Christopher Charles John (born January 5, 1960) is an American politician and lobbyist who from 1997 to 2005 served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives for Louisiana's 7th congressional district, since disbanded and merged into the 3rd district.
Chris John | |
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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 7th district | |
In office January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2005 | |
Preceded by | Jimmy Hayes |
Succeeded by | Charles Boustany |
Member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from the 42nd district | |
In office 1988–1996 | |
Preceded by | Donald Thibodeaux |
Succeeded by | Gil Pinac |
Personal details | |
Born | Christopher Charles John January 5, 1960 Crowley, Louisiana, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Payton Smith |
Relatives | John Smith (father-in-law) |
Education | Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge (BA) |
Early life
editThis section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (November 2016) |
Chris John was born in Crowley in Acadia Parish, one of six children, and reared as a Roman Catholic. He is of Lebanese, French, and German extraction. He attended Notre Dame Catholic High School in Crowley and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He was a page while his father, John N. John, III, was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives. In the early 1980s, he was elected to the Crowley City Council.
Terms in Congress: Representative, and run for Senate
editIn 1996, John was elected to Congress. He defeated fellow Democrat Hunter Lundy in a runoff for the 7th district seat. In 2004, John surrendered his House seat to run for the seat in the U.S. Senate being vacated by popular Democrat and fellow Crowley native John Breaux, who endorsed him.[citation needed]
John, however, was defeated by Republican David Vitter of the New Orleans suburbs in the primary, Vitter garnered 51 percent of the vote, compared to 29 percent for John. The remainder of the ballots was split between then State Treasurer John Neely Kennedy and the African-American then-state senator Arthur Morrell, both Democrats. John's seat in the House fell into Republican hands, as Charles Boustany won the 7th district with 55 percent of the vote against Democrat Willie Landry Mount.[1] Kennedy later switched parties and succeeded Vitter as senator in 2017.
Post-political career
editJohn is married to Payton Smith of Leesville, whose father, John R. Smith, is a member of the Louisiana State Senate and a former state House member. The Johns have two sons, who are twins. After his House career ended, John worked for two years as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. Since August 2007, he has made his home in Lafayette, where he is chief lobbyist for the United States Oil and Gas Association. (Morning Advocate).[citation needed]
In 2009, John was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.[2]
Electoral history
editYear | Democrat | Votes | Pct | Republican | Votes | Pct | Other | Party | Votes | Pct | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1996 | Christopher John | 128,449 | 53% | (no candidate) | Hunter Lundy | Democratic | 113,351 | 47% | ||||||
1998 | Christopher John | * | (no candidate) | |||||||||||
2000 | Christopher John | 152,796 | 83% | (no candidate) | Michael P. Harris | Libertarian | 30,687 | 17% | ||||||
2002 | Christopher John | 138,659 | 87% | (no candidate) | Roberto Valletta | Libertarian | 21,051 | 13% |
Year | Democrats | Votes | Pct | Republicans | Votes | Pct | Other | Votes | Pct | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2004 | Christopher John | 542,150 | 29% | David Vitter | 943,014 | 51% | Richard M. Fontanesi | 15,097 | 1% | |||
John Neely Kennedy | 275,821 | 15% | R. A. Skip Galan | 12,463 | 1% | |||||||
Arthur A. Morrell | 47,222 | 3% | ||||||||||
Sam Houston Melton, Jr. | 12,289 | 1% |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c "Election Statistics". Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Archived from the original on July 25, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
- ^ "Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame". cityofwinnfield.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2009. Retrieved August 22, 2009.