Chuck Kleckley (R)
Term limited in 2015
District Map

2002 Senate Race (Runoff)
Mary Landrieu (D) 5,229 (41%)
Suzy Terrell (R) 7,592 (59%)

2003 Governors Race (Runoff)
Kathleen Blanco (D) 5,317 (39%)
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 8,350 (61%)

2004 Presidential Race
George W. Bush (R) 14,039 (70%)
John Kerry (D) 5,954 (29%)
Others 190 (1%)

2004 Senate Race
David Vitter (R) 10,957 (55%)
Chris John (D) 7,473 (38%)
Others 1,442 (7%)

2006 Secretary of State Race
Jay Dardenne (R) 1,235 (24%)
Francis Heitmeier (D) 1,010 (20%)
Mike Francis (R) 2,305 (45%)
Mary Chehardy (R) 328 (6%)
Others 278 (5%)

2007 Governors Race
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 7,839 (66%)
Walter Boasso (D) 1,681 (14%)
John Georges (I) 1,319 (11%)
Foster Campbell (D) 939 (8%)
Others 132 (1%)

2007 Agriculture Commissioner Race
“Bob” Odom (D) 3,393 (30%)
Mike Strain (R) 5,646 (49%)
Wayne Carter (R) 1,571 (14%)
Don Johnson (R) 879 (8%)

House District 36 is a rectangular-shaped district covering the southern suburbs of Lake Charles on both sides of the Calcasieu River. Its approximate boundaries are I-10/I-210 on the north, the Calcasieu/Cameron parish line on the south, the Sabine Canal on the west, and Tom Hebert Road on the east. It has a low (6%) and stable African-American voting population. It has also grown at about the statewide average of 2%, with some of the fastest growth occurring near Prien Lake in the middle of the district.

The district typically supports Republicans in contested statewide races, although it did give local Democratic state Senator Willie Mount 53% of the vote in her 2004 race for Congress. And the district for years voted for Democrats for the state house for years without incident. Democrat Conway LeBleu represented the area from 1968-1988. When he retired, Democrat Randy Roach succeeded him and served for two terms (he’s currently the Mayor of Lake Charles). His successor, Dan Flavin, was originally elected as a Democrat in 1995 but switched to the Republican Party in 1997, and was re-elected without opposition in 1999 and with 81% of the vote in 2003. He resigned in 2005, and was replaced by Republican Chuck Kleckley, who was elected without opposition, and was re-elected without opposition this year. Given this impressive history of never having had an opponent, we see this as a Republican district for some time to come. When the seat opens up in 2015 (when Rep. Kleckley is term-limited), we still see this as a “Republican hold.”

The Lake Charles area was in the northeast quadrant of Hurricane Rita and received quite a bit of wind damage, with storm surge at the extreme southern boundary. It will take time for the area to rebuild, and we have seen some minor out migration from the area, as the district has lost about 200 voters since the hurricanes.