INCUMBENT: Chris Leopold (Republican)

DESCRIPTION: House District 105 is figuratively located at “the end of the state” (the district is only accessible by a few state highways), and contains the west bank of Plaquemines Parish and some adjacent Westbank precincts in Jefferson and Orleans Parishes along the Plaquemines Parish line. Much of the district’s land mass is swampy terrain along the Mississippi River Delta that is only partially controlled by a series of levees that are located throughout the district.

DISTRICT MAP:

District Map

RED/BLUE RATING (using 2008, 2012, and 2014 elections): 51% Republican

JMCEL’s SUMMARY: House District 105 is a politically marginal district with a split personality: its Plaquemines Parish precincts are the Republican bulwark of the district (particularly those precincts in and around Belle Chasse), but only cast about half of the district vote. The “other half” of the district (i.e., the Jefferson and Orleans precincts) are more strongly Democratic, and tend to offset the Plaquemines Parish vote, particularly if there are aggressive Democratic “get out the vote drives” when Barack Obama and Mary Landrieu were on the ballot in 2008, 2012, and 2014. From the standpoint of partisan legislative representation, House District 105 was one of the last white majority districts in the New Orleans metropolitan area to elect a Republican, although its the last legislator (Ernest Wooton) was one of several legislators who switched to the Republican Party in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. When he was term limited out in 2011, a competitive three way race between two Republicans and a Democrat ensued, and the runoff winner was Republican Chris Leopold. He is allowed to serve two more terms, although the marginal political personality of the district (thanks to the Orleans and Jefferson precincts) means that he (unlike most Republican legislators) can’t rely solely on generic GOP voter preference come re-election time.