Incumbent – Austin Badon (D – Term Limited in 2015)

District Map

House District 100

Vote History

Current District

House District 100 is located in New Orleans East and is a compact district that is roughly bordered by Paris Road/I-510, Chef Menteur Highway, Crowder Boulevard, and Lake Pontchartrain. This is a district with a substantial 90% black voting majority (it was 84% when the district lines were last drawn), as you have continuous white outmigration from the area. 

This is an area that is solidly (as in, typically over 90%) Democratic, although unlike areas closer in, what’s left of the white minority is not at all white liberal. 

This is a district that has seen a fair amount of turnover over the years. Up until the early 1990s, this was a white majority district. The last white Democrat to represent the district was Louis Ivon, who represented the district from 1984 to 1992, but was one of several electoral casualties in the 1991 Edwards/Duke runoff, thanks to the energized black turnout in that race: he lost 52-48% to black Democrat David Armstrong. Rep. Armstrong resigned in the middle of his term, and was replaced in a special election by Cynthia Willard-Lewis, who with 53% of the runoff vote squelched Rep. Ivon’s attempted comeback. Rep. Willard-Lewis served until her resignation in 2000 because she had been elected to the New Orleans City Council (she is now the district’s state senator). In a special election to succeed her, former Saints linebacker Pat Swilling was elected, but was unable to get elected to a full term: Austin Badon defeated him in the 2003 runoff 53-47%. (UPDATED 9/9/2011) Rep. Badon was easily re-elected in 2007, was unopposed in 2011, and is allowed to serve one more term.

New District

Extensive flooding due to Hurricane Katrina (some areas received over 10 feet of water) caused depopulation in the district, but not to the same extent as in the Lower 9^th Ward, as you have a black population that is more middle class (with some upper class enclaves as well) here. Overall the district was 30% under populated, which meant that adjustments had to be made. What helped the position of District 100 was that its neighbors to the east and south had state representatives who either were term limited or had vacated the seat upon election to Congress. Consequently, those districts (District 101 in New Orleans East and District 104 in Chalmette) were eliminated in redistricting. This meant that District 100 was able to expand to the east and to the west. Along the west side of the district, precincts along Crowder Boulevard were added to the district from District 101, while to the east, precincts between Paris Road and Michoud Boulevard were added (this area of town has a significant Vietnamese population). 

(UPDATED 9/9/2011) These changes slightly diluted the black voter registration from 90 to 88%, but the district is safe for a black Democrat in general.