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Chris John
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromLouisiana's7th district
In office January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2005
Preceded by	Jimmy Hayes
Succeeded by	Charles Boustany
Member of theLouisiana House of Representatives from the42nd district
In office 1988–1996
Preceded by	Donald Thibodeaux
Succeeded by	Gil Pinac
Personal details
Born	Christopher Charles John (1960-01-05)January 5, 1960 (age 66) Crowley, Louisiana, U.S.
Party	Democratic
Spouse	Payton Smith
Relatives	John Smith (father-in-law)
Education	Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge (BA)

Christopher Charles John (born January 5, 1960) is an American politician andlobbyist who from 1997 to 2005 served as aDemocratic member of theUnited States House of Representatives forLouisiana's 7th congressional district.

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Chris John was born inCrowley inAcadia Parish, one of six children, and reared as aRoman Catholic. He is ofLebanese,French, andGerman extraction. He attended Notre Dame Catholic High School in Crowley andLouisiana State University inBaton Rouge.

He was a page while his father, John N. John, III, was a member of theLouisiana House of Representatives. In the early 1980s, he was elected to the Crowley City Council.

In 1996, John was elected to Congress. He defeated fellow Democrat Hunter Lundy in a runoff for the 7th district seat and was subsequently re-elected three times. He served from 1997 to 2005.

In 2004, John announced he would not run for re-election to his House seat but would instead run for the seat in theU.S. Senate being vacated by popular Democrat and fellow Crowley nativeJohn Breaux, who endorsed him.^{[citation needed]}

John, however, was defeated by RepublicanDavid Vitter of theNew Orleans suburbs in the primary, Vitter garnered 51 percent of the vote, compared to 29 percent for John. The remainder of the ballots was split between thenState TreasurerJohn Neely Kennedy and theAfrican-American then-state senator Arthur Morrell, both Democrats. John's seat in the House fell into Republican hands, asCharles Boustany won the 7th district with 55 percent of the vote against DemocratWillie Landry Mount.^[1] Kennedy later switched parties and succeeded Vitter as senator in 2017.

John is married to Payton Smith ofLeesville, whose father,John R. Smith, is a member of theLouisiana State Senate and a former state House member. The Johns have two sons, who are twins.

After his House career ended, John worked for two years as a lobbyist inWashington, D.C. Since August 2007, he has made his home inLafayette, where he is chief lobbyist for theUnited States Oil and Gas Association. (Morning Advocate).^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, John was inducted into theLouisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame inWinnfield.^[2]

• List of Arab and Middle-Eastern Americans in the United States Congress

• Biography at theBiographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Appearances onC-SPAN

• 1960 births
• 20th-century members of the Louisiana State Legislature
• 20th-century United States representatives
• 21st-century Louisiana politicians
• 21st-century United States representatives
• American people of French descent
• American people of German descent
• American politicians of Lebanese descent
• Catholics from Louisiana
• Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives
• Democratic Party United States representatives from Louisiana
• Living people
• Louisiana city council members
• Louisiana State University alumni
• Members of the United States Congress who became lobbyists
• People from Crowley, Louisiana
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