James W. Merritt Jr. (born July 28, 1959) is an American politician and former Republican member of the

Indiana Senate The Indiana State Senate is the upper house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The Senate is composed of 50 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. Senators serve four-year ...

from 1991 to 2020, representing the 31st District. He was first elected to the Indiana Senate in 1990.Indiana Senate Biography
He was reelected to the state Senate in the 2010 election, defeating then-Marion County Sheriff

Frank J. Anderson Frank J. Anderson (1938 – April 30, 2022) was an American politician who served as Sheriff of Marion County, Indiana, from 2003 until 2011. He was the first black person to serve in that post and the second black Sheriff in Indiana after Oatess ...

by a margin of 52% to 44%.

Biography

Merritt received his Bachelor of Arts in political science from Indiana University in 1981. Professionally, Merritt is vice president of corporate affairs for the Indiana Railroad Company. He previously served as district assistant to representative Elwood Hillis. He is divorced and has two daughters and one son. Merritt was elected chair of the Marion County Republican Party in March 2017. He replaced Mike McQuillen. He resigned as County Party Chair in December 2018. Bryce Carpenter took over as interim county GOP chair. On January 10, 2019, Merritt announced that he was running for

Mayor of Indianapolis The mayor of Indianapolis is the head of the executive branch of the consolidated city-county government of Indianapolis and Marion County. As the chief executive, the mayor has the duty to oversee city-county government's various departments, ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. He won the primary on May 7, 2019. Merritt was soundly defeated by the incumbent

Joe Hogsett Joseph Hadden Hogsett (born November 2, 1956) is an American attorney, prosecutor, and politician who is the 49th mayor of Indianapolis, Indiana. Prior to being elected mayor, Hogsett served as the secretary of state of Indiana from 1989 to 1994 ...

. In September 2020, Merritt announced that he would be retiring from the State Senate on November 4.

Committees

In the 2014 session, Merritt chaired the Utilities Committee. His was a majority member of these committees: Homeland Security, Transportation and Veterans Affairs; Joint Rules; Public Policy; Rules and Legislative Procedure; and also the Transportation sub-committee.

References

External links

State Senator James W. Merritt Jr.
''official Indiana State Legislature site'' * 1959 births Living people 21st-century members of the Indiana General Assembly Republican Party Indiana state senators Indiana University Bloomington alumni Politicians from Indianapolis {{Indiana-politician-stub