INCUMBENT: John Alario (Republican)

DESCRIPTION: Senate District 8 is located in the Westbank and includes most of the geographic landmass of the Jefferson Parish portion, which means that Westwego, most of Marrero, and Terrytown are in the district. The district also includes the lightly populated areas to the south all the way to Grand Isle, and it includes most of the Westbank of Plaquemines Parish (except for Belle Chasse) as well.

DISTRICT MAP:

District Map

RED/BLUE RATING (using 2008, 2012, and 2014 elections): 51% Democratic

JMCEL’s SUMMARY: In Metro New Orleans, parish boundaries are technicalities, as Orleans and Jefferson Parishes both straddle the Mississippi River. Instead, the real “boundaries” are between the “Eastbank” and the “Westbank” (affectionately titled “the best bank” by locals). The West Bank has historically contained proportionately more of the black and blue collar suburbs in Jefferson Parish, although Republicans have been competitive here in the white majority neighborhoods.

Politically, Senate District 8 is a marginal district. While its black majority areas around Harvey are in adjacent districts, all of the Westbank has seen substantial demographic changes since Hurricane Katrina, and the district has a 32% black voter population (up from 30% when the lines were redrawn four years ago). And while Republicans more often than not carry the district in statewide races, it has not been by wide margins: Mitt Romney in 2012 could only get 52% of the vote in the same district that gave John McCain 57% of the vote in 2008. And while David Vitter carried the district 51-42% in his last (2010) Senate race, Mary Landrieu also received 57% of the vote against Bill Cassidy in 2014.  Not only was this an impressive percentage, but it was only a 2% dropoff in support relative to her 2008 race (statewide, her support declined 8%).

While demographic changes here and elsewhere in the Westbank have made the area more Democratic friendly, this district has had very stable Senate representation, as the seat has only changed hands two times in the last 44 years. The last state senator was former state representative J. Chris Ullo, who upset a longtime Senate incumbent in 1987 and was usually re-elected pretty easily, although a Republican held him to 56% of the vote in 2003. When Senator Ullo was term limited in 1987, then representative and two time House Speaker John Alario was term limited himself after 36 years of service in the House, and he ran for the open seat and easily defeated a Republican with 63%, with 76% of the vote from his old House district. Senator Alario then switched parties after the 2010 elections, and was re-elected without opposition in 2011. He is allowed to seek one more term, and is unlikely to have any electoral troubles, although whether the Republicans can hold onto the seat in 2019 when he is term limited is another matter, given the Democratic trend in the district.