Clay Schexnayder

Clay John Schexnayder (born February 1969) is a businessman from Ascension Parish, Louisiana, who is a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives.^[1] His House District 8, opened to competition when the Republican incumbent John LaBruzzo of Jefferson Parish was shifted through redistricting into District 94. In the general election held on November 19, 2011, Schexnayder defeated the Democrat Kevin Hull, 5,549 (64 percent) to 3,116 (36 percent).^[2]LaBruzzo, meanwhile, was defeated in his district.

Schexnayder is the son of Perry P. Schexnayder and the former Dorothy Ann Demars (1937-2009).^[3]In 1989, Schexnayder graduated from French Settlement High School. Two years later, he graduated from the Allen Institute in Atlanta, Georgia, where he studied basic automotive mechanics. A former race car driver, he participated in competition in the circuit encompassing Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas circuit. He was formerly employed by the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. Since 1998, he has operated Car Craft Automotive in Sorrento in Ascension Parish. He is a former part-time sheriff's deputy in Ascension Parish.^[1]

In his legislative campaign, Schexnayder promised to seek more jobs to the state and to strengthen infrastructure and education.^[1] Schexnayder ran with the backing of Governor Bobby Jindal and the outgoing Republican Representative Mert Smiley in District 89, who was instead elected as the Ascension Parish assessor.^[1]The TEA Party movement termed Schexnayder a "tax and spend Republican" and refused to support him."^[4]

Schexnayder and his wife, the former Phoebe Keller, have four children.^[1]

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