Sure, just look at your neighbor Texas. While the population tilts red, the state is filled with solidly blue cities and with people who get hurt by Republican policies.

To make it worse, Republican domination of the state legislature isn’t a natural thing; it’s made exceedingly more likely by highly partisan, naked gerrymandering. We see Texas as being a red state, without thinking about how so much of its population doesn’t vote that way.

We can say the same for my state of Michigan, where the state legislature is overwhelmingly Republican, even though that does not match the population of the state. Gerrymandering again.

The reason we have a Democratic governor is because she was elected by popular vote from across the state, in a process gerrymandering could not touch.

I haven’t looked at Louisiana in particular for gerrymandering effects, but I bet it plays at least some role.