Dan Morrish

Dan Wesley Morrish, sometimes known as Blade Morrish (born October 20, 1950), is a Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate (District 25) from Jennings, the seat of Jefferson Davis Parish in southwestern Louisiana.

Morrish won his Senate seat in the general election held on November 17, 2007, when he defeated the Democrat Gil Pinac of Crowley, the seat of Acadia Parish, also a departing state representative from a nearby district. In a low-turnout contest, Morrish polled 11,186 votes (53.9 percent) to Pinac's 9,556 (46.1 percent).^[1] Shortly after his defeat, Pinac switched to Republican affiliation and ran third in a special election held on April 4, 2009, for the Louisiana Public Service Commission. Former U.S. Representative Clyde C. Holloway of Rapides Parish won the seat, after the second-place candidate, Democratic State Senator Joe McPherson, also of Rapides Parish, withdrew.^[2]

Prior to his state Senate service, Morrish was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 37 (Jefferson Davis and Calcasieu parishes) from 1996 to 2008. He won a special election in 1996 to succeed Gerald J. Theunissen, who resigned from the House upon election to the state Senate seat that Morrish now holds. Morrish was then unopposed as a Democrat for the House seat in the nonpartisan blanket primaries held in 1999 and 2003.^[3] Morrish switched parties on November 18, 2005.^[4] Like Morrish, Theunissen, another Democrat-turned-Republican from Jennings, served first in the House and then the Senate. Theunissen, a banker, was term-limited and ineligible to seek a fourth Senate term in the 2007 primary. Meanwhile, Morrish was succeeded in the House by another Jennings Republican businessman, John E. Guinn.^[5]

Morrish served his last term in the House as a member of the House Appropriations Committee as the representative for the Seventh Congressional District.^[6] As s senator, Morrish serves on the Legislative Rural Caucus, Environmental Quality, Insurance, Coastal Restoration & Flood Control, and Revenue & Fiscal Affairs committees. He is also vice-chairman of the Natural Resources Committee.^[7] He is considered a conservative in the legislature, having in 2008 supported the position of the Louisiana Family Forum 89 percent of the time. However, in 2009, Morrish voted with the Louisiana Restaurant Association and against the Family Forum's position^[8] when he supported a measure sponsored by Democratic Senator Lydia P. Jackson of Shreveport and signed by Governor Bobby Jindal, which allows restaurants to assess cover charges for live entertainment and to serve alcoholic beverages.^[9] Morrish similarly received an 86 percent rating from the interest group, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.^[9]

As a Democrat, Morrish endorsed George W. Bush for U.S. President in 2000 and 2004. When Bush visited Lafayette, Louisiana, in 2001, he singled out Morrish for his support: ". . . There is one other fellow, a man who stuck his neck out in the course of the campaign. You see, he doesn't happen to have the Republican label by his name. His name is Dan Morrish. He's a Democrat. He put party aside and did what he thought was right for the country. And Dan, I'm honored to have your support. I thank you for your friendship."^[10]

Formerly the owner-operator of Capitol City Hardware & Implement Company in Jennings, Morrish is currently the business manager of Lake Charles Pilots.^[11] He graduated in 1968 from Jennings High School.^[12] He then procured a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture from McNeese State University in Lake Charles. Morrish is a past president of the Greater Jennings Chamber of Commerce and the Jennings Merchants Credit Bureau. He is active in Jennings Rotary International. A member of Our Lady of Help Christians Roman Catholic Church,^[13] Morrish is married to the former Kathleen Vidrine, originally from Lake Charles and is the father of a daughter, Erin Morrish Boudreaux, and a son, Christopher J. Morrish.^[11]

Morrish's Senate District 25 encompasses parts of six state House seats in the southwestern parishes of Jefferson Davis and Cameron and portions of Acadia and the southeastern part of Calcasieu Parish.^[11]

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