Anthony V. "Tony" Ligi, Jr. is an attorney and real estate title insurance agent from Metairie

Metairie, Louisiana

Metairie is a census-designated place in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States and is a major part of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area. Metairie is the largest community in Jefferson Parish. It is an unincorporated area that would be larger than most of the state's cities if it were...

 in Jefferson Parish

Jefferson Parish, Louisiana

Jefferson Parish is a parish in Louisiana, United States that includes most of the suburbs of New Orleans. The seat of parish government is Gretna....

, Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, who is a first-term Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 member of the Louisiana House of Representatives

Louisiana State Legislature

The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...

 from District 79, located on the populous south shore of Lake Pontchartrain

Lake Pontchartrain

Lake Pontchartrain is a brackish estuary located in southeastern Louisiana. It is the second-largest inland saltwater body of water in the United States, after the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and the largest lake in Louisiana. As an estuary, Pontchartrain is not a true lake.It covers an area of with...

.

Websites do not indicate Ligi's place of birth. He holds the Bachelor of Arts

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...

 in political science from Mansfield University of Pennsylvania

Mansfield University of Pennsylvania

Mansfield University of Pennsylvania is one of the fourteen state universities that are part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The University is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher...

 in Mansfield

Mansfield, Pennsylvania

Mansfield is a borough located in southern Tioga County, Pennsylvania, United States, in the Tioga River valley. It is situated at the intersection of U.S. Route 6 and U.S...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. He is a Juris Doctor

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...

 graduate of the Roman Catholic-affiliated Loyola University School of Law

Loyola University New Orleans

Loyola University New Orleans is a private, co-educational and Jesuit university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Originally established as Loyola College in 1904, the institution was chartered as a university in 1912. It bears the name of the Jesuit patron, Saint Ignatius of Loyola...

 in New Orleans

New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

.

In 2007, Ligi was elected to the state House in 2007 to succeed the term-limited Republican Danny Martiny

Danny Martiny

Daniel R. "Danny" Martiny is a politician and attorney from Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. His clients include the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs office against his constituents...

, who in turn was elected to the Louisiana State Senate on the retirement of Republican Art Lentini

Art Lentini

Arthur J. "Art" Lentini, , is an attorney in Metairie, Louisiana, United States, who served from 1996 to 2008 as a Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate from District 10 in Jefferson Parish in the New Orleans suburbs. For eight years he was the Senate parliamentarian...

. Ligi led four other Republicans in the nonpartisan blanket primary with 5,474 votes (42 percent). He was to have been placed in a runoff contest with George L. Branigan, who trailed in the primary with 2,946 (22.6 percent). In third place was Jack Rizzuto, with 2,708 votes (20.8 percent). Two other candidates shared the remaining 15 percent of the vote. However, a week after the primary, Branigan withdrew from a second contest, and Ligi won the post without opposition. Ligi carried the support of Republican U.S. Senator David Vitter

David Vitter

David Vitter is the junior United States Senator from Louisiana and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, he served in the United States House of Representatives, representing the suburban Louisiana's 1st congressional district. He served as a member of the Louisiana House of...

 and the business interest group, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry

Louisiana Association of Business and Industry

The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, known by the acronym LABI, is the largest and most successful business lobbying group in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It was founded in Baton Rouge in 1976, when Louisiana adopted a new right-to-work law during the administration of Democratic...

. The New Orleans Times-Picayune supported Ligi on grounds of his active political and civic leadership. He is a former chairman of the Jefferson Parish Republican Party and a co-founder of the Pelican State Pachyderm Club. Before running in the heavily Republican District 79, Ligi was also active in the Elmwood Park Civic Association.

Ligi serves on these House committees: (1) Appropriations, (2) Budget, (3) House and Governmental Affairs, (4) Municipal, Parochial, and Cultural Affairs, and (5) Subcommittee on General Government. In addition to Metairie, District 79 includes the city of Kenner

Kenner, Louisiana

Kenner is a city in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States, and a suburb of New Orleans. The population was 66,702 at the 2010 census....

. Ligi is a candidate for reelection in the October 22, 2011 primary.