Herbert Dixon (Louisiana politician)

Herbert Bernard Dixon, Sr. (born July 29, 1949),^[1] is a Democrat politician from Alexandria, Louisiana. He served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 2008^[2] until his resignation for health reasons on December 11, 2014.^[3]

In December 2015, he was declared free of bladder cancer.^[4]

Background

Dixon graduated in 1967 from Peabody High School in Alexandria and attended the historically black Southern University in Baton Rouge, from which he received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Education in 1971 and 1975, respectively. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He served in the United States Navy from 1972 to 1978. He also studied briefly at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and in 1979 at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. .^[1]

He has been a sales representative for National Motor Club, Inc.^[1]

Dixon is married to Janet H. Dixon (born December 1956). There are five Dixon children: Herbert, Jr., Temika Samoan, Clayton, Rydell, and Britanny.^[1]

Political life

Dixon ran unsuccessfully for the House seat in the general election held on November 14, 2003, when he was defeated by the African-American incumbent Democrat, Israel Benjamin "Bo" Curtis, 5,512 (53 percent) to 4,892 (47 percent).^[5]After four terms in the House, Curtis did not run again in the 2007 primary election. Dixon defeated three intraparty opponents outright with 4,234 votes (50.08 percent). The runner-up, Kelvin G. Sanders, polled 28.3 percent of the vote.^[6]

Dixon is a former member of the Rapides Parish School Board. He won a special election in 1992 for the school board seat that Curtis vacated upon election to the state House of Representatives in 1991. Dixon defeated his sole rival, fellow Democrat, Stephen Young Brady (born 1929), 1,285 (59.6 percent) to 873 (40.5 percent).^[7] In his last school board election from District D on September 30, 2006, Dixon prevailed with 1,409 votes (67.7 percent) over two intraparty rivals.^[8]Dixon had also run unsuccessfully against Curtis for the school board in the primary election held on September 11, 1982.^[9] Dixon's wife Janet succeeded him on the school board in 2008; she did not seek reelection in 2014,^[3] and the couple moved outside the school board district.^[4]

In his first year in the House, Dixon received a 50 percent voting record from Louisiana Right to Life; in his last year in 2014, an 83 percent designation. He supports abortion in event of impregnation from rape or incest or in a medical emergency to save the life of the mother. The Louisiana Family Forum rated him 30 percent in 2014. His ratings from the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry rose from 49 percent favorable in 2008 to 67 percent in 2013. In 2012, the Louisiana chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business ranked him at zero. When Dixon sought his second term in 2011, he carried the endorsement of the Louisiana Hospital Association.^[10]

At the time of his resignation, Dixon was chairman of the House Labor Committee; the vice-chairman is Chris Broadwater, a Hammond Republican.^[11]

State Senator Rick Gallot, an African-American Democrat from Ruston who formerly served in the House with Dixon, described him as "always hard-working. [One] could always count on him having a folder full of information, and most of it he could almost recite from memory; so he did spend a lot of time and effort at the job of being a representative. Certainly that work ethic will be missed, and certainly we wish him well."^[3]

A special election was held on February 21, 2015, to choose a successor for the few remaining months of Dixon's term, which expires in January 2016. Dixon underwent chemotherapy at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.^[3] The black Alexandria Democrat Jeff Hall won the race to succeed Dixon.

References