Cleo Fields | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member-elect of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana | |
| Assuming office January 3, 2025 | |
| Succeeding | Garret Graves (redistricting) |
| Constituency | 6th district |
| In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1997 | |
| Preceded by | Jim McCrery (redistricting) |
| Succeeded by | John Cooksey (redistricting) |
| Constituency | 4th district |
| Member of the Louisiana Senate from the 14th district | |
| Assumed office January 13, 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb |
| In office December 1997 – January 2008 | |
| Preceded by | John Michael Guidry |
| Succeeded by | Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb |
| In office March 1988 – January 3, 1993 | |
| Preceded by | Richard Turnley |
| Succeeded by | John Guidry |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 22, 1962 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, US |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Debra Horton |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Southern University (BA, JD) |
Cleo Fields (born November 22, 1962)[1] is an American attorney and politician who serves in the Louisiana Senate. He represented Louisiana's 4th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 1997 and ran unsuccessfully for governor of Louisiana in 1995. He serves as a state senator for Louisiana's 14th State Senate district, a position he held twice before. Fields is a member of the Democratic Party.
Fields was born in Port Allen, Louisiana, and received his undergraduate and law degrees from Southern University in Baton Rouge. In 1980, he founded the fundraising group Young Adults for Positive Action and in 1987 he was elected to the Louisiana Senate. He ran for Congress in 1990 and was defeated but was re-elected to the State Senate for the 14th district in 1991.
Fields was elected to represent Louisiana's 4th congressional district in the House of Representatives in 1992 and re-elected in 1994. He ran for governor in 1995, coming second in the jungle primary and then losing in a landslide to Mike Foster. He did not run for re-election to the House in 1996 and his seat was taken by Republican John Cooksey.
Fields was elected to the State Senate in 1997 and re-elected in 2003, then running unsuccessfully for the Louisiana Public Service Commission in 2004. On October 1, 2007, the Louisiana State Supreme Court ruled that Fields could not stand for re-election to his State Senate seat because of term limits. The state legislature had passed a law in 2006 that had defined the date of the swearing in of Fields and of the intended beneficiary, Shreveport Republican Wayne Waddell, in a way that would have allowed Fields and Waddell to stand for re-election in November 2007 and serve one more term, but the court ruled the law unconstitutional. He was elected to the seat again in 2019.
On January 23, 2024, Fields announced a campaign to return to Congress after court-ordered redistricting gave Louisiana a second Black-majority and Democratic-leaning seat.[2]
- ^ "FIELDS, Cleo". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
- ^ "Cleo Fields announces run for Congress in new 2nd Black majority district". WAFB. 2024-01-23. Retrieved 2024-01-24.