Blaine Eaton II (born September 11, 1967) is an American politician, farmer, and logger. He is a former member of the

Mississippi House of Representatives The Mississippi House of Representatives is the lower house of the Mississippi Legislature, the lawmaking body of the U.S. state of Mississippi. According to the state constitution of 1890, it is to comprise no more than 122 members elected for ...

from the 79th District, serving from 1996 to 2016. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Early life and education

Eaton was born in Taylorsville, Mississippi, United States. He studied at

Jones County Junior College Jones College is a public community college in Ellisville, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and serves its eight-county district consisting of Clarke, Covington, G ...

and at

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...

from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree.

Political career

Eaton was first elected to the

in 1996. He held the same seat that his grandfather once did. In November 2015, the election for the 79th district seat resulted in a draw. Both Eaton and his opponent (the Republican Mark Tullos) received exactly 4,589 votes. As per state law, the two candidates drew straws to determine the winner. As Eaton drew the longer straw, he was declared the winner and was therefore re-elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives. His win prevented the Republicans from achieving a three-fifths

supermajority A supermajority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority rules in a democracy can help to prevent a majority from eroding fun ...

in the House. However, Eaton was unhappy with having won the election through a

game of chance A game of chance is in contrast with a game of skill. It is a game whose outcome is strongly influenced by some randomizing device. Common devices used include dice, spinning tops, playing cards, roulette wheels, numbered balls, or in the case ...

. In a statement made before the drawing of straws, he said; "It's wrong – philosophically, morally ... It's archaic, it's medieval, and it's wrong". After winning, he said he would accept the result but would attempt to change the law that governs election ties. Although Eaton drew the long straw, Tullos appealed the result to the Republican-controlled House, which decided to seat Tullos instead after deciding that five ballots were invalid because the voters did not file a written change of address with the local registrar. Eaton's lawyer filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of the five Smith County voters whose ballots were thrown out, arguing that they were denied their federal constitutional right to vote. That case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge

Carlton Reeves Carlton Wayne Reeves (born April 11, 1964) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi and chair of the United States Sentencing Commission. Reeves was the district court judge ...

who claimed he didn't have jurisdiction over the matter. The voters then filed an appeal with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Oral arguments at the 5th Circuit were heard in December 2017. In May 2018, the 5th Circuit ended the dispute by declaring that federal courts lack jurisdiction over a dispute about a state legislative seat leaving Tullos the winner.

Personal life

Eaton is married to Susanne (née Magee). He is a member of a

Southern Baptist The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestantism in the United States, Pr ...

church. Eaton is a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

and a member of the Taylorsville

Lions Club Lions Clubs International, is an international service organization, currently headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. , it had over 46,000 local clubs and more than 1.4 million members (including the youth wing Leo clubs, Leo) in more than 200 ge ...

. He is also a member of the

American Farm Bureau Federation The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), more informally called the American Farm Bureau (AFB) or simply the Farm Bureau, is a United States–based 501(c)(5) tax-exempt agricultural organization and lobbying group. Headquartered in Was ...

, the

American Forestry Association American Forests is a 501(c)(3) non-profit conservation organization, established in 1875, and dedicated to protecting and restoring healthy forest ecosystems. The current headquarters are in Washington, D.C. Activities The mission of America ...

, the

National Rifle Association of America The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...

, and the Mississippi Cattlemen's Association.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eaton, Blaine II 1967 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Mississippi House of Representatives American Freemasons Southern Baptists Mississippi State University alumni People from Taylorsville, Mississippi People from Laurel, Mississippi Baptists from Mississippi 20th-century members of the Mississippi Legislature 21st-century members of the Mississippi Legislature