Louisiana's 6th congressional district

Louisiana's 6th congressional district
Louisiana's 6th congressional district - since January 3, 2013.
Current Representative		Garret Graves (R–Baton Rouge)
Cook PVI	R+19

Louisiana's 6th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located in south-central Louisiana, the district contains most of the state capital of Baton Rouge, the bulk of Baton Rouge's suburbs, and continues south to Houma. It also includes the western shores of Lake Pontchartrain.

The district is currently represented by Republican Garret Graves.

History

Since the 6th Congressional District's creation, its boundaries have migrated from a position astraddle the Mississippi River to completely east of the Mississippi River and more recently astraddle the river again.

For decades prior to 1974, the district was virtually coterminous with the Florida Parishes centered on Hammond. In 1974, the 6th Congressional District shed St. Tammany Parish to the 1st Congressional District, and since then several redistrictings have incrementally moved the 6th Congressional District's boundaries westward so that it has shed both Washington and Tangipahoa parishes (including Hammond, home of James H. Morrison, who represented the district for 24 years, the longest tenure of anyone ever to represent the district). Washington and Tangipahoa parishes switched, like St. Tammany Parish, to the strongly Republican 1st Congressional District.

For most of its existence, the district's lines generally followed parish lines. In the 1990s redistricting, however, most of the district's black voters were transferred to the black-majority 4th District. Those lines, however, were thrown out in 1995 when the 4th was ruled to be an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, and for the 1996 election the 6th included all of Baton Rouge. After the 2010 redistricting, a gash in western Baton Rouge, including most of the city's black precincts, was transferred to the New Orleans-based 2nd District.

List of representatives

Representative	Party	Years	Electoral history
District created March 4, 1875
Charles E. Nash	Republican	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1877	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Edward White Robertson	Democratic	March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1883	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Edward Taylor Lewis	Democratic	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1885	Won special election after the death of Representative-elect Andrew S. Herron
Alfred Briggs Irion	Democratic	March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1887	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Edward White Robertson	Democratic	March 4, 1887 – August 2, 1887	Died
Vacant		August 2, 1887 – December 5, 1887
Samuel Matthews Robertson	Democratic	December 5, 1887 – March 3, 1907	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
George Kent Favrot	Democratic	March 4, 1907 – March 3, 1909	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Robert Charles Wickliffe	Democratic	March 4, 1909 – June 11, 1912	Died
Vacant		June 11, 1912 – November 5, 1912
Lewis Lovering Morgan	Democratic	November 5, 1912 – March 3, 1917	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Jared Young Sanders	Democratic	March 4, 1917 – March 3, 1921	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
George Kent Favrot	Democratic	March 4, 1921 – March 4, 1925	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Bolivar E. Kemp	Democratic	March 4, 1925 – June 19, 1933	Died
Vacant		June 19, 1933 – May 1, 1934
Jared Y. Sanders, Jr.	Democratic	May 1, 1934 – January 3, 1937	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
John K. Griffith	Democratic	January 3, 1937 – January 3, 1941	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
Jared Y. Sanders, Jr.	Democratic	January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1943	[Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
James H. Morrison	Democratic	January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1967	Lost bid for re-election in 1966
John R. Rarick	Democratic	January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1975	Lost Democratic renomination to left-wing Jeff LaCaze in 1974
Henson Moore	Republican	January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1987	Retired to run for U.S. Senate
Richard Baker	Republican	January 3, 1987 – February 2, 2008	Resigned
Vacant		February 2, 2008 – May 3, 2008
Don Cazayoux	Democratic	May 3, 2008 – January 3, 2009	Elected to finish Baker's term Lost election for full term
Bill Cassidy	Republican	January 3, 2009 – January 3, 2015	Retired to run for U.S. Senate
Garret Graves	Republican	January 3, 2015 – Present

Recent election results

2002

Louisiana's 6th Congressional District Runoff Election (2002)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Richard H. Baker*	146,932	84.04
	Libertarian	Rick Moscatello	27,898	15.96
Total votes			174,830	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

2004

Louisiana's 6th Congressional District Election (2004)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Richard H. Baker*	188,980	72.24
	Democratic	Rufus Craig, Jr.	50,642	19.36
	Democratic	Edward "Scott" Galmon	21,987	8.41
Total votes			261,609	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

2006

Louisiana's 6th Congressional District Election (2006)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Richard H. Baker*	94,658	82.81
	Libertarian	Richard Fontanesi	19,648	17.19
Total votes			114,306	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

2008

Louisiana's 6th Congressional District Special Election (May 3, 2008)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Don Cazayoux	49,703	49.20
	Republican	Woody Jenkins	46,746	46.78
	Independent	Ashley Casey	3,718	3.68
	Independent	Peter J. Aranyosi	448	0.44
	Constitution	Randall T. Hayes	402	0.40
Total votes			101,017	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Democratic gain from Republican

Louisiana's 6th Congressional District General Election (2008)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bill Cassidy	150,332	48.12
	Democratic	Don Cazayoux*	125,886	40.29
	Independent	Michael Jackson	36,198	11.59
Total votes			312,416	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican gain from Democratic

2010

Louisiana's 6th Congressional District Election (2010)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bill Cassidy*	138,607	65.63
	Democratic	Merritt E. McDonald, Sr.	72,577	34.37
Total votes			211,184	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

2014

Louisiana's 6th Congressional District Runoff Election (2014)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Garret Graves	139,209	62.4
	Democratic	Edwin Edwards	83,781	37.6
Total votes			222,990	100.00
Voter turnout			%
	Republican hold

Historical district boundaries

2003 - 2013

See also

• Louisiana's congressional districts
• List of United States congressional districts

References

• Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present