The district is currently represented by Republican Clay Higgins, a former sheriff's deputy from Port Barre known for his controversial Crime Stoppers videos.

He was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in the December 10, 2016 runoff against public service commissioner Scott Angelle to replace Charles Boustany.

Since the turn of the 20th century, it had dominated Louisiana as a one-party state after the legislature passed a new constitution that effectively disenfranchised African Americans through the 1960s.

In 1966, Hall Lyons of Lafayette, polled 40 percent of the vote as a Republican candidate against veteran Democratic incumbent Edwin E. Willis.

The state legislature redistricted in the 1980s, pushing the district out of the fast-growing suburbs of Metairie and the city of Kenner, to help keep the seat in the hands of Treen's Democratic successor, Billy Tauzin.