INCUMBENT: Mike Walsworth (Republican)

DESCRIPTION: Senate District 33 is located in north Louisiana and includes all of Union and West Carroll Parishes. It also includes portions of Claiborne, Lincoln, Morehouse, and Ouachita Parishes. While this appears to be a rural district, 39% of the voters live in the northern suburbanized fringes of Ouachita Parish.

DISTRICT MAP:

District Map

RED/BLUE RATING (using 2008, 2012, and 2014 elections): 70% Republican

JMCEL’s SUMMARY: Senate District 33 was a district that best exemplifies the changing preference of north Louisiana voters from Democratic to Republican in legislative races. Because even though its portion of Ouachita Parish is strongly Republican, there was a strong Democratic vote from the rural parishes. From 1994 until term limits forced him to retire, Robert Barham represented the district. He was originally elected as a Democrat, but he switched to the Republican Party after his 1999 re-election. In the race to succeed him in 2007, two term-limited legislators ran: Democrat Charles McDonald and Republican Mike Walsworth. While McDonald had the advantage of representing more of the district’s voters, the GOP wave in 2007 that elected “Bobby” Jindal governor also enabled Republicans to win several Senate races in north Louisiana, and Walsworth’s 2:1 lead in Ouachita Parish was augmented by 61% of the vote in Union Parish, and the combination of those two wins enabled him to win with 52% of the district vote. Redistricting strengthened him politically by removing black majority precincts around Bastrop in Morehouse Parish, as well as adding the northern portions of Lincoln Parish and more territory from Ouachita Parish. That took a district with a 28% black voter registration to 23% (it is 25% today), and Sen. Walsworth was re-elected without opposition in 2011. He is allowed to serve one more term, and shouldn’t have re-election problems in a district that gave both Mitt Romney and Bill Cassidy 71% of the vote.