INCUMBENT: Robert Adley (Republican)

DESCRIPTION: Senate District 36 is located in northwest Louisiana and includes all of Webster Parish. It also includes the western portions of Claiborne and Bienville Parishes, as well as the rural and rapidly suburbanizing fringe of Bossier Parish between I-220 and the parish seat of Benton. While this appears to be a rural district from a landmass perspective, Bossier Parish is steadily becoming more dominant in the district: it contained 52% of the voters in 2010 and 54% today.

DISTRICT MAP:

District Map

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

JMCEL’s SUMMARY: Senate District 36 is a district that has changed partially due to the outward movement of Shreveporters, partially because of changing voter attitudes, and partially because of reapportionment. For years, the district voted Republican at the top of the ballot, but from 1975 to 2002 (upon his election to the Public Service Commission), it elected and re-elected populist Democrat Foster Campbell. When Sen. Campbell vacated the seat, Democrat (and former state representative from 1980 to 1996) Robert Adley was easily elected in a special election, and had little re-election troubles in 2007 and 2011, although he did switch to the Republican Party shortly after his 2007 re-election. He is term limited, and in the 2011 reapportionment, the creation of a black majority district between Alexandria and Ruston meant that the district lost some of its black precincts in the rural parishes, and the black voter registration percentage decreased from 27 to 22%, and made this a safer district for Republicans to win. Senator Adley is term limited this year, but given that this district gave Mary Landrieu 46% of the vote a decade ago under the new lines and 30% last year (while Romney got 71%), Republicans should easily be able to hold the district.