Next January Washington Parish will have its 8th member of Congress in the past 30 years.
Current Congresswoman Julia Letlow will not seek re-election, running instead for the U.S. Senate seat curently held by Sen. Bill Cassidy.
With an average of one new Congressional Representative approximately every four years for the past few decades, Washington Parish has seen an extraordinary amount of turnover in its federal representation, much more than is common.
One reason that Washington Parish has had more U.S. Representatives than most parishes is because it was shifted from the 1st Congressional District to the 5th Congressional District years ago.
Congressional representatives for Washington Parish in the past 30 years include Bob Livingston, David Vitter, and Steve Scalise when it was in the 1st Congressional District.
Once it was moved to the 5th Congressional District, the parish has been represented in Congress by Rodney Alexander, Vance McAllister, Ralph Abraham, and now Rep. Letlow.
Whoever is elected to the seat this fall will be the parish’s 8th U.S. Representative in 30 years.
Rep. Letlow had indicated only recently that she would be seeking re-election. But last week she was unexpectedly encouraged by President Trump to run for the Senate and she decided to challenge Sen. Cassidy in this year’s Republican Senatorial Primary.
