Louisiana's 2nd congressional district
Louisiana's 2nd congressional district | ||
---|---|---|
Louisiana's 2nd congressional district - since January 3, 2013. | ||
Current Representative | Cedric Richmond (D–New Orleans) | |
Cook PVI | D+22[1] |
Louisiana's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The district contains nearly all of the city of New Orleans and stretches west and north to Baton Rouge.
The district is currently represented by Democrat Cedric Richmond.
History
Louisiana gained the 2nd Congressional District in 1823 as part of the 18th United States Congress. At first it comprised New Orleans and significant populations from surrounding areas, but it has incrementally been compacted into being mostly within the city of New Orleans per se. Since the late 19th century, it has been historically among the most safely Democratic seats in the country, for sharply opposing reasons. It remained in Democratic hands from 1891 through much of the 1960s because in 1898 the Democratic-dominated state legislature disenfranchised most blacks through provisions of a new state constitution and maintained their political exclusion for decades. Like most congressional seats in the South, this district consistently voted Democratic from the time of Reconstruction until the 1960s, but the voters during that time were nearly all white Democrats. New Orleans had a significant proportion of African Americans in its population who were utterly excluded from the political system.
Since passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the federal government oversaw voter registration and elections in areas in which portions of the population were underrepresented. Since that time, African Americans in the South have re-entered the political process. Most have affiliated with the Democratic Party, as its national leaders supported the civil rights movement. The 2nd was configured as a "Majority-Minority" district to ensure minority voters have a chance to elect representatives of their own choice to Congress, and to guard against adverse racially motivated gerrymandering. It has been drawn as a black-majority district since 1983. It is the only black-majority district containing any territory west of the Mississippi River.
In 2008 Joseph Cao was elected as the first Republican to represent the 2nd Congressional District and most of New Orleans in over a century; he is the United States' first Vietnamese-American U.S. Representative. He was the only Republican in the 111th Congress to represent a district with a predominantly African-American population.
For most of the time from 1983 to 2013, the district contained nearly all of the city of New Orleans (except for a small portion is located in the neighboring 1st Congressional District), and some of its suburbs. From 2003 to 2013, it also included the West Bank portion of Jefferson Parish and South South Kenner, which have a higher proportion of white residents.[2] After the 2010 census, it was pushed slightly to the west, picking up a portion of Baton Rouge.
List of representatives
Representative | Party | Term | Electoral history |
---|---|---|---|
District created | March 4, 1823 | ||
Henry Hosford Gurley | Adams-Clay Democratic- Republican |
March 4, 1823 – March 4, 1825 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] |
Adams | March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1829 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] | |
Anti- Jacksonian |
March 4, 1829 – March 4, 1831 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] | |
Philemon Thomas | Jacksonian | March 4, 1831 – March 4, 1835 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] |
Eleazer Wheelock Ripley | Jacksonian | March 4, 1835 – March 4, 1837 | |
Democratic | March 4, 1837 – March 4, 1839 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] | |
Thomas Withers Chinn | Whig | March 4, 1839 – March 4, 1841 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] |
John Bennett Dawson | Democratic | March 4, 1841 – March 4, 1843 |
Redistricted to the 3rd district |
Alcée Louis la Branche | Democratic | March 4, 1843 – March 4, 1845 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] |
Bannon Goforth Thibodeaux | Democratic | March 4, 1845 – March 4, 1849 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] |
Charles Magill Conrad | Whig | March 4, 1849 – August 17, 1850 |
Resigned to become United States Secretary of War |
Vacant | August 17, 1850 – December 5, 1850 | ||
Henry Adams Bullard | Whig | December 5, 1850 – March 4, 1851 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] |
Joseph Aristide Landry | Whig | March 4, 1851 – March 4, 1853 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] |
Theodore Gaillard Hunt | Whig | March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1855 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] |
Miles Taylor | Democratic | March 4, 1855 – February 5, 1861 |
Withdrew due to onset of Civil War |
Vacant | February 5, 1861 – December 3, 1862 | ||
Michael Hahn | Unionist | December 3, 1862 – March 4, 1863 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] |
Louisiana's secession during the Civil War | March 4, 1863– July 18, 1868 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] | |
James Mann | Democratic | July 18, 1868 – August 26, 1868 |
Died after serving 5 weeks |
Vacant | August 26, 1868 – March 4, 1869 |
House left seat vacant due to election dispute | |
Lionel Allen Sheldon | Republican | March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1875 |
Lost re-election |
Ezekiel John Ellis | Democratic | March 4, 1875 – March 4, 1885 |
Retired from Congress, returned to law practice |
Michael Hahn | Republican | March 3, 1885 – March 15, 1886 |
Died |
Vacant | March 15, 1886 – December 9, 1886 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] | |
Nathaniel Dick Wallace | Democratic | December 9, 1886 – March 4, 1887 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] |
Matthew Diamond Lagan | Democratic | March 4, 1887 – March 4, 1889 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] |
Hamilton D. Coleman | Republican | March 4, 1889 – March 4, 1891 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] |
Matthew Diamond Lagan | Democratic | March 4, 1891 – March 4, 1893 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] |
Robert Charles Davey | Democratic | March 4, 1893 – March 4, 1895 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] |
Charles Francis Buck | Democratic | March 4, 1895 – March 4, 1897 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] |
Robert Charles Davey | Democratic | March 4, 1897 – December 26, 1908 |
Died |
Vacant | December 26, 1908 – March 30, 1909 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] | |
Samuel Louis Gilmore | Democratic | March 30, 1909 – July 18, 1910 |
Died |
Vacant | July 18, 1910 – November 8, 1910 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] | |
H. Garland Dupré | Democratic | November 8, 1910 – February 21, 1924 |
Died |
Vacant | February 21, 1924 – April 22, 1924 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] | |
James Z. Spearing | Democratic | April 22, 1924 – March 4, 1931 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] |
Paul H. Maloney | Democratic | March 4, 1931 – December 15, 1940 |
Resigned |
Vacant | December 15, 1940 – January 3, 1941 |
[Data unknown/missing. You can help!] | |
Hale Boggs | Democratic | January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1943 |
Lost re-nomination |
Paul H. Maloney | Democratic | January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1947 |
Retired from Congress |
Hale Boggs | Democratic | January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1973 |
Presumed dead after private plane went missing over Alaska October 16, 1972. Seat declared vacant at beginning of the 93rd Congress. |
Vacant | January 3, 1973 – March 20, 1973 | ||
Lindy Boggs | Democratic | March 20, 1973 – January 3, 1991 |
First elected to finish her husband's term Retired |
William J. Jefferson | Democratic | January 3, 1991 – January 3, 2009 |
Lost re-election |
Joseph Cao | Republican | January 3, 2009 – January 3, 2011 |
Elected in 2008 Lost re-election |
Cedric Richmond | Democratic | January 3, 2011 – Present |
First elected in 2010 |
Recent Election Results
2002
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William J. Jefferson* | 90,310 | 63.53 | |
Democratic | Irma Muse Dixon | 28,480 | 20.03 | |
Republican | Silky Sullivan | 15,440 | 10.86 | |
Democratic | Clarence "Buddy" Hunt | 4,137 | 2.91 | |
Libertarian | Wayne Clement | 3,789 | 2.67 | |
Total votes | 142,156 | 100.00 | ||
Voter turnout | % | |||
Democratic hold | ||||
2004
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William J. Jefferson* | 173,510 | 79.01 | |
Republican | Art Schwertz | 46,097 | 20.99 | |
Total votes | 219,607 | 100.00 | ||
Voter turnout | % | |||
Democratic hold | ||||
2006
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William J. Jefferson* | 28,283 | 30.08 | |
Democratic | Karen Carter Peterson | 20,364 | 21.66 | |
Democratic | Derrick D.T. Shepherd | 16,799 | 17.87 | |
Republican | Joe Lavigne | 12,511 | 13.31 | |
Democratic | Troy A. Carter | 11,304 | 12.02 | |
Republican | Eric T. Bradley | 1,159 | 1.23 | |
Democratic | Regina Bartholomew | 1,125 | 1.20 | |
Total votes | 91,545 | 100.00 | ||
Voter turnout | % | |||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | William J. Jefferson* | 35,153 | 56.55 | |
Democratic | Karen Carter Peterson | 27,011 | 43.45 | |
Total votes | 62,164 | 100.00 | ||
Voter turnout | % | |||
Democratic hold | ||||
2008
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Joseph Cao | 33,132 | 49.54 | |||
Democratic | William J. Jefferson* | 31,318 | 46.83 | |||
Green | Malik Rahim | 1,883 | 2.82 | |||
Libertarian | Gregory W. Kahn | 549 | 0.82 | |||
Total votes | 66,882 | 100.00 | ||||
Voter turnout | % | |||||
Republican gain from Democratic | ||||||
2010
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Cedric Richmond* | 83,705 | 64.59 | |||
Republican | Joseph Cao* | 43,378 | 33.47 | |||
Independent | Anthony Marquize | 1,876 | 1.45 | |||
Independent | Jack Radosta | 645 | 0.50 | |||
Total votes | 129,604 | 100.00 | ||||
Voter turnout | % | |||||
Democratic gain from Republican | ||||||
2012
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Cedric Richmond* | 158,501 | 55.20 | |
Democratic | Gary Landrieu | 71,916 | 25.00 | |
Republican | Dwayne Bailey | 38,801 | 13.50 | |
Republican | Josue Larose | 11,345 | 3.90 | |
Libertarian | Caleb Trotter | 6,791 | 2.40 | |
Total votes | 287,354 | 100.00 | ||
Voter turnout | % | |||
Democratic hold | ||||
Historical district boundaries
See also
References
- ↑ "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. 2012. Retrieved 2013-01-10.
- ↑ Political Graveyard
- Martis, Kenneth C. (1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
- Martis, Kenneth C. (1982). The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
- Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
Coordinates: 30°02′48″N 90°34′07″W / 30.04667°N 90.56861°W