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[h2]James Priest[/h2]

[sup][h3]53[/h3][/sup]

[sup][h3]Democrat, Leader of the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Dog_Coalition]Blue Dog Coalition[/url]
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[sup][h3]Tennessee[/h3][/sup][/center]

[u]Biography[/u]:

James Priest was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee to a middle class family. Priest attended Vanderbilt, graduating with an undergraduate degree in History followed by a JD at Vanderbilt Law. After passing the Tennessee Bar, he worked as a civil attorney in the Nashville law firm of Johnson & Hardy. After a successful tenure, where he made partner, Priest resigned from the law firm and was elected District Attorney of 20th Judicial District in the year 2000.

As District Attorney, James Priest was responsible for prosecuting all criminal cases in Nashville and Davidson County. He had an eight-year record of solid and scandal-free stewardship of the DA's office. Veering more on the side of rehabilitation instead of punishment, Priest was criticized for being soft on criminals and recidivist. He barely won reelection to the post in 2004.

After Congressman Cooper Celement resigned from his seat to run, and lose, the race for a Senate seat in 2008, Priest opted to not seek a third term and instead announced his intentions to run for the open Congressional seat. Though Tennessee is a red state as a whole, the 5th Congressional District is heavily democratic. Priest's opponent in the Democratic primary was outgoing Nashville-Davidson Sheriff Edmund Shivers. Each man charged the other with being soft on crime and more liberal than the other in a nasty primary that saw Priest take the victory by just five percentage points. Priest won the November general election in a runaway, 70 to 30 against a Republican who served on the Nashville city council.

Since 2008, Priest has served as one of Congress' few conservative Democrats. He serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. As someone not completely in line with the House minority leadership, he has little power within his own party's leadership structure, but is able to use the other Blue Dog Democrats he leads to effectively cross the aisle and work with Republicans and fellow Southerners.

[u]Personal information[/u]:

James was married to Abigail Corrigan from 1987 to 1997. They had two sons. Mark, 25, is a junior prosecutor for the 20th Judicial Circuit while Nicholas, 22, is in training to become a member of the Tennessee Highway Patrol. After his divorce from Aibgail, Priest remarried in 1999. His second wife, Grace Smith-Priest, currently serves as a Republican member of the Tennessee State Senate.

[u]Positions[/u]:

Private Lawyer (1988-2000)
District Attorney (2000-2008)
US Congressman (2008-Present)