INCUMBENT: Katrina Jackson (Democrat)

DESCRIPTION: House District 16 is located in northeast Louisiana and contains parts of two parishes: a portion of Ouachita Parish in and around the Monroe airport north of I-20, and a salient of territory in Morehouse Parish that stretches up to the town of Bastrop.

DISTRICT MAP:

District Map

RED/BLUE RATING (using 2008, 2012, and 2014 elections): 66% Democratic

JMCEL’s SUMMARY: When the district lines were drawn in 2011, population losses in the New Orleans metropolitan area meant that black majority districts had to be eliminated. And as those districts were eliminated, new black majority districts had to be drawn in other parts of the state. Northeast Louisiana was an obvious place to start, for two reasons: (1) there was a substantial black population in and around Monroe, and (2) there was also a term limited representative (Republican Kay Katz) whose seat could easily be sacrificed. For the Republicans, there was an additional benefit: two adjacent marginally Republican House districts were made more Republican by the removal of black voters to create this district. This was the context under which District 16 was reconfigured in 2011, as it was formerly a district that contained Monroe’s most affluent precincts and included territory in northern Ouachita Parish between Monroe and Sterlington. That district had a 20% black voter registration, and elected Republican Kay Katz from 1999 to 2011. The redrawn district includes black neighborhoods in Monroe near the airport and Bastrop, as well as some more middle income neighborhoods near University of Louisiana at Monroe – a district that currently has a 64% black voter registration. In the open seat race in 2011 in this redrawn district, Democrat Katrina Jackson was elected in the primary with 51% of the vote. She is allowed to serve two more terms, and should be safe for re-election, although she has to be mindful of a possible candidacy from a Bastrop candidate.