Ken Odinet (D)
Term limited in 2007
District Map

2002 Senate Race (Runoff)
Mary Landrieu (D) 5,377 (54%)
Suzy Terrell (R) 4,579 (46%)

2003 Governors Race (Runoff)
Kathleen Blanco (D) 5,895 (50%)
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 5,995 (50%)

2004 Presidential Race
George W. Bush (R) 8,370 (56%)
John Kerry (D) 6,329 (43%)
Others 125 (1%)

2004 Senate Race
David Vitter (R) 7,612 (54%)
Chris John (D) 3,654 (26%)
Others 2,960 (20%)

2006 Secretary of State Race
Jay Dardenne (R) 689 (33%)
Francis Heitmeier (D) 658 (32%)
Mike Francis (R) 133 (6%)
Mary Chehardy (R) 363 (18%)
Others 235 (11%)

2007 Governors Race
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 2,364 (39%)
Walter Boasso (D) 2,469 (41%)
John Georges (I) 855 (14%)
Foster Campbell (D) 239 (4%)
Others 86 (1%)

2007 Agriculture Commissioner Race
“Bob” Odom (D) 2,545 (47%)
Mike Strain (R) 1,868 (35%)
Wayne Carter (R) 698 (13%)
Don Johnson (R) 297 (5%)

St. Bernard Parish sits off in a corner of the metropolitan area. It is 95% white, with a heavy blue collar presence. Republicans tend to carry the parish in national and local races with varying margins. Recently they have won some legislative races here, although District 103 has remained a Democratic seat since Democrat Ken Odinet recaptured the seat in 1987 from a Republican who was elected in 1983. Since then, Odinet has been re-elected by comfortable margins.

District 103 itself is predominately a St. Bernard Parish district centered on Republican leaning Arabi and Democratic-leaning outer areas of the parish. The remainder of the district is in the easternmost part of New Orleans and is majority black. Overall, the district is 22% black (up from 18% in 2003) and voted 58% for Bush. The voting population of the district has increased 2% before Hurricane Katrina hit the area head on. Virtually all of the district was inundated by the hurricane’s storm surge, and there has since been a massive exodus from the area, with the district as a whole losing 18% of its voters in two years time - 16% of its voters since the last statewide election. Every precinct has lost voters, with some precincts losing 41%.

Rep. Odinet is term-limited in 2007 and unsuccessfully ran for Walter Boasso’s term-limited state Senate seat. While this would have easily been rated a “likely Republican pickup” before Katrina due to the district’s voter history, the rapid voter loss and slow recovery have complicated the situation somewhat. The more Republican precincts in St. Bernard Parish and the Lake Catherine area of New Orleans have lost so many voters that the influence of the solidly Democratic precincts in New Orleans East precincts increased from 26 to 32%. Accordingly, we rate this race as a tossup. Six candidates are running. The Republican candidates are GOP Committeeman Mike Bayham, Clay Cosse, and St. Bernard Parish Councilman Mark Madary (who has the Alliance for Good Government endorsement). Reed Henderson and Rob Ruffino are the Democratic candidates. Attorney ANH Joseph QUANG CAO is running as an Independent.