INCUMBENT: Francis Thompson (Democrat)

DESCRIPTION: Senate District 34 is located in the Delta region of Northeast Louisiana and contains all or parts of seven parishes: all of Tensas, Madison, and East Carroll Parishes, and portions of Concordia, Richland, Morehouse, and Ouachita Parishes. This was a district that was drawn in 1991 to be a black majority district.

DISTRICT MAP:

District Map

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

JMCEL’s SUMMARY: Before the 1991 reapportionment, the only black majority Senate districts came from urban areas like Shreveport, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. That changed when the Justice Department mandated the creation of additional black majority districts. But while District 34 has a solid 67% black voter registration, it would be a mistake to think that the black majority is a monolithic voter bloc in this district. In fact, the district has a split personality can be best described as “urban versus rural.” The “urban” area is the district’s portion of Ouachita Parish, which is essentially the black majority precincts south of I-20, as well as some precincts in and around the University of Louisiana at Monroe, and some of West Monroe. The remainder of the district (where 55% of the voters live) is in the rural parishes along the delta or between the Delta and Monroe.

So while Democrats are guaranteed 2/3 of the vote if the black vote turns out, black voter turnout typically lags behind its numbers on the voter rolls, and rural blacks don’t necessarily vote the same way as Monroe blacks do. This is how to explain how a white legislator got elected to this district in 2007. Before that, black representative C.D. Jones from Monroe held the district from 1991 to 2007, and in his first two races (in 1991 and 1995), he ran behind the typical percentages that a Democratic candidate would normally get in the rural parishes. The “urban versus rural” division in the district showed up more noticeably in 2007 when Sen. Jones was term limited. Democratic state representative Francis Thompson, himself term limited from a rural House district, ran against two black Democrats and in the primary was elected with 52% of the vote by getting 64% of the “rural” vote and 35% of the vote in Ouachita Parish. Redistricting actually strengthened his hand by adding black majority precincts in Morehouse Parish in and around Bastrop. He was unopposed in 2011, and is allowed to serve one more term. Theoretically, he should be vulnerable to a black challenger, but as long as he keeps his biracial rural voter base (which after reapportionment now outvotes Ouachita Parish), he should be re-elected, although when he leaves, a black candidate would likely be elected from this district.