INCUMBENT: “Johnny” Berthelot (Republican)

DESCRIPTION: House District 88 is located in northeastern Ascension Parish and includes most of the habitable areas east of LA 44 such as the Saint Amant community, Gonzales, and Sorrento. This is a district that has seen a fair amount of suburbanization, although the underlying blue collar character of the district hasn’t been changed as much as District 59 in and around Prairieville has.

DISTRICT MAP:

District Map

RED/BLUE RATING (using 2008, 2012, and 2014 elections): 71% Republican

JMCEL’s SUMMARY: House District 88 has been a relatively recent creation – it did not exist by itself before the 2003 elections. When it was drawn, it included the more blue-collar/historically Democratic portions of eastern Ascension and southern Livingston Parishes, although it gave “Bobby” Jindal 56% of the vote in his first (unsuccessful) attempt at being governor, just as Mary Landrieu only received 47% while getting 52% statewide. That 2003 election cycle also saw a Republican (“Mert” Smiley) get elected to the district with 54% of the vote in the runoff. After that contest, Rep. Smiley was unopposed in 2007, and vacated the seat in 2011 to get elected Assessor of Ascension Parish. The district also changed as well, as the Livingston precincts were removed, and Gonzales/precincts to the east of LA 44 were added to the district. Even though those changes slightly strengthed the Democratic voter base, the district since 2003 had been moving strongly towards the Republicans, due to a combination of changing voter attitudes and suburban migration, and former Gonzales Mayor “Johnny” Berthelot ran for the seat as a Republican and was elected in the primary with 71% of the vote against two opponents. He is allowed to serve two more terms, and should not have re-election problems in a distrct that gave Mitt Romney 75% and Bill Cassidy 72% of the vote.