Incumbent – Tim Burns (R – Term Limited in 2015)

District Map

House District 89

Vote History

Current District

House District 89 was newly created after the 2001 reapportionment and is located in St. Tammany Parish between Mandeville and Lacombe. It has a low 6% black voter registration, and most of that is concentrated in Lacombe.

Politically, this rapidly growing district is heavily Republican, and typically gives 3 to 1 support to Republicans in federal and statewide elections. In its short electoral history so far, five Republicans sought the seat in the 2003 elections, and the front runner, tax attorney/book author Tim Burns, was elected after his runoff opponent withdrew. He was unopposed in 2007 and unsuccessfully ran for Congress after former Congressman Bobby Jindal was elected Governor – his constituents, though, gave him 71% of the vote in the GOP runoff. Rep. Burns is allowed to seek one more term.

New District

St Tammany Parish has had the good fortune to gain a state House seat each decade for the past several reapportionment cycles. District 89 itself was 20% over populated, and was pared back. Lacombe and areas between Mandeville and Lacombe were placed into a newly created House seat. District 89 also picked up a handful of precincts in the west side of Mandeville from District 77 (represented by Republican John Schroder).

The redrawn district is now centered on Mandeville and has a 2% black voter registration – the lowest figure in the state. It can be expected to vote Republican by a 4 to 1 margin. Rep. Burns (or any other Republican) shouldn’t have any trouble getting elected from this district.