Rodney Alexander

{{Infobox officeholder |name= Rodney McKinnie Alexander |image = |office=Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs |governor=Bobby Jindal |term_start=September 30, 2013 |term_end=June 3, 2014 |predecessor=David LaCerte (interim) |office2=[[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 5th congressional districtushr|Louisiana|5|5th}} |term_start2=January 3, 2003 |term_end2=September 26, 2013 |predecessor2=John Cooksey |successor2=Vance McAllister |office3=Louisiana State Representative for District 13 (Bienville, Jackson, and Winn parishes) |term_start3=1988 |term_end3=2002 |predecessor3=Mike Tinnerello |successor3=James R. Fannin |office4=Member of the
Jackson Parish Police Jury |term_start4=1972 |term_end4=1988 |birth_date=December 5, 1946 |birth_place=Bienville, Louisiana, USA |death_date= |death_place= |resting_place= |occupation=Businessman
United States Air Force Reserve (1965-1971) |nationality=American |party=Democrat-turned-Republican (2004) |spouse=Nancy Sutton Alexander |children=Three children |alma_mater=Louisiana Tech University
University of Louisiana at Monroe |religion=Southern Baptist }} Rodney McKinnie Alexander (born December 5, 1946) is a Democrat-turned-Republican former member of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana's Fifth Congressional District, which encompasses more than twenty parishes from north of Monroe to south of Alexandria.

A native of Bienville Parish who was reared and resides in adjoining Jackson Parish, Alexander was elected to Congress in 2002 as a Democrat in a narrow victory over the late Lee Fletcher, a Monroe Republican who had been chief of staff to outgoing Republican Representative John C. Cooksey, a Monroe physician. In August 2004, Alexander switched to the Republican Party and soon won an overwhelming victory over the late Jock Scott, a lawyer and college professor from Alexandria and like Alexander a convert to the GOP.

Prior to his congressional service, Alexander was a member of the Jackson Parish Police Jury from 1972 to 1988, when he entered the Louisiana House of Representatives and served for fourteen consecutive years.

Alexander won his fifth and sixth terms in 2010 and 2012 with minimal opposition. He suddenly resigned his seat in the fall of 2013 and briefly joined the administration of Governor Bobby Jindal as the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Veteran's Affairs.