INCUMBENT: Danny Martiny (Republican)

DESCRIPTION: Senate District 10 is one of two state senate districts that is anchored in the Eastbank of Jefferson Parish and includes the Westernmost portions of Metairie, most of Kenner except for some minority neighborhoods near the Louis Armstrong Airport, and the suburbs of Harahan and River Ridge.

DISTRICT MAP:

District Map

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

JMCEL’s SUMMARY: Senate District 10 is a Republican friendly, upper middle income suburban district that was made more Republican after Democratic precincts in and around the airport were removed in the 2011 redistricting. However, it’s also worth noting that there is a growing Hispanic presence in the district: not only does the district have the highest (7%) percentage of any Senate district of voters who classify themselves as Hispanic, but in the neighborhoods along West Esplanade Avenue in Kenner, the Hispanic voter registration percentages are approaching 20%.

These demographic changes have not yet affected the district’s politics, as it has voted for Republican senators since 1995, and in the last five decades has only had three senators representing it. The district’s first Republican legislator (even though it has pretty faithfully voted Republican in statewide elections for years) was Art Lentini, who served for 12 years until he was term limited out in 2008. At the same time, state representative Danny Martiny was also term limited from his House seat, so he ran for the vacant Senate seat and was elected in the primary with 69% of the vote. He was re-elected without opposition in 2011, and is allowed to serve one more term. He should not have any re-election problems this fall.