Jonathan Wayne Perry, known as JP Perry, 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. 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, Perry won a special election for the state Senate held on February 19, 2011. The Senate vacancy occurred with the resignation of the DemocratNick Gautreaux, who accepted an appointment from Republican then GovernorBobby Jindal to head the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles in Baton Rouge. 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. Perry is also known as a comedian and has released DVDs of his stand-up Cajun routines.
Representative Perry served on the House committees of Administration of Criminal Justice, Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture and Rural Development, and Ways and Means. He was the chairman of the HouseAcadiana delegation and a member of the Louisiana Rural Caucus. 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. Perry holds a 100 percent rating from the Louisiana Right to Life Committee. Since 2008, he has been named "Outstanding Family Advocate" by the conservativeLouisiana Family Forum. In 2009, he received that organization's "Life and Liberty Award". He also carries a 100 percent rating from the trade association, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.
Senate election
Perry defeated the Democrat Nathan Charles Granger, a member of the Vermilion Parish Police Jury from Erath, who owns two oilfield service companies. Perry received 10,179 votes to Granger's 9,491. 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. 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. 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. 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. Records also reveal that Granger contributed to two Republican candidates from his area, former State SenatorCraig Romero and former U.S. Representative Jeff Landry, the current state attorney general, both of New Iberia.
