House District 77 is located in western Saint Tammany Parish and includes Covington, Madisonville, and Folsom. This is a district whose political complexion and partisan representation were substantially changed by suburban growth over the last several decades (the district has grown an estimated 26% since 2010). The district map can be found here.

Due to the suburban growth, this is a heavily Republican district that typically gives Republican candidates at least 3:1 support (Donald Trump carried the district 76-19%, while Senator (and Madisonville resident) John Kennedy carried the district 83-17%. Republican John Schroder has represented the district since his initial election in 2007, and has recently resigned his seat to concentrate on his candidacy for State Treasurer.

Since this is now an open seat race that will likely be on the October 14 ballot at the same time as the special election for Treasurer, JMC was engaged to poll this race. Covington City Councilman Mark Wright has already announced his candidacy, and retired US Air Force Colonel Rob Maness is seriously considering a run.

The poll can be viewed here, and there are four main takeaways: (1) a 40% plurality blame both the legislature and the governor for the inability of the state Legislature to pass a budget during the regular session for the first time since 2000, (2) Colonel Maness (if he were to run) would start this race off with a good head start over his opponent, (3) Maness has substantially more name recognition than his opponent, and (4) the high undecided percentage means this is a wide open race.