Jeff Harris is an attorney and a Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 politician. He represented the 23rd District of Missouri in the Missouri House of Representatives

Missouri House of Representatives

The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 31,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections held in even-numbered years.In 1992 Missouri...

 from 2003–2009 and ran unsuccessfully for the office of attorney general

Missouri Attorney General

The Office of the Missouri Attorney General was created in 1806 when Missouri was part of the Louisiana Territory. Missouri's first Constitution in 1820 provided for an appointed Attorney General, but since the 1865 Constitution, the Attorney General has been elected...

 in 2008. He served as Minority Floor Leader before giving up the post in order to focus more time on the attorney general race. He is married to Katherine Harris and resides in Columbia, Missouri

Columbia, Missouri

Columbia is the fifth-largest city in Missouri, and the largest city in Mid-Missouri. With a population of 108,500 as of the 2010 Census, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, a region of 164,283 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Boone County and as the...

.

Harris was born in Columbia and graduated magna cum laude with a B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 from Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...

 in 1987, and from Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

 with a J.D.

Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...

 in 1991. He was on the board of editors of the Cornell Law Review while at that school.

He is a member of the Missouri United Methodist Church

United Methodist Church

The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...

, the Elks

Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is an American fraternal order and social club founded in 1868...

 Club, the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, the Prevent Child Abuse Missouri Board, the Missouri Kidney Program Advisory Board, the Democratic Leadership Council, and the Commission on the Future of Higher Education.

He was first elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2002, and won reelection in 2004 and 2006. The Columbia Tribune observed that Harris's leadership in the House "allowed him to be one of the chief spokesmen against the Republican majority."

In 2008 he ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomimation for Missouri Attorney General

Attorney General

In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

 against fellow state Representative Margaret Donnelly, and State Senator Chris Koster. Jay Nixon

Jay Nixon

Jeremiah Wilson "Jay" Nixon, Sr. is the 55th and current Governor of the U.S. state of Missouri. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as Missouri's Attorney General before his election in 2008.-Political career:...

, then the current Attorney General, ran for Governor and was elected. Democrat Stephen Webber

Stephen Webber

Stephen Webber is a Democratic member of the Missouri House of Representatives, representing the 23rd District. Before taking office, Webber served two tours of duty in Iraq with the United States Marine Corps. He resides in Columbia....

replaced Harris in the Missouri House.