INCUMBENT: Ray Garofalo (Republican)

DESCRIPTION: House District 103 is located in the easternmost fringes of the New Orleans metropolitan area and contains most of Orleans Parish east of I-510/Paris Road, all of Saint Bernard Parish, and the east bank of Plaquemines Parish. While the district covers a relatively vast geographical area, most of the district’s terrain is swampy, and its residents generally live along a few major highways that are protected by levees. This is a district that saw nearly total destruction from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

DISTRICT MAP:

District Map

RED/BLUE RATING (using 2008, 2012, and 2014 elections): 54% Republican

JMCEL’s SUMMARY: House District 103 is a blue collar, mostly suburban district that leans Republican (particularly the Saint Bernard precincts in Arabi and Chalmette), but has also shown a fair amount of affection for Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. This has always been an area where former Senator Mary Landrieu has run well – even in her landslide loss to Bill Cassidy in 2014, she still got 53% of the district vote. In legislative races, this is a district that occasionally elected Republicans – this district actually was two separate House districts until massive population losses from Hurricane Katrina caused the two districts to be combined into the current District 103. The current legislator, Ray Garofalo, was elected with 53% of the vote against a Democrat in the 2011 runoff and can serve two more terms. Like several other Republican legislators in the New Orleans metropolitan area, he needs to be mindful of demographic changes occurring in the district: even though Barack Obama only got 40% of the district vote, the Landrieu percentages (60% in 2008, 53% in 2014), combined with a 22% black voter registration (12% a decade ago) and prior Democratic representation here means there is a constituency here that is (or could be) predisposed to vote Democratic.