John Schroder

John Michael Schroder, Sr.
Louisiana State Representative for District 77 (St. Tammany Parish)
In office January 14, 2008 – June 8, 2017 (resigned to run for state treasurer)
Preceded by	Diane Winston
Succeeded by	Pending between Rob Maness and Mark Wright
Born	February 23, 1961
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Ellie Marie Daigle Schroder
Children	Brittany Leigh Schroder John M. Schroder, Jr.
Alma mater	Southeastern Louisiana University
Religion	Roman Catholic

}} John Michael Schroder, Sr. (born February 23, 1961), is a businessman from Covington,  Louisiana, who is a Republican former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 77 in St. Tammany Parish in suburban New Orleans. Schroder was first elected to the House in 2007 by a conservative  constituency in St. Tammany and Tangipahoa parishes, but after redistricting in 2011, District 77 has been based only in St. Tammany Parish.

General information

Schroder graduate from East Jefferson High School in Metairie in Jefferson Parish and received a Bachelor of Science from Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond in Tangipahoa Parish. A former special agent in the United States Army. Schroder is a real estate agent, developer, and homebuilder. He is Roman Catholic. Schroder and his wife, the former Ellie Marie Daigle, have two children.

Schroder in Louisiana politics

In the 2007 nonpartisan blanket primary, in which all candidates compete on the same ballot regardless of partisan affiliation, Schroder led a three-candidate field for the right to succeed the term-limited Republican Representative Diane Winston. He polled 8,534 votes (46.5 percent) and advanced to a general election on November 17 with a fellow Covington Republican, Colleen Hawley, who trailed with 6,567 votes (41.2 percent). The Democrat candidate, Angelique LaCour, received the remaining 2,272 votes (12.4 percent) votes. In the general election, Schroder narrowly edged past Hawley, 4,821 (51.2 percent) to 4,602 (48.8 percent).

Schroder resigned from the legislature in June 2017 to pursue the vacant state treasurer's position. He now faces a November 18 general election with the African-American Democrat, Derrick Edwards.  Schroder carries the backing of former Treasurer John Neely Kennedy, a Democrat-turned-Republican who reigned in January 2017 to become the junior U.S. Senator from Louisiana. When he left the House, Schroder was the vice chairman of the House Republican caucus under chairman Lance Harris of Alexandria. The vice chairmanship then passed to conservative Tony Bacala of Ascension Parish near Baton Rouge.

Schroder served on these House committees: (1) Civil Law and Procedure, (2) Homeland Security, (3) Education, (4) Military and Veterans Affairs, and (5) Joint Budget. Originally named to the Appropriations Committee, Schroder was removed from the panel in the spring of 2010 in a dispute with then House Speaker and fellow Republican James Wilton "Jim" Tucker (born 1964) of Algiers, the only section of New Orleans west of the Mississippi River. Tucker claimed that Schroder had renegged on an agreement to support the Independent-turned-Republican Joel Robideaux of Lafayette for the vacant position of Speaker pro tem. Robideaux has since been elected as the parish president of Lafayette Parish. Instead, Schroder voted for the Democrat, later Republican, Noble Ellington of Winnsboro in Franklin Parish for Speaker pro tem. Robideaux still narrowly won his race against Ellington. In disputing Tucker's claim, Schroder said that he had never agreed to support Robideaux  and that Tucker must have had other unstated reasons to remove him from the Appropriations Committee. On the committee, Schroder was known as an opponent of annual automatic pay increases for state employees.

Representative Schroder chaired a task force on Legal Representation of Children. In 2011, he offered a motion before the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee to defer a motion by liberal Democratic Representative Helena Moreno of New Orleans to permit adoptions of children by homosexual couples.

Schroder had a 100 percent score from Louisiana Right to Life. In 2010, he received a 90 percent score from the Louisiana Family Forum and 81 percent from the interest group, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. In 2009, the Louisiana National Federation of Independent Business scored him 75 percent.

Campaign for state treasurer

Schroder said that he was leaving the House to devote full-time to the position of state treasurer.  Schroder said that the state has long had "fundamental issues with our budget and spending practices. I have always taken a stand for the Louisiana taxpayer and that will not change when elected treasurer.”

With 125, 503 votes (31 percent), Derrick Edwards led the six-candidate field in the low-turnout special election held on October 14, 2017. Schroder trailed with 96,440 votes (24 percent). In third place was Republican Angele Davis, who polled 86,880 (22 percent). The fourth-ranked candidate, Republican state Senator Neil Riser of rural Columbia in Caldwell Parish in North Louisiana polled 72,792 votes (18 percent). Finishing fifth was Republican  Terry Hughes, who drew the support of 11,117 voters (3 percent). In sixth place was the Libertarina Joseph D. Little, with 8,786 votes (2 percent).

Edwards and Schroder meet in a November 18 runoff to claim the treasurer's position for the unexpired term through January 2020. Edwards benefits in the contest from a mayor runoff election being held in New Orleans, his city of residence in which two Democratic women will compete to succeed the term-limited Mayor Mitch Landrieu. In the first round of balloting, Edwards polled 62 percent of the vote in Orleans Parish; this represented 37 percent of his statewide total. In the October 14 balloting, turnout was 13.5 percent statewide for the treasurer's race but 29.8 percent in Orleans Parish. Schroder, however, benefits from the total Republican vote, which reached 67 percent in the first round of balloting. Schroder received 52 percent of the ballots in his own St. Tammany Parish, but his showing was weak in other heavily populated parishes, East Baton Rouge, Caddo, Rapides, and Ouachita. The New Orleans Times-Picayune predicted that Schroder will easily defeat Edwards, who has raised little in campaign cash and has made few inroads beyond the black community.