INCUMBENT: Chris Hazel (Republican)

DESCRIPTION: House District 27 is located in Rapides Parish and includes most of its precincts north of the Red River except for the downtown area of Pineville. The district also crosses the Red River to take in some precincts along the Avoyelles Parish line in and around Cheneyville. This is basically middle income suburbia of Alexandria, although there are some rural portions present in the district as well.

DISTRICT MAP:

District Map

RED/BLUE RATING (using 2008, 2012, and 2014 elections): 81% Republican

JMCEL’s SUMMARY: On paper, this is a heavily Republican district – one of the most Republican in the state (Cassidy got 83%, and Romney received 85%), although the conservatives here are more independent minded, and from time to time stray from their Republican reputation – the 54% of the vote that “Bobby” Jindal received here in 2003 was a steep drop-off from typical conservative performance, and arguably contributed to his upset loss in that governor’s race. In adidtion to its independent streak, the district has had turbulent politics for years and until 2007 wasn’t comfortable with consistently electing Republicans, although one was elected in the 1995 GOP wave and stayed for a single term. In fact, for every election since 1983, no one has won here with more than 62% of the vote. The current legislator is Chris Hazel, who was elected in 2007 with 62% of the vote and re-elected in 2011 with 61%. He is allowed to seek one more term, and while he shouldn’t have re-election problems, the independent nature of the district’s conservative voters means he can’t take re-election for granted, since the independent streak of these voters tends to foster competitive races here.