Rick Gallot (D)
Term limited in 2011
District Map

2002 Senate Race (Runoff)
Mary Landrieu (D) 6,003 (66%)
Suzy Terrell (R) 3,068 (34%)

2003 Governors Race (Runoff)
Kathleen Blanco (D) 5,957 (66%)
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 2,999 (34%)

2004 Presidential Race
George W. Bush (R) 5,933 (40%)
John Kerry (D) 8,673 (59%)
Others 166 (1%)

2004 Senate Race
David Vitter (R) 4,996 (38%)
Chris John (D) 5,197 (39%)
Others 3,127 (23%)

2006 Secretary of State Race
Jay Dardenne (R) 685 (16%)
Francis Heitmeier (D) 1,625 (37%)
Mike Francis (R) 1,185 (27%)
Mary Chehardy (R) 407 (9%)
Others 504 (11%)

2007 Governors Race
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 3,193 (36%)
Walter Boasso (D) 2,057 (23%)
John Georges (I) 860 (10%)
Foster Campbell (D) 2,527 (29%)
Others 221 (2%)

2007 Agriculture Commissioner Race
“Bob” Odom (D) 4,890 (61%)
Mike Strain (R) 2,093 (26%)
Wayne Carter (R) 669 (8%)
Don Johnson (R) 386 (5%)

During the 1991 reapportionment, the U.S. Justice Department mandated the creation of additional African-American majority districts in the Louisiana legislature. House District 11 was one of those districts created in north Louisiana that is a mixture of college-town and part rural. The “college town” section is the portion of Lincoln Parish around Grambling, which is the home of Grambling University. The “country” section of the district includes all of Claiborne Parish and the northern fringe of Bienville Parish.

Overall the district has a stable 59% African-American voting majority, which keeps the district in the Democratic column in election after election. Typically, the Republican range of support is between 34 and 40 percent of the vote, as the solid African-American majorities in Lincoln and Bienville Parish easily outvote the occasional Republican margins in Claiborne Parish. The district’s voting population has changed little over the years, and is actually 1% less than it was in 2003.

Unlike most north Louisiana districts, District 11 had turbulent politics back in the 1980s and early 1990s. It ousted incumbents both in 1987 and 1991. The 1991 turnover was due to the reconfiguration of the district to be majority African-American. In the racially charged gubernatorial runoff between Edwin Edwards and David Duke that year, the racial polarization and the accompanying surge in Democratic turnout helped oust both the white incumbent here and the Republican incumbent in neighboring Webster Parish. The victor in that race, with 52% of the vote, was African-American Democrat Pinkie Wilkerson. After her initial election contest, she was easily re-elected in 1995 and 1999, although her tenure was cut short by her death in August 2000. She was succeeded by another African-American Democrat, Rick Gallot, who was elected in the primary with 58% of the vote, was unopposed in 2003, and received a solid 66% re-election in 2007. When he is term-limited in 2011, a Democrat is heavily favored to win; it’s worth watching to see if a candidate from the rural areas can compete against the Grambling candidates who have been victorious so far.