Steve Scalise

Steve Scalise

Stephen Joseph Scalise is an American politician who is the U.S. House of Representatives minority whip and representative for Louisiana’s 1st congressional district. Scalise was shot and seriously wounded during a baseball practice by a left-wing activist. He is the first Louisianian to serve as majority whip since Hale Boggs of Louisiana’s 2nd congressional district held the position from 1962 to 1971. In 2017, Scalise became the dean of the Louisiana Congressional delegation upon Senator David Vitter’s retirement.

About Steve Scalise in brief

Summary Steve ScaliseStephen Joseph Scalise is an American politician who is the U.S. House of Representatives minority whip and representative for Louisiana’s 1st congressional district, serving since 2008. Scalise was shot and seriously wounded during a baseball practice by a left-wing activist. He is the first Louisianian to serve as majority whip since Hale Boggs of Louisiana’s 2nd congressional district held the position from 1962 to 1971. In 2017, Scalise became the dean of the Louisiana Congressional delegation upon Senator David Vitter’s retirement. Before his election to Congress, Scalises served four months in the Louisiana State Senate and twelve years in theLouisiana House of Representative. He graduated from Archbishop Rummel High School in Metairie in Jefferson Parish and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge with a major in computer science and a minor in political science. He married Jennifer Ann Letulle on April 9, 2005, and the couple has two children. His great-grandparents immigrated to the United States from Italy in the late 1800s. In 2007, when Jindal was elected to the governorship of Louisiana, Scalising announced his intentions to seek the House seat again. This time he received Republican party backing. In the March 8, 2008, Republican primary, he went to the runoff to win 16,799 votes to 15,799. He went on to win the election on March 16, 2008. In 2012, he received 19,154 votes in a three-way contest.

In 2013, he won the special election to fill the remaining three and one-half years in Scalise’s state Senate term, Conrad Appel defeated Polly Thomas, 21,853 to 20,065. Thomas had also lost the race for the seat in 2007 to Scalise. In 2014, he was elected majority whip of the House. He assumed office on August 1, 2014, and is a member of the Republican Party and was the chair of the conservative House Republican Study Committee. He serves on the board of the American Italian Renaissance Foundation, servicing the AmericanItalian Cultural Center. He opposed the 2002 Stelly Plan, a proposal by Lake Charles Representative Vic Stelly, since enacted and then repealed, to reduce certain state sales taxes on food for home consumption and utilities in exchange for higher state income taxes. In 2004, he announced that he would run for the House, but deferred to the preference of party leaders and supported Bobby Jindal, who won the position vacated by the successful U. S. senatorial candidate, DavidVitter. In 2006, he supported Jindal, and in 2008, he ran for the GOP nomination for governor. In 2010, he lost the Republican party primary to State Representative Timothy Burns, who subsequently won a special state House election in 2016, polled 8,948 votes. A Democrat, David Gereighty, polled 3,154 Votes. Scalise, who was succeeded in the state House by his aide, Cameron Henry of Metairier.