Sharon Weston Broome (D)
Term limited in 2015
District Map

2002 Senate Race (Runoff)
Mary Landrieu (D) 23,053 (73%)
Suzy Terrell (R) 8,687 (27%)

2003 Governors Race (Runoff)
Kathleen Blanco (D) 21,890 (70%)
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 9,628 (30%)

2004 Presidential Race
George W. Bush (R) 14,727 (33%)
John Kerry (D) 29,399 (66%)
Others 296 (1%)

2004 Senate Race
David Vitter (R) 18,196 (28%)
Chris John (D) 12,004 (43%)
Others 12,562 (29%)

2006 Secretary of State Race
Jay Dardenne (R) 5,244 (40%)
Francis Heitmeier (D) 5,312 (41%)
Mike Francis (R) 1,509 (12%)
Mary Chehardy (R) 434 (3%)
Others 580 (4%)

2007 Governors Race
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 8,339 (28%)
Walter Boasso (D) 8,242 (28%)
John Georges (I) 4,374 (15%)
Foster Campbell (D) 7,795 (27%)
Others 547 (2%)

2007 Agriculture Commissioner Race
“Bob” Odom (D) 18,167 (65%)
Mike Strain (R) 5,244 (19%)
Wayne Carter (R) 3,400 (12%)
Don Johnson (R) 1,296 (5%)

Though the boundaries of Senate District 15 have significantly changed after each reapportionment (and twice in the 1990s), the current configuration of the district had its origins after the 1991 reapportionment. The year before, former state Senator Sammy Nunez retook control of the Senate Presidency in a coup that ousted the Senate leadership favorable to then Governor Buddy Roemer. To solidify his control, Nunez (an ally of former Governor Edwin Edwards) used reapportionment as a means of, in John Maginnis’ words, “...create more African-American seats but also to protect its own populist majority (that is, the guys who voted to throw out Roemer’s president and to reinstate Sammy Nunez).” One of several reapportionment “targets” was Democratic state Senator Larry Bankston, whose south Baton Rouge district was split into several pieces, and was reconfigured as an African-American majority state senate district. In its 1991 configuration, it stretched from (then) middle class white neighborhoods off Florida Boulevard up through north Baton Rouge and Zachary. It then meandered through portions of six adjacent parishes.

Fortunately for then-Senator Bankston, he had four African-American opponents, and he was able to eke out a 51% victory in the 1991 primary by cornering the white vote and receiving just enough African-American support. Had he been pushed into the runoff, it’s entirely possible that he would have lost, because of the polarization (and very high African-American turnout) that took place with the Edwards-Duke race at the top of the ticket during the 1991 runoff. Interestingly, after Bankston’s re-election, he ingratiated himself with the Nunez leadership, to the point that he chaired a gambling subcommittee at a time gambling was being implemented statewide. However, a 1995 federal investigation into video poker had Bankston squarely in its line of fire, and Bankston chose not to seek re-election that year. He was succeeded by African-American Democrat Wilson Fields (Cleo Fields’ brother), who was elected in a racially polarized runoff with 61% over a Republican. The district lines were redrawn in 1997, and the district was compacted to just East Baton Rouge Parish, the Feliciana Parishes, and St. Helena Parish. In this changed district, Fields was re-elected in 1999 with 65% over a Republican, receiving 79% of the vote in East Baton Rouge Parish, but only 51% of the vote in the Florida Parishes, as there was some lingering racial polarization there.

Sen. Wilson Fields was the beneficiary of legislation creating a new judgeship in East Baton Rouge Parish during his second term, so he resigned to run for (and win) a district judgeship in 2001. He was succeeded by then state representative “Kip” Holden, who was also an African-American Democrat. Holden was elected in the primary 51-35%; the 75% he got in East Baton Rouge Parish put him over the top, as a white opponent carried the Florida parishes over Holden 51-27%.  Shortly after Sen. Holden’s 2001 election, reapportionment further compacted the district to where it is now wholly within East Baton Rouge. In this new (and current) configuration, Holden was re-elected with 79% of the vote, and when he resigned upon his historic election as the first African-American Mayor-President of East Baton Rouge Parish in 2004, state Representative Sharon Weston Broome succeeded him without opposition.

The current configuration of the district includes areas north of Florida Boulevard between Airline Highway and the Comite River all the way up to the town of Zachary. This current configuration has a solid African-American voting majority of 66%. This is a significant increase from 61% several years ago, and most of that increase has occurred in Baker north of the airport and in middle-class neighborhoods between Florida and Greenwell Springs Road. The district itself has grown at half the statewide rate, with most of the growth occurring in the northern fringes of the district in and around the town of Zachary; thanks to the recent creation of an independent school district, this area has grown 17% in four years.

Politically, the solid African-American voting majority provides a dependable base of support for Democratic candidates. Democrats can typically count on over 70% of the vote here; even with solid support from the districts’ white voters, George Bush still received only 33% of the vote. With the African-American voting strength increasing in middle-class neighborhoods near Florida Boulevard and around Baker, we see these Democratic margins increasing in the future.

Senator Broome was re-elected in 2007 with 80%, and is allowed to serve two more terms. She is helped by the fact that demographic trends in all areas but Zachary (which still casts less than 20% of the vote even after heavy recent growth) are in her favor. Therefore, we rate this district as a “Democratic hold” now and in the future, since it’s very unlikely that either of the two African-American state Senate seats in Baton Rouge would be eliminated.