Incumbent – Stuart Bishop (R – Term Limited in 2023)

District Map

House District 43

Vote History

Current District

The presence of the oil industry has made Lafayette area a Republican stronghold, and areas of Republican voting strength tend to be south and southwest of the downtown area all the way to the Vermilion Parish line. House District 43 includes the southeastern portion of Lafayette Parish, with the western and northern boundaries’ being Verot School Road and the Vermilion River, respectively.

This is an area that is high income and nearly all white  – the black voter registration is 9%, which is about what it was when the district boundaries were last drawn a decade ago. Politically, this is a heavily Republican district throughout, as you have a mixture of high income neighborhoods near the Vermilion River (including the prestigious River Ranch development) and fast growing suburbs near Broussard and Youngsville.

This staunch Republican support (typically over 70%) is consistent in most statewide and federal elections even when a Democrat from Acadiana is on the ballot: when David Vitter was first elected in 2004, he was running against Democrat Chris John. Despite the fact that Chris John had represented the area for 8 years in Congress, he only got 29% of the district vote.

Curiously, this Republican preference was a recent phenomenon in legislative races. Its first Republican was Mike Thompson, who actually was elected as a Democrat in 1975 (he switched parties in 1978 to run unsuccessfully for Congress against John Breaux that year). Thompson, however, was defeated in 1987 by Independent Odon Bacque. Bacque did not run for re-election in 1991, and was succeeded by Democrat Don Higginbotham, who similarly served a single term.

In the 1995 race to succeed Rep. Higginbotham, Democrat Mike Michot (who was from a political family) was elected overwhelmingly over a Republican with 69% of the vote. Michot, however, switched parties in 1997 and left after one term to successfully challenge an incumbent Republican state senator. Michot’s departure enabled a Republican, Ernie Alexander, to be elected – the lone Democrat running only got 23% of the vote. Alexander served for two terms before deciding not to seek re-election in 2007. He was succeeded by Republican Page Cortez, who defeated a fellow Republican with 55% of the vote. Even though Cortez could have served for two more terms, he is running for Michot’s vacant state senate seat, as Senator Michot is term limited. (UPDATED 9/8/2011) He was succeeded by Republican businessman Stuart Bishop, who qualified without opposition in 2011.

New District

The epicenter of robust population growth in the Lafayette area was in District 43, as it had 27% more population than necessary for an “ideal” district (only 5 House districts had more population). The district had to be pared back, and everything to the south and east of Broussard and Youngsville was removed and placed in neighboring districts. These changes reduced the black voter registration from 9 to 8%, and maintained a heavily Republican district that should have no trouble electing another Republican, (UPDATED 9/8/2011) and in fact, Stuart Bishop was elected without opposition in 2011.