Gary L. Smith Jr. (born August 27, 1972), is an American attorney from his native Norco in St. Charles Parish,

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, who is a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate for

District 19 A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

, a position which he has held since 2012. He succeeded the

term-limited A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

Democratic Senator Joel T. Chaisson, II.

Personal life and education

Smith graduated in 1990 from

Destrehan High School Destrehan High School is a public high school located in Destrehan, Louisiana, United States and is approximately twenty-five miles west of New Orleans. It is part of the St. Charles Parish Public School System and serves all students on the eas ...

in Destrehan in St. Charles Parish. In 1994, he earned a

Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

degree from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

in Baton Rouge. He earned his Juris Doctor from

Loyola University New Orleans College of Law Loyola University New Orleans College of Law is a private law school in New Orleans, Louisiana affiliated with Loyola University New Orleans. Loyola's law school opened in 1914 and is now located on the Broadway Campus of the university in the hi ...

in 1998 and an

LLM A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

from Tulane Law School in 1999. He is married to Katherine Mosley, the granddaughter of U.S. Senator

Russell Long Russell Billiu Long (November 3, 1918 – May 9, 2003) was an American Democratic politician and United States Senator from Louisiana from 1948 until 1987. Because of his seniority, he advanced to chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, servin ...

and the great-granddaughter of Louisiana Governor

Huey Long Huey Pierce Long Jr. (August 30, 1893September 10, 1935), nicknamed "the Kingfish", was an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a United States senator from 1932 until his assassination ...

.http://www.heraldguide.net/details.php?id=5744

Career

Smith interned for Senator

John Breaux John Berlinger Breaux (; born March 1, 1944) is an American lobbyist, attorney, and retired politician who was a member of the United States Senate from Louisiana from 1987 until 2005. He was also a member of the U.S. House of Representatives f ...

and Congressman

Billy Tauzin Wilbert Joseph Tauzin II (; born June 14, 1943) is an American lobbyist and politician. He was President and CEO of PhRMA, a pharmaceutical company lobby group. Tauzin was also a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1980 to ...

. Smith was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 2000, and to the Louisiana State Senate in 2012.

References

External links

Vote Smart page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Gary Jr. 1972 births 21st-century American politicians Destrehan High School alumni Living people Louisiana State University alumni Loyola University New Orleans College of Law alumni Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives Democratic Party Louisiana state senators People from Norco, Louisiana Tulane University Law School alumni