Cameron Henry

​

John Cameron Henry, Jr.​
Louisiana State Senate President
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 8, 2024 (endorsed by Governor-elect Jeff Landry)
Preceded by	Page Cortez
State Senator for District 9 (Jefferson and Orleans parishes)
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 13, 2020
Preceded by	Conrad Appel
Louisiana State Representative for District 82 (Jefferson and Orleans parishes)​
In office January 14, 2008​ – January 20, 2020 ​
Preceded by	Steve Scalise​
Succeeded by	Charles A. Henry​ (brother)
Born	November 1, 1974​
Political party	Republican​
Spouse(s)	Jamie Domilise Henry​
Children	Four children
Residence	Metairie, Jefferson Parish
Alma mater	Jesuit High School (New Orleans) Louisiana State University Tulane University Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University​
Occupation	Businessman​
Religion	Roman Catholic

John Cameron Henry, Jr. (born November 1, 1974), is the president of the Louisiana State Senate. He is a businessman from Metairie in Jefferson Parish in suburban New Orleans. A Republican, Henry became Senate President with the endorsement of Governor Jeff Landry.

Senator Henry succeeded the term-limited Conrad Appel on January 13, 2020. In his Senate race on October 12, 2019, Henry defeated another Republican, Jon "Frankie" Hyers, 23,647 (78 percent) to 6,524 (22 percent).

Background

Henry graduated from the Roman Catholic Jesuit High School in New Orleans. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He then completed the requirements for a Master of Business Administration from Tulane University in New Orleans. He also studied at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is affiliated with the New Orleans branch of BearingPoint, Inc., a multinational management and technology consulting firm founded in the Netherlands. Henry formerly taught as an adjunct professor in the business and technology department of Delgado Community College in New Orleans. He and his wife, the former Jamie Anne Domilise, reside in Metairie with their four children.​

Political life

From 2008 to 2020, Henry was the state representative for District 82 in Jefferson and Orleans parishes. In January 2016, Henry was an unsuccessful candidate for state House Speaker though he led on the first ballot against the Democrat Walt Leger, III, of New Orleans. Henry withdrew in favor of the consensus choice, fellow Republican Taylor Barras of New Iberia. Until 2016, the Louisiana House had routinely ratified a governor's choice for Speaker, but Barras, who had not been previously mentioned as a candidate, won the majority on the second ballot. Henry was previously allied with former United States Senator David Vitter, who left politics when Democrat John Bel Edwards defeated Vitter for governor in 2015 in a hard-fought race to succeed Jindal.​

Henry is a former member of the Jefferson Parish School Board. He was an aide to Steve Scalise, his predecessor in House District 82, now the U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 1st congressional district and the House Majority Whip when the Republicans had the majority in the U.S. House.

Henry won the District 87 (Old Metairie, Old Jefferson and Airline Park) House seat over his fellow Republican Christopher Tidmore in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007. He polled 5,878 votes (57 percent) to Tidmore's 4,517 (43 percent).

Henry served on three House committees: Chairman of Appropriations Committee, Joint Legislative Committee on Capital Outlay, Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, Legislative Budgetary Control Council, and the Louisiana Bond Commission. In 2012, he was removed as chairman of the House Appropriations Committede after he objected to then Governor Bobby Jindal's reliance one-time funds to balance the Louisiana budget. Later returned as Appropriations Committee chairman, Henry worked during the first-term administration of Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards for passage of a budget that avoids mid-year cuts.

In April 2010, Henry voted with a large majority in the Louisiana House to forbid insurance companies operating in the state from offering coverage of elective abortions. The only procedures permitted under the legislation are miscarriages or abortions to save the life of the woman.

In December 2016, Henry was selected by The New Orleans Times-Picayune as the third most influential elected official in Louisiana.

On October 14, 2023, Henry won reelection to his second term in the state Senate, 70 to 30 percent. He defeated the Democrat Mary Anne Mushatt.

Though previously considered "conservative," Heny upon becoming Senate President, revealed himself in the tradition of the Louisiana Republican Fraud Squad, which in 2020 cemented a Moderate Republican-Democrat legislative majority which shut out GOP conservatives, the majority within the Republican Caucus. Cameron revealed that he, like House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, favors the appointment of minority Democrat committee chairmen.