Who is Majority Whip Steve Scalise?

(RNN) - Rep. Steve Scalise, the House Majority Whip and the third-ranking House Republican, represents Louisiana's 1st Congressional District, which includes all or parts of Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Terrebonne parishes.

Scalise was shot in the hip Wednesday when a gunman opened fire on a baseball field in Alexandria, VA. 

He became majority whip in 2014 after the Republican leadership was upended by the surprise primary defeat of then-Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor

He has served in the House of Representatives since 2008. He defeated the Democratic challenger, State Rep. Timothy G. "Tim" Burns of Mandeville, in a special election to fill a vacancy left by Bobby Jindal, who left Congress to become governor of Louisiana.

Scalise's Congressional biography describes him as "a strong conservative leader who upholds the Constitution, advocating for the principles of fiscal discipline, lower taxes, an all-of-the-above national energy strategy, a robust national defense, and conservative values."

Scalise, 51, is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. He formerly served as House Deputy Whip and Republican Study Committee chairman.

He touts as accomplishments his support for the RESTORE Act, which dedicated billions of dollars in BP Clean Water Act fines associated with the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill to the Gulf Coast for coastal restoration; a conservative version of the Buffett rule; and opposition to climate change regulations.

Before serving Congress, he served in the Louisiana House and the Louisiana Senate from 1996 to 2008.  

Scalise admitted in 2014 that, as a state representative in 2002, he spoke at a gathering of a white supremacist group European-American Unity and Rights Organization, or EURO, the Washington Post reported.

He said that, at the time, he wasn't aware it was considered a hate group.

Then-House Speaker John Boehner showed support for Scalise amid the furor.

“More than a decade ago, Representative Scalise made an error in judgment, and he was right to acknowledge it was wrong and inappropriate. Like many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, I know Steve to be a man of high integrity and good character. He has my full confidence as our Whip, and he will continue to do great and important work for all Americans,” Boehner said, as reported by the Huffington Post.

Scalise graduated from Louisiana State University in 1989 with a bachelor of science in computer science and a minor in political science. He formerly worked as a systems engineer.

He lives in Jefferson, LA, with his wife, Jennifer Letulle. He is the father of two children, Madison and Harrison.

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