INCUMBENT: Bob Hensgens (Republican)

DESCRIPTION: House District 47 is a Vermilion based district that includes Abbeville and additional territory in Vermilion Parish to the north and west, all of Cameron Parish, and three precincts in southeast and southwest Calcasieu Parish along the Cameron Parish line.

DISTRICT MAP:

District Map

RED/BLUE RATING (using 2008, 2012, and 2014 elections): 68% Republican

JMCEL’s SUMMARY: House District 47 is a rural district in southwest Louisiana that historically was strongly Democratic terrain, but has noticeably moved towards Republicans up and down the ballot in recent years. While it gave crucial support to Mary Landrieu and Kathleen Blanco a decade ago (and even more recently, in Mary Landrieu’s 2008 re-election race), in the aftermath of the BP oil spill, David Vitter carried this district by a whopping 67-26% margin over Cajun Democrat Charlie Melancon, who a generation ago would have been a strong favorite. Vitter’s win was no fluke, as Mitt Romney and Bill Cassidy both carried the district by 3:1 margins. In House races, this was for years a solidly Democratic district that Republicans didn’t even attempt to compete in until Jonathan Perry was elected with 55% of the vote in the first primary against two Democrats. He vacated the seat in 2011 to run successfully for an open state senate seat, and in the special election to succeed him, two Republicans ran, and Bob Hensgens was elected with 52%. Even though redistricting theoretically weakened his electoral position by removing some Vermilion Parish precincts and adding three precincts from Calcasieu Parish, he was unopposed when he sought a full term in the fall of 2011. He is allowed to seek two more terms. Even though from a partisan standpoint, he is running in a heavily Republican district now, it’ll be interesting to see whether he gets opposition this time, given that he didn’t get any competition in 2011.