12 Facts About Jimmy Hayes

James Allison Hayes was born on December 21,1946 and is an American politician and lawyer.

Jimmy Hayes served in the Louisiana Air National Guard from 1968 to 1974.

In 1986, Jimmy Hayes was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat to fill the seat vacated by John Berlinger Breaux.

Jimmy Hayes received 84,149 to his brother's 23,870.

In 1994, Hayes defeated a comeback bid by former Congressman Clyde C Holloway of Forest Hill in Rapides Parish, Holloway's Louisiana's 8th congressional district having been eliminated and dismembered after the 1990 United States census.

Jimmy Hayes polled 72,424 votes to Holloway's 54,253.

Jimmy Hayes left the Democrats on December 1,1995, and joined the Republicans.

Jimmy Hayes was one of several Conservative Democratic lawmakers, mostly from the South, including Nathan Deal of Georgia, Mike Parker of Mississippi, Greg Laughlin of Texas and fellow Louisianan Billy Tauzin, to switch to the Republican party during that time, as the Republicans had taken majorities in Congress in the 1994 elections.

Jimmy Hayes then ran for the United States Senate in 1996.

Jimmy Hayes finished fifth in the nonpartisan blanket primary with almost 72,000 votes.

In 1997, when Jimmy Hayes retired from the House after unsuccessfully running for the Senate, his House seat was taken by Democrat Chris John of Crowley in Acadia Parish.

Jimmy Hayes appeared at a December 2008 event to raise funds for the successful reelection in 2010 of Republican US Senator David Vitter.