Julie Quinn (R)
Term limited in 2015
District Map

2002 Senate Race (Runoff)
Mary Landrieu (D) 13,891 (38%)
Suzy Terrell (R) 22,699 (62%)

2003 Governors Race (Runoff)
Kathleen Blanco (D) 13,049 (32%)
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 27,335 (68%)

2004 Presidential Race
George W. Bush (R) 36,717 (67%)
John Kerry (D) 17,837 (32%)
Others 644 (1%)

2004 Senate Race
David Vitter (R) 36,614 (69%)
Chris John (D) 8,559 (16%)
Others 8,210 (15%)

2006 Secretary of State Race
Jay Dardenne (R) 9,684 (53%)
Francis Heitmeier (D) 3,266 (18%)
Mike Francis (R) 2,131 (12%)
Mary Chehardy (R) 1,988 (11%)
Others 1,126 (6%)

2007 Governors Race
“Bobby” Jindal (R) 26,035 (70%)
Walter Boasso (D) 3,845 (10%)
John Georges (I) 4,959 (13%)
Foster Campbell (D) 1,804 (5%)
Others 357 (1%)

2007 Agriculture Commissioner Race
“Bob” Odom (D) 8,114 (23%)
Mike Strain (R) 20,958 (60%)
Wayne Carter (R) 4,439 (13%)
Don Johnson (R) 1,544 (4%)

Senate District 6 is elongated and includes parts of four parishes. It starts in Uptown New Orleans and includes the affluent neighborhoods around City Park and Loyola/Tulane Universities. It then crosses into Jefferson Parish and includes the Old Metairie and Bucktown neighborhoods along the infamous 17th Street Canal. From Jefferson Parish, the district crosses Lake Pontchartrain to include the rapidly growing St. Tammany suburbs of Mandeville and Madisonville. Finally, it includes the towns of Hammond (home of Southeast Louisiana University) and Pontchatoula in southern Tangipahoa Parish.

Demographically, the district has a low (11%) African-American population and a solid but not unanimous Republican orientation. The district’s portions of Jefferson and St. Tammany Parish are solidly Republican and, in the case of the St. Tammany Parish suburbs, rapidly growing. The district’s portions of Tangipahoa Parish are more split between the parties because of a moderate (23%) African-American minority but still lean Republican in contested races. Uptown New Orleans used to be a Republican bulwark, but lately has been trending towards Democrats like John Kerry and Mary Landrieu who can appeal to the cosmopolitan nature of the students and professionals who inhabit its tree-lined streets. Overall, 58% of the district’s voters live in the Northshore (St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parishes), 24% in Jefferson and the remaining 18% in Uptown New Orleans. Current and future population trends favor the Northshore even more; while the district itself grew 6%, Tangipahoa Parish grew 12% and St. Tammany Parish grew nearly 18% in four years. Overall, Republicans can typically count on 2 to 1 support here. Even Mary Landrieu was only able to get 38% of the vote here.

The district for years was represented by Republican John Hainkel. After serving nearly 20 years in the state House (during the Treen administration, he was the Speaker), he ran for the vacated state Senate seat in 1987 and was elected with 84% of the vote. Because he was considered a supporter of then-Governor Buddy Roemer, he was a target of the 1991 reapportionment after opponents of the administration retook the Senate Presidency in 1990 in a leadership coup. To make Sen. Hainkel’s re-election more difficult, he was given unfamiliar territory across Lake Pontchartrain in St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parishes and, in fact, his re-election percentage fell to 62% of the vote in 1991 (he only received 53% of the vote in the Northshore precincts added to the district). After that contest, he took the time to make himself known to his new constituents, and he never had re-election problems after that. Near the end of his career, this former House Speaker also had the distinction of serving as Senate President from 2000 to 2004. Before his death in 2005, he continued to wield power behind the scenes and was considered one of the leaders of the “loyal opposition” to the Blanco administration.

Seven candidates ran for the open seat. When the smoke cleared, Republican state Representative Dianne Winston and Republican Julie Quinn from Jefferson Parish made the runoff. Though Rep. Winston ran first, it was largely because she had the advantage of being the only major Northshore candidate in the primary. This advantage proved to be a handicap in the runoff, as Rep. Winston’s calling herself the “Northshore candidate” did not help her gain any traction in Jefferson and Orleans Parish. In the end, Julie Quinn won with 51% of the vote. Though less than half of the vote was cast in Jefferson/Orleans, Quinn received 68% there, and her 46% of the vote in Tangipahoa in the Northshore was enough to put her over the top, even though she only received 28% of the vote in Rep Winston’s base of St. Tammany Parish.

Senator Quinn is legally allowed two more terms after 2007, and was re-elected with 57% against two Republican opponents.

There was a mild impact to the district from the hurricanes last year. The district was actually adjacent to some of the worst flooding brought on by the levee breach in the 17th Street canal at the edge of the district. There was also some flooding in Metairie and in Mandeville, and there were a lot of downed trees in all four parishes. However, the district recovered fairly quickly after the storms, with significant growth in Tangipahoa and St. Tammany Parishes.