American politicians in Baton Rouge. Senator Fields quickly gained prominence in the Senate as an opponent of Buddy Roemer and was an important part of the populist power bloc which had overturned Buddy Roemer’s Senate President in a 1990 coup. Though reapportionment changed the district, he was unopposed in 1991. After his re-election, he then ran for (and was elected to) Congress in 1992 in a newly created congressional district (derisively referred to as the “tomato rot” district due to its bizarre shape). Though he served in Congress from 1993 to 1997, he ran for governor in 1995 and made the runoff, only to lose to Mike Foster 63-37%. Ironically, just as redistricting paved the way for Cleo’s Congressional career, it also ended his congressional career in 1996 by eliminating his district and relocating it to north Louisiana, where it has remained ever since.

Succeeding Cleo Fields in 1993 in the Senate was state representative John Guidry. Senator Guidry was elected with 65% of the vote, was unopposed in 1995, and served until he was elected to an appeals court judgeship in 1997. Since Cleo Fields was politically unemployed at that time, he ran for his old seat and was “re-elected” in a 74% landslide, defeating several local black politicians in the process.

Senator Fields was unopposed in 1999, but by then, his political star power had peaked, as it was revealed during a federal investigation of Edwin Edwards that Cleo Fields was videotaped accepting $20,000 in cash from the former governor. In the subsequent 2003 election, he attracted opposition and was held to 53% of the vote against then School Board member (and current state representative) Pat Smith and former Metrocouncilman Byron Sharper – his lowest percentage since he was first elected in 1987. The lingering effects from the $20,000 “contribution” probably also contributed to his failure to get elected to the Public Service Commission in 2004.

Originally, Senator Fields was term-limited in 2007. Legislation that was passed in 2006 allowed Senator Fields  and Representative Wayne Waddell to serve another term, due to the timing of their elections and subsequent swearing in. Sen. Fields’ candidacy, however, was challenged after he qualified to run for re-election. Though a district judge ruled in favor of Sen. Fields, the appeals court reversed the district court, and the reversal was upheld by the Louisiana Supreme Court. Therefore, Cleo Fields was removed from the ballot, and he promptly threw his organizational muscle behind term-limited state Representative Yvonne Dorsey (who, curiously, ran against him in 1997).

Rep. Dorsey led the primary 48-42% and eked out a 93 vote in the runoff against Jason Decuir, who was a young African-American attorney. Though Decuir received solid (64-17% in the primary and 82-18% in the runoff) support in the white neighborhoods, Rep. Dorsey received equally strong (73% in the primary and 74% in the runoff) support in the black precincts. She was clearly helped by Cleo Fields’ organizational muscle, as neighborhoods with a 75% or higher black majority cast 47% of the total vote in the primary and 49% of the total vote in the low-turnout runoff – the extra 2% was her margin of victory, and then some.

Though traditional organizational politics (focusing on traditional “get out the vote” methods in the African-American community) prevailed in this race, the closeness of this race shows that there is not unified support for the current generation of black politicians. Senator Dorsey is allowed to serve for two more terms.

What awaits Cleo Fields’ future? Senator Fields has been an important figure in Louisiana Democratic politics for nearly a quarter century now, providing sometimes crucial organizational muscle to politicians like Mary Landrieu and John Kennedy (when he was a Democrat). In fact, it was noted “more white Democrats owe their offices to Fields than any other elected official of either party (or race) currently alive.” However, it’s questionable as to whether he can be elected to a higher office at this point.

New District

Redistricting was simple in the Baton Rouge area: this was the one part of the state that had robust population growth, and Senate District 14 was 4% overpopulated. Though this district could have been left alone, Senator Dorsey was strengthened by the removal of the precincts around the LSU Lakes/Garden District/Hundred Oaks – these white liberal neighborhoods only gave David Vitter a 48-47% plurality in the Senate race last year. She was further strengthened by the addition of two precincts: one was near Howell Park, while the other one was adjacent to Southern University. Not only did these precinct swaps increase the black voter registration from 63 to 69%, but the removal of the Garden District precincts strengthened Senator Dorsey as well: had the 2007 election been run under the new district lines, she would have received 54% of the vote (she was initially elected with 50%). While Senator Dorsey is in good electoral shape, it will be interesting to see if any local black politicians will challenge her re-election.