INCUMBENT: Wesley Bishop (Democrat)

DESCRIPTION: House District 99 is located in New Orleans East and includes most of the 9th Ward, including all of the Lower 9th Ward and the Bywater neighborhood.

DISTRICT MAP:

District Map

RED/BLUE RATING (using 2008, 2012, and 2014 elections): 95% Democratic

JMCEL’s SUMMARY: When discussing the catastrophic destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina, the levee breaches in the Lower 9th Ward are typically what come to mind after the breach in the 17th Street canal along the Orleans/Jefferson Parish line. House District 99 includes most of this territory, as well as neighborhoods along I-10 and the Chef Menteur Highway that saw flood waters reach the rooftops of many houses. Since then, there has been some recovery, as well as some gentrification, as the white voter population has increased 1% and the black voter population has decreased 24% since 2010. These changes have not affected the political personality of this district, as it still has a 78% black voting majority, and the white vote here (mainly in the Bywater section) is very liberal. In fact, this district gave 95% of the vote to Barack Obama and 97% for New Orleans native Mary Landrieu last year. The political history here is more complex than in most districts, because the massive population losses that the 9th Ward of New Orleans saw resulted in two House districts (99 and 101) consolidated into one. The incumbent for District 99 was Charmaine Stiaes, who defeated an incumbent in 2003, was easily re-elected in 2007, but with reapportionment combining her district with District 101, decided not to run again. The (former) District 101 incumbent was Democrat Wesley Bishop, who was elected in a January 2011 special election with 75% of the vote against two opponents, then was elected to a full term that fall with 82% of the vote in the combined district. He is allowed to seek two more terms, but is vacating the seat to run for a state senate seat that opened up due to term limits. A black Democrat will almost certainly succeed Rep. Bishop, although given the expanding white electorate in Bywater, it will be interesting to see if this voter bloc influences future elections.