Incumbent – John Bel Edwards (D – Term Limited in 2019)

District Map

House District 72

Vote History

Current District

The northern fringes of the Florida Parishes are a study in contrasts: graceful plantation homes coexisting with areas with rampant poverty and some of the best funded schools in the state miles away from some of the poorest.

District 72 embodies these contrasts. It includes the northern portions of West Feliciana, East Feliciana, and St. Helena parishes. It then follows US 51 in Tangipahoa Parish south into Hammond to include several inner-city precincts. It has a 57% black voter registration, which is a slight uptick from 55% a decade ago. This is a solidly Democratic seat that at a minimum gives Democrats 60% of the vote.

However, despite the fact that this district was designed to elect a black, the district so far has only voted for white Democrats. For a while in the 1980s and 1990s, the district had competitive elections: in 1983 and 1987, it ousted its incumbents, and both the 1991 and 1995 races were forced into a runoff. Finally, in 1996, its 9 year incumbent “Buster” Guzzardo became the first elected official to be convicted from the FBI gambling probe going on at that time. Democrat Robbie Carter was then elected in his place in 1996 and was easily re-elected until term limits forced him to retire.

In the open seat race to replace Rep. Carter (he unsuccessfully ran for Sheriff of St. Helena Parish) five Democrats sought the seat, and attorney John Bel Edwards (the brother of the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff) defeated black George Tucker 66-34% victory in the runoff, carrying each parish with at least 58%. Rep. Edwards is allowed to serve two more terms.

New District

In general, most of the districts in the Florida Parishes had robust population growth, which enabled new districts to be created along I-12. District 72 grew just enough to have nearly exactly the population of an “ideal” district. However, adjustments to adjacent districts had an impact on the district lines, and District 72 contracted in size some. All of the West Feliciana and most of the East Feliciana precincts were removed and placed in District 62 (represented by term limited Republican Tom McVea). District 72 also picked up the southern half of St. Helena Parish from District 62. In Tangipahoa, three precincts were added to the district from adjacent districts in Kentwood, Independence, and Hammond. These changes slightly reduced the black voter registration from 57 to 56%. This remains a heavily Democratic district; the question is whether a black candidate will be able to get elected from this district, as there are still plenty white Democrats who know how to appeal to black voters in this area.