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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 (1960-01-05) January 5, 1960 (age 64) Crowley, Louisiana, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Payton Smith |
Relatives | John Smith (father-in-law) |
Education | Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge (BA) |
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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.
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Chris John was born in CrowleyinAcadia 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 UniversityinBaton 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.
In 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.
John 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 FameinWinnfield.[2]
Year | Democrat | Votes | Pct | Republican | Votes | Pct | Other | Party | Votes | Pct | ||||
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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 | |||
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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% |
U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 7th congressional district 1997–2005 |
Succeeded by |
Party political offices | ||
Preceded by | Chair of the Blue Dog Coalition for Communications 1999–2001 Served alongside: Robert E. Cramer (Administration), Charles Stenholm (Policy) |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by | Chair of the Blue Dog Coalition for Administration 2001–2003 Served alongside: Jim Turner (Communications), Allen Boyd (Policy) | |
Preceded by | Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Louisiana (Class 3) 2004 |
Succeeded by |
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
Preceded by as Former US Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former US Representative |
Succeeded by as Former US Representative |
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