Congressman Visits Plain Dealing

Fourth Congressional District U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson highlighted local and national issues Thursday during a stopover at Plain Dealing's community center, pointing to the area's potential economic gain with the construction of a new lumber mill.

"We are delighted to see the Teal Jones mill coming here. This will mean much to the people of Plain Dealing and Bossier Parish," he told a large crowd.

Rep. Johnson said he was very interested in efforts to expand broadband services to rural areas, including Plain Dealing, and said his office was always open to assist. He pointed to a pool of more than twenty billion federal dollars targeting broadband availability in underserved areas.

Johnson's district covers 14 northwest Louisiana parishes and includes the cities of Shreveport, Bossier City, Minden, Natchitoches and DeRidder. In his district are two facilities that provide a huge economic impact .

"In my district are Barksdale Air Force Base and Fort Polk. There's more than nine billion dollars in economic impact between the two for this district and the state," he said.

Johnson also said the Louisiana congressional delegation "...is a great team and will have some very impressive power positions in the next Congress if this year's elections go the way we hope. The people of our state should benefit greatly."

Johnson was first elected to the fourth district seat in 2016, gaining a runoff spot in a field of eight candidates. He won the general election with just over 65 percent of the vote. He was unopposed in this year's election.