Difference between revisions of "Lance Harris"

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John Lance Harris
Louisiana State Representative for District 25 (Rapides Parish)
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 2012
Preceded by	Christopher J. Roy, Jr.
Born	June 11, 1961 Pineville, Louisiana
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Leetha Ellen Harris
Occupation	Businessman Owner of Leebo's convenience stores

John Lance Harris (born June 11, 1961) is a businessman, farmer, and cattleman from Alexandria, Louisiana, who is Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 25, which encompasses the southern and western portions of Rapides Parish. He is the House Republican Leader. Harris owns the Leebo's chain of convenience stores.^[1]

Harris attended the Southern Baptist-affiliated Louisiana College in Pineville and Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. He is the former chairman of the England Authority Board of Commissioners.^[2] Reared in Pineville, located across the Red River from Alexandria, Harris is a graduate of the leadership program of the "good governmenjt" group, the Council for a Better Louisiana. He is a member of the World Trade Center in New Orleans, the Louisiana Restaurant Association, and the Louisiana Oil Marketers Association.^[3]

In the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 22, 2011, Harris defeated his only opponent, fellow Republican Barett Byrd, a retired colonel in the United States Marine Corps from Woodworth.^[4] Harris succeeded Democratic Representative Christopher Roy, Jr, of Alexandria, effective January 9, 2012. Roy, the older brother of Alexandria Mayor Jacques Roy, did not seek a second term in 2011. Instead, Roy announced his exit from the legislature so that he could spend more "Little League time" with his youngest son. Roy also said that he had grown weary of partisan divisions, particularly during the 2011 controversies over congressional reapportionment and legislative redistricting.^[5]

For the first time ever, Democrats in 2011 did not offer a candidate for the District 25 House seat. Harris defeated Byrd, 7,577 votes (55.5 percent) to 6,088 (44.6 percent) to claim the position.^[6] Neither had previously sought public office.^[1] Byrd had been endorsed by the Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority, established by U.S. Senator David Vitter with the goal of increasing Republican representation in both houses of the Louisiana legislature.^[7] Byrd also carried the backing of the Louisiana Republican Party, the Rapides Parish Republican Executive Committee, and the website LouisianaConservative.com.^[1] Neither Harris nor Byrd was endorsed by Governor Bobby Jindal, who was himself handily elected to a second term in office in the 2011 primary.^[8]

In a special legislative session on Memorial Day 2018, Republican Majority Leader Harris obtained House passage of his legislation to keep one-third of a one-cent sales tax scheduled for expiration. The one-third part of the tax is projected to raise $369 million annually, less than the $648 million of additional revenue sought by Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards. A supermajority was required for passage of a tax, 76-26, as it developed with passage on the second attempt. Harris said that his bill would reduce government spending by 1.3 percent next year because it would still require some cuts, "but not catastrophic" ones.^[9] Then the state Senate added other tax increases to Harris' House bill.

References