Incumbent – Frankie Howard (R – Term Limited in 2019)

District Map

House District 24

Vote History

Current District

District 24 is located in Central Louisiana and contains all of Sabine and Red River Parishes. It also contains three precincts in southeast DeSoto Parish and a portion of Vernon Parish between Leesville and the Sabine River. It has a modest 18% black voter registration (half of the black voter population lives in Red River Parish alone), which has remained unchanged for the last decade.

This is a district that historically voted Republican in Presidential races but usually preferred Democrats in statewide races, although in recent years there has been an unmistakable trend towards the Republicans, especially in Sabine Parish.

In legislative races, this was a district that historically voted Democratic without much contest. Between 1986 and 2007, Joe Salter was its representative. He was only seriously challenged once (in 1991), and was unopposed several times. In his last term, former Governor Blanco picked him to be the Speaker of the House.

Rep. Salter was term-limited in 2007, and four candidates sought the seat. This was of several open seats that the Republicans made an effort to win, and its candidate, former Sheriff “Frankie” Howard, was victorious in the runoff 53-47%, with 2 to 1 margins in Sabine and Vernon Parishes. He is allowed to serve two more terms.

New District

Reapportionment in Central Louisiana was a bit complicated by the perceived need to create additional black majority districts. One of those new districts was created was between Natchitoches and Mansfield. Though District 24 was theoretically safe with its relatively low black registration, as well as the fact that it had 6% more people than necessary for an “ideal” district, the reconfiguration the nearby district in Natchitoches to be majority black had a ripple effect. Red River and De Soto Parishes were removed from the district, as was a portion of Sabine Parish north of Zwolle. District 24 also picked up most of Natchitoches Parish west of I-49, and picked up fragments of Vernon Parish east of Leesville that were once in neighboring districts.

These changes reduced the black voter registration from 18 to 9%, and created a district even more favorable to Republican candidates in general and Rep. Howard specifically. The center of gravity in the district, however, has shifted: a district that once had 52% of its voters in Sabine and 25% in Vernon is now 45% Sabine and 44% Vernon, with Natchitoches Parish holding the balance of power. (UPDATED 9/8/2011)  Though Rep. Howard was re-elected without opposition in 2011, it will be interesting to see in the future whether a Vernon or Sabine candidate can get elected here.