Jonathan Perry (politician)

Jonathan Wayne Perry, known as JP Perry (born January 27, 1973), is the District 4F judge on the Louisiana Court of Appeal for the Third Circuit. Perry ran unopposed for the judgeship in the November 6, 2018 primary election, held in conjunction with general elections for Congress in the forty-nine other states.^[1] Perry assumed the post on January 1, 2019.

Earlier from 2011 to 2018, he was a Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate for District 26 (Vermilion and portions of Acadia, Lafayette, and St. Landry parishes in south Louisiana. Previously from 2008 to 2011, he was the state representative for District 47 (Vermilion and Cameron parishes), Perry won a special election for the state Senate held on February 19, 2011.^[2]

The Senate vacancy occurred with the resignation of the Democrat , who accepted an appointment from Republican then Governor Bobby Jindal to head the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles in Baton Rouge.^[3]

Perry's victory was particularly significant because it realigned the Senate by giving Republicans their first majority since Reconstruction, with then twenty of the thirty-nine members.^[4]

Perry is also known as a comedian and has released DVDs of his stand-up Cajun routines.^[5]

Background[]

Perry graduated in 1991 from Kaplan High School in his native Kaplan in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, where he still resides.^[6] In 1995, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and criminal justice from the University of Louisiana at Monroe in Monroe in Ouachita Parish. Thereafter, he procured a Juris Doctor from the historically black Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge though Perry is white.^[7]

He wed his high school sweetheart, the former Christine LeBeouf, and the couple has four children, Molli, Meredith, Major, and Marlee.^{[8][self-published source]} Perry is a former sergeant on the Kaplan city police force who formerly was a member of the Kaplan City Council. While studying law, he served on the Kaplan City Council, the youngest person in that position in the history of his city.^[5] He is also a former assistant district attorney for the 15th Judicial District, which covers Acadia, Lafayette, and Vermilion parishes.^[5]

House service[]

Representative Perry served on the House committees of (1) Administration of Criminal Justice, (2) Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture and Rural Development, and (3) Ways and Means. He was the chairman of the House Acadiana delegation and a member of the Louisiana Rural Caucus.^[7] Perry serves on the Louisiana Commission on Family and Marriage, the Louisiana Energy Council, and the Governor's Task Force on D.W.I. and Vehicular Homicide.^{[8][self-published source]}

Perry holds a 100 percent rating from the Louisiana Right to Life Committee.^[7] Since 2008, he has been named "Outstanding Family Advocate" by the conservative Louisiana Family Forum. In 2009, he received that organization's "Life and Liberty Award".^{[8][self-published source]} He also carries a 100 percent rating from the trade association, the .^[9]

Senate election[]

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Perry defeated the Democrat Nathan Charles Granger (born January 23, 1968), a member of the Vermilion Parish Police Jury from Erath, who owns two oilfield service companies.^[3] Perry received 10,179 votes (52 percent) to Granger's 9,491 (48 percent). Perry's 53-47 percent margin in his own Vermilion Parish, where the majority of the ballots were cast in the race, proved decisive to his election. The voter turnout was nearly 36 percent.^[10]

The Louisiana blog The Dead Pelican reported near the end of the Senate campaign that Granger's campaign manager was from Washington state, not Louisiana, and in 2008 had organized supporters of U.S. Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee from Illinois.^[9] Granger reported having raised $310,000 for the campaign and ran advertising accusing Perry of having voted to gut higher education and failure to have prosecuted a seven-time DWI offender while Perry was an assistant district attorney.^[9] In an interview on The Moon Griffon Show talk radio program based from Monroe on February 17, 2011, Granger called himself a conservative and denied that he had the support of Obama in the special election.^[11] Records also reveal that Granger contributed to two Republican candidates from his area, former State Senator Craig Romero and former U.S. Representative Jeff Landry, the current state attorney general, both of New Iberia.^[9]

References[]