INCUMBENT: John Schroder (Republican)

DESCRIPTION: House District 77 is located in western Saint Tammany Parish and includes the rapidly growing suburbs of Madisonville and Covington. It also stretches to the north to include the more rural town of Folsom.

DISTRICT MAP:

District Map

RED/BLUE RATING (using 2008, 2012, and 2014 elections): 75% Republican

JMCEL’s SUMMARY: The New Orleans metropolitan area has continuously expanded outward into different parishes across southeast Louisiana, and after Jefferson Parish began to run out of substantial developable space, Saint Tammany Parish was the next logical place for growth to occur. So as New Orleanians have moved “across the lake”, suburban development has occurred in two places: (1) in and around Slidell by the Twin Span Bridge, and (2) in and around Mandeville by the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. This suburban growth has resulted in additional legislative representation for Saint Tammany Parish, as additional House seats have been added after the 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010 Censuses. House District 77 was newly created for the 1983 election cycle, although it curiously didn’t get Republican representation until the same 1995 elections that also saw noticeable Republican gains throughout the I-12 corridor. After her initial election, Republican Diane Winston served until she was term limited out in 2007. Her successor was another Republican, John Schroder, who won in the runoff with 51% of the vote and was unopposed in 2011. He is allowed to serve one more term, and in this heavily Republican disrtict (Mitt Romney received 78% of the vote, while Bill Cassidy got 75%), he should have no re-election problems.