Louisiana

Congressional Races:
Districts 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Senatorial Race

Candidate Soup

Population (1994): 4,315,000 (up 2.2% from 1990), 1.7% of U.S. total

Voting-age population: 3,100,000; 1994 turnout, 27%

Median age: 31 years

Median household income: $25,676 ($6,588 below U.S. median)

Unemployment: 6.2% (0.6% above U.S. average, March 1996)

Last presidential election:

Clinton (D): 46%

Bush (R): 41%

Perot (I): 12%

Congressional delegation: Four Democrats, five Republicans

Louisiana has an exceptional past: until the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the land that would become the state had been colonized mainly by French, Spanish and French-speaking Acadians, and it has the strongest French cultural inheritance of any of the states. Louisianans have unfortunately also been poorer than most Americans, and have remained so--as of 1994 the state ranked 47th in median household income. Tough economic times in the mid-'80s led Louisiana to lean Democratic at the same time other Southern states were leaning Republican. More recently, however, the G.O.P. has crept back, leaving the two major parties almost evenly balanced.

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