Neil Riser
| Hartwell Neil Riser, Jr. | |
Louisiana State Representative for District 20 (Caldwell, Catahoula, Franklin, LaSalle, and Tensas parishes)
| |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 13, 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Steve Pylant |
|---|---|
Louisiana State Senator for District 32 (Caldwell, Catahoula, Concordia, Franklin, LaSalle, and West Feliciana parishes and parts of Avoyelles, Ouachita, Rapides, and Richland parishes)
| |
| In office January 14, 2008 – January 13, 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Noble Ellington |
| Succeeded by | Glen Womack |
| Born | April 25, 1962 Columbia, Caldwell Parish, Louisiana |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Vicki Smith Riser |
| Children | Emilie and Allison Riser |
| Alma mater | University of Louisiana at Monroe |
Hartwell Neil Riser, Jr., known as Neil Riser (born April 25, 1962) is a businessman in his native Columbia in Caldwell Parish, who is a Republican state representative for District 20, which encompasses the north Louisiana parishes of Caldwell, Catahoula, Franklin, LaSalle, and Tensas.
On November 16, 2019, Riser won a runoff contest against fellow Republican Kevin Bates. With the greater name identification, Riser narrowly led with 8,368 votes (51 percent) to 8,099 (49 percent).[1]
From 2008 to 2020, Riser had represented District 32 in the state Senate.
Riser was an unsuccessful candidate for Louisiana's 5th congressional district in a 2013 special election seat to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Republican Rodney Alexander. Riser lost that race to fellow Republican Vance McAllister, a political newcomer from Swartz, who held the seat for only thirteen months, having resigned for inappropriate behavior. Riser was also an unsuccessful candidate for state treasurer in 2017 in a bid to succeed John Neely Kennedy, who was elected in 2016 to the United States Senate. In the special election, Riser finished in fourth place among six candidates and hence failed to make the second round of balloting. The eventual winner of that race was another Republican, former State Representative John Schroder of St. Tammany Parish in suburban New Orleans, who was thereafter reelected to a full term as treasurer in 2019.[2]
Riser's grandfather was a local official from 1942 to 1950 in Ruston. Since 1934, the family has operated a funeral home in Columbia, where Riser was born to Hartwell Neil Riser, Sr. (1934–1985), and the former Lillian Marie Gore (born 1937), who married in Caldwell Parish in 1956. After the senior Riser's death, Lillian Riser wed Herschel Gentry, Jr., of Monroe. Neil Riser graduated in 1980 from Caldwell Parish School Board and in 1984 obtained his Bachelor of Business Administrationfrom the nearby University of Louisiana at Monroe.[3] Since 1934, the Riser family has operated the funeral home, which was begun by Riser's grandfather, in Caldwell and LaSalle parishes Riser has been a board member of Caldwell Bank and Trust in Columbia and is the past president of Pelican State Life Insurance Company. He was previously in the timber business; he began working in logging while a young teenager.[3]
On October 14, 2023, Riser was reelected to the state House once again over fellow Republican Kevin Bates. He polled 7,732 votes (57 percent) to Bates' 5,788 votes (43 percent). The rematch between the two was not nearly as close as had been the 2019 primary showdown.[4]
References
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Results, November 16, 2019.
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 14 and November 18, 2017, and October 12, 2019.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Neil Riser. Louisiana State Senate. Retrieved on November 21, 2019.
- ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 14, 2023.
