Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District election, 2018

Elections in Louisiana, 2018

• Primary election: Nov. 6
• General election: Dec. 8
• Voter registration deadline: Oct. 9
• Early voting: Oct. 23 - Oct. 30
• Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 5

• Online registration: Yes
• Same-day registration: No
• Voter ID: Photo ID required
• Poll times: 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

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On the ballot: U.S. House • Secretary of State • State executive offices • Special state legislative • Supreme court • Appellate courts • Local judges • State ballot measures • School boards • Municipal • Primaries in Louisiana, 2018

2020 → ← 2016
Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: July 20, 2018
Primary: November 6, 2018 General: December 8, 2018 Pre-election incumbent: Cedric Richmond (Democrat)
How to vote
Poll times: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Tuesday elections) 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Saturday elections) Voting in Louisiana
Race ratings
Cook Partisan Voter Index (2018): D+25 Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic Inside Elections: Solid Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2018
See also
Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th Louisiana elections, 2018 U.S. Congress elections, 2018 U.S. Senate elections, 2018 U.S. House elections, 2018 Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House racesArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House racesFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House racesOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House racesTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House racesVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House racesSubmit

All U.S. congressional districts, including the 2nd Congressional District of Louisiana, held elections in 2018.

Louisiana elections use the Louisiana majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

Candidate Filing Deadline	Primary Election	General Election
July 20, 2018	November 6, 2018	December 8, 2018

Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was Cedric Richmond (D), who was first elected in 2010.

Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District was one of 39 U.S. House districts where a Republican did not run in 2018. To learn more click here.

Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District includes all of St. James Parish and portions of Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, Jefferson, Orleans, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist and West Baton Rouge parishes in southern Louisiana.

Candidates and election results

Louisiana elections use the majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House Louisiana District 2

Incumbent Cedric Richmond won election outright against Jesse Schmidt, Belden Batiste, and Shawndra Rodriguez in the primary for U.S. House Louisiana District 2 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cedric Richmond (D)	80.6	190,182
		Jesse Schmidt (Independent)	8.7	20,465
		Belden Batiste (Independent)	7.3	17,260
		Shawndra Rodriguez (Independent)	3.4	8,075

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 235,982
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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U.S. House election without a Republican candidate

See also: U.S. House elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate, 2018

Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District was one of 38 U.S. House districts where a Republican did not run in 2018. There were three districts where a Democrat did not run.

For more on U.S. House seats with only one major party candidate, visit these pages:

• U.S. House elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate, 2018
• U.S. House elections without a Democratic or Republican candidate, 1920-2018

District analysis

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores

The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+25, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 25 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District the 42nd most Democratic nationally.

FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 0.98. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 0.98 points toward that party.

Campaign finance

The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

There are currently no declared candidates in this race. Know of one we missed? Click here to let us know.

District history

2016

See also: Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Democratic. Incumbent Cedric Richmond (D) defeated Kip Holden (D), Kenneth Cutno (D), and Samuel Davenport (L) in the primary election on November 8, 2016.

U.S. House, Louisiana District 2 Primary Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Cedric Richmond Incumbent	69.8%	198,289
	Democratic	Kip Holden	20.1%	57,125
	Democratic	Kenneth Cutno	10.2%	28,855
Total Votes				284,269
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State

2014

See also: Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District elections, 2014

The 2nd Congressional District of Louisiana held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. Cedric Richmond (D) defeated a host of candidates in the primary election.

U.S. House, Louisiana District 2 Primary Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Cedric Richmond Incumbent	68.7%	152,201
	Democratic	Gary Landrieu	17.1%	37,805
	Libertarian	Samuel Davenport	6.9%	15,237
	Independent	David Brooks	7.4%	16,327
Total Votes				221,570
Source: Louisiana Secretary of State

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

There are no Pivot Counties in Louisiana. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

State overview

Partisan control

This section details the partisan control of federal and state positions in Louisiana heading into the 2018 elections.

Congressional delegation

• Following the 2016 elections, Republicans held both U.S. Senate seats in Louisiana.
• Republicans held five of six U.S. House seats in Louisiana.

State executives

• As of September 2018, Republicans held seven of nine state executive positions, Democrats held one, and the remaining position was officially nonpartisan.
• The governor of Louisiana was Democrat John Edwards. The next gubernatorial election in the state was held in 2019.

State legislature

• Republicans controlled both chambers of the Louisiana State Legislature. They had a 39-60 majority in the state House and a 14-25 majority in the state Senate.

Trifecta status

Louisiana was under divided government, meaning that the two parties shared control of the state government. John Edwards (D) served as governor, while Republicans controlled the state legislature.

2018 elections

See also: Louisiana elections, 2018

Louisiana held elections for the following positions in 2018:

• 6 U.S. House seats
• Secretary of State
• Public service commissioner
• 1 state Senate seat
• 5 state House seats
• Louisiana Supreme Court
• Louisiana Circuit Courts of Appeal
• Local judges
• School boards
• 6 statewide ballot measures

Demographics

Demographic data for Louisiana
	Louisiana	U.S.
Total population:	4,668,960	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	43,204	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	62.8%	73.6%
Black/African American:	32.1%	12.6%
Asian:	1.7%	5.1%
Native American:	0.6%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	1.8%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	4.7%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	83.4%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	22.5%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$45,047	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	23.3%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Louisiana. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

As of July 2016, Louisiana's three largest cities were New Orleans (pop. est. 393,292), Baton Rouge (pop. est. 225,374), and Shreveport (pop. est. 192,036).

State election history

This section provides an overview of federal and state elections in Louisiana from 2000 to 2016. All data comes from the Louisiana Secretary of State.

Historical elections

Presidential elections

This chart shows the results of the presidential election in Louisiana every year from 2000 to 2016.

Election results (President of the United States), Louisiana 2000-2016
Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Donald Trump	58%	Hillary Clinton	38%	20%
2012	Mitt Romney	58%	Barack Obama	41%	17%
2008	John McCain	59%	Barack Obama	40%	19%
2004	George W. Bush	57%	John Kerry	42%	15%
2000	George W. Bush	53%	Al Gore	45%	8%

U.S. Senate elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of U.S. Senate races in Louisiana from 2000 to 2016. Every state has two Senate seats, and each seat goes up for election every six years. The terms of the seats are staggered so that roughly one-third of the seats are up every two years.

Election results (U.S. Senator), Louisiana 2000-2016
Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	John Kennedy	61%	Foster Campbell	39%	22%
2014	Bill Cassidy	56%	Mary Landrieu	44%	12%
2010	David Vitter	57%	Charlie Melancon	38%	19%
2008	Mary Landrieu	52%	John Kennedy	46%	8%
2004	David Vitter	51%	Chris John	29%	22%
2002	Mary Landrieu	52%	Suzanne Haik Terrell	48%	4%

Gubernatorial elections, 2000-2015

This chart shows the results of the four gubernatorial elections held between 2000 and 2015. Gubernatorial elections are held every four years in Louisiana.

Election results (Governor), Louisiana 2000-2015
Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2015	John Bel Edwards	56%	David Vitter	44%	12%
2011	Bobby Jindal	66%	Tara Hollis	18%	48%
2007	Bobby Jindal	54%	Walter Boasso	17%	37%
2003	Kathleen Babineaux Blanco	52%	Bobby Jindal	48%	4%

Congressional delegation, 2000-2016

This chart shows the number of Democrats and Republicans who were elected to represent Louisiana in the U.S. House from 2000 to 2016. Elections for U.S. House seats are held every two years.

Congressional delegation, Louisiana 2000-2016
Year	Republicans	Republicans (%)	Democrats	Democrats (%)	Balance of power
2016	5	83.3%	1	16.7%	R+4
2014	5	83.3%	1	16.7%	R+4
2012	6	85.6%	1	14.3%	R+5
2010	6	85.6%	1	14.3%	R+5
2008	5	71.4%	2	28.6%	R+3
2006	5	71.4%	2	28.6%	R+3
2004	5	71.4%	2	28.6%	R+3
2002	5	71.4%	2	28.6%	R+3
2000	5	71.4%	2	28.6%	R+3

Trifectas, 1992-2017

A state government trifecta occurs when one party controls both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office.

Louisiana Party Control: 1992-2025
Eight years of Democratic trifectas  •  Seven years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
Governor	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R
Senate	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
House	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections in Louisiana, 2018
• United States House of Representatives elections, 2018

Footnotes

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Louisiana's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Bill Cassidy (R)

John Kennedy (R)

Representatives

District 1

Steve Scalise (R)

District 2

Troy Carter (D)

District 3

Clay Higgins (R)

District 4

Mike Johnson (R)

District 5

Julia Letlow (R)

District 6

Cleo Fields (D)

Republican Party (6)

Democratic Party (2)