INCUMBENT: Kenny Cox (Democrat)

DESCRIPTION: House District 23 is located in northwest Louisiana and is located along either side of I-49. It was drawn specifically to take in black precincts in De Soto Parish, Red River Parish, and Natchitoches Parish. This was also a district that was changed considerably after the 2011 redistricting.

DISTRICT MAP:

District Map

RED/BLUE RATING (using 2008, 2012, and 2014 elections): 65% Democratic

JMCEL’s SUMMARY: Redistricting in 2011 was more disruptive than normal, because of massive population losses in and around New Orleans. And with the loss of black majority districts there, new districts had to be drawn elsewhere to meet the presumed mandates of the Voting Rights Act. At the time the lines were being redrawn, Natchitoches Parish was represented by a freshman Republican named Rick Nowlin who was elected in 2007 with 55% of the vote, and in that race, he actually received a 56% majority of the black vote, which is highly unusual for a Republican. Redistricting considerably changed the demographics of the district by adding black majority portions of De Soto and Red River Parish, while at the same time removing white majority precincts from northeast and southwest Natchitoches Parish. These changes put Rep. Nowlin at an electoral disadvantage, especially since (unlike 2007), he had a black opponent. So despite still getting an impressive 24% of the black vote in Natchitoches Parish, black turnout was 63% higher than it was in 2007, and Rep. Nowlin lost 53-47% to Democrat Kenny Cox in the runoff. Rep. Cox is allowed to seek two more terms and should be in decent shape for re-election, although since he comes from a parish (De Soto) that only contains 26% of the district’s voters, he is theorteically vulnerable to a Natchitoches Parish-based candidate.