Rep. Morris, James(R)
District # 1, Oil City

• District # 1: House District 1
• Party: Republican
• Caucus Membership: Louisiana Republican Legislative Delegation
  Louisiana Rural Caucus
• Occupation: Oil and Gas
• Education: Smackover High School, Smackover, Arkansas, 1972; B.S.E., 1976, Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, Arkansas
  
• Spouse: Kellie
• Year Elected: 2007
• Last Year Eligible(Term Limit): 2020
• 2007 Election
  Republican Morris faced opponents in two different elections for state representative in 2007. Never a need for a runoff, Morris defeated four candidates in his first election by a large margin of almost three to one. Two of the candidates, who ran against Morris in the special election, Michael Page Boyter and Richie Hollier, challenged him again in the regular election. Morris garnered sixty-four percent of the vote to handily defeat them.
  

• Louisiana Map
• District Map
• Metro Map
• Economic: The most northwestern district in the state, District 1 has both Texas and Arkansas as borders taking in northwestern Caddo parish and portions of Bossier parish. The oil industry is not as big of an economic force as it used to be, but oil production still maintains a significant role in this district’s economy. Other than the oil industry, the agriculture industry employs many of this rural district’s residents with crops of cotton, soybeans, wheat and cattle.
• There are several large employers in the district, a General Motors manufacturing plant, Universal Oil Products of Mooringsport and the Kansas City Southern rail yards southeast of Blanchard. VIP Boats manufactures bass and other recreational boats in Vivian, and near there is a cross-tie creosote treatment plant that employs many of the residents in this district.
• Social: Most residents in this district earn moderate incomes and live in more than a dozen small communities and in rural areas. African Americans make up a significant portion of this district’s population.
• Political: Although there is a large African American population in this district, white registered voters outnumber African American registered voters by a margin of three to one. Republican candidates do well here and the voters are conservative, especially on social issues. Voters often put aside their conservative beliefs on gambling issues as the gambling industry has brought a lot of economic benefits to the northwestern area of the state.

• Jim Morris was elected in February 2007 to replace longtime Representative Roy “Hoppy” Hopkins who lost his battle with cancer. No stranger to politics, Morris served eleven years as the District 1 Caddo Parish Commissioner.
• Selected as Freshman Rural Legislator of the Year, Morris immediately won over his colleagues in the legislature with his always heart-warming smile and jovial spirit. He passed five bills in his first legislative session dealing with retirement, tax breaks and notaries. Being from a rural district, Morris is primarily concerned with transportation issues. Morris does not support taxes on businesses or individuals.
• As a member of the budget-drafting Appropriations Committee, he’ll play a central role in how the state approaches its forecasted shortfalls. In 2009, he pushed legislation to repeal the requirement for motorcycle riders to wear a helmet and passed a bill with respect to the geological sequestration of carbon dioxide.
• Morris, a stand-out football player and honor student at Henderson State College in Arkansas, points to hard work for his life’s successes. As a young man, Morris spent his summers during high school and college working in the oil fields to help make ends meet for his family. After college, he worked his way up the ladder in the petroleum industry for twenty-eight years before he successfully opened his own local oil and gas business.