Allen Lucas Messer was born on February 27,1969 and is an American politician and lobbyist who represented Indiana's 6th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2013 to 2019.
45 Facts About Luke Messer
2.
Luke Messer represented Indiana's 57th District from 2003 to 2006, when he opted not to run for reelection and instead joined Ice Miller LLP's lobbying division.
3.
Luke Messer ran for the US House again in 2010, but was unsuccessful in his primary challenge to Republican Dan Burton.
4.
When Mike Pence decided in 2012 to run for Governor of Indiana, Luke Messer was elected to replace him, defeating Democratic nominee Brad Bookout.
5.
On July 26,2017, Luke Messer announced that he would run for the US Senate in 2018.
6.
Luke Messer attended Wabash College where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and majored in speech.
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Luke Messer received a Juris Doctor from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1994.
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Luke Messer started his political career in 1997 as the press secretary for Tennessee Representative Ed Bryant.
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Luke Messer was the legal counsel on the House Subcommittee for Government Reform for Indiana Representatives David McIntosh and Dan Burton from 1998 to 1999, and the legal counsel to US Representative Jim Duncan later in 1999.
10.
In 2000, Messer ran for the United States House of Representatives in Indiana's 2nd congressional district, where incumbent David M McIntosh was retiring to run for governor of Indiana in the 2000 election.
11.
Luke Messer received 21 percent of the vote in the Republican Party's primary election, finishing behind conservative talk show host Mike Pence, who won with 44 percent of the vote, and Jeff Linder, who received 24 percent of the vote.
12.
In 2001, Luke Messer was chosen as the executive director of the Indiana Republican Party.
13.
On May 23,2003, Messer was selected to succeed W Roland Stine, who died in a traffic collision, in the Indiana House of Representatives for the 57th district.
14.
From 2003 to 2006, Luke Messer represented District 57 in the Indiana House of Representatives, which contained parts of Shelby County and Bartholomew County.
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Luke Messer's legislation aimed at curbing high school dropout rates received national attention after Shelbyville High School became a symbol of a national dropout crisis.
16.
Luke Messer did not run for reelection as State Representative in 2006, and was succeeded by Sean Eberhart.
17.
In 2006, Luke Messer joined Ice Miller LLP's lobbying division as a partner of their public affairs group.
18.
Luke Messer served as the Indiana co-chair of John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.
19.
In 2010, Luke Messer ran for the House of Representatives in Indiana's 5th congressional district.
20.
Luke Messer challenged Dan Burton, the incumbent representative, in the Republican primary.
21.
Luke Messer then became president and CEO of School Choice Indiana, a lobbying group that supported Indiana's private school voucher law.
22.
Luke Messer subsequently declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the district, which had been renumbered as the 6th District after the 2000 census.
23.
Luke Messer faced Democrat Brad Bookout, a Delaware County councilman, in the general election.
24.
In November 2014, Luke Messer was elected by his colleagues to Republican House Leadership as the House Republican Policy Committee Chairman, succeeding James Lankford, who had been elected to the United States Senate.
25.
In 2017, Luke Messer founded the Congressional School Choice caucus to promote the expansion of school voucher programs.
26.
In May 2018, Luke Messer led a group of 18 House Republicans unofficially nominating President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize "for his efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and end the 68-year-old war between North and South Korea".
27.
On May 9,2013, Luke Messer voted for the Full Faith and Credit Act, which prioritized spending if the debt limit is reached.
28.
Luke Messer voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and has stated his support for reforming the tax code to simplify it and reduce tax rates.
29.
Luke Messer opposes federal stimulus spending and supports limiting federal spending growth to per-capita inflation rate.
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Luke Messer has introduced legislation to require annual debt letters to be sent to student loan borrowers, which is based on an Indiana University program that reduced borrowing at the institution by 10 percent.
31.
Luke Messer is in favor of repealing the Affordable Care Act and replacing it with "something better".
32.
In May 2017, Luke Messer voted for the House bill American Health Care Act of 2017, to partially repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
33.
In July 2017, Luke Messer authored legislation that would prevent undocumented immigrants from claiming the child tax credit.
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Luke Messer commented on the work of a 2013 bipartisan House working group on immigration reform, saying that a pathway to citizenship and a deal on metrics to measure border security would be the biggest challenges to final passage of immigration reform.
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Luke Messer supported a GI Bill reform package passed by the House on June 25,2017 and signed into law by President Trump, which included a provision he authored that would retroactively restore education benefits to veterans attending schools that close mid-semester, like ITT Technical Institute.
36.
In February 2013, Luke Messer voted in favor of reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.
37.
Luke Messer has a "D" rating from NORML for his voting history regarding cannabis-related causes.
38.
Luke Messer opposes veterans having access to medical marijuana if recommended by their Veterans Health Administration doctor and if it is legal for medicinal purposes in their state of residence.
39.
Luke and Jennifer Messer are the authors of a children's book, Hoosier Heart.
40.
Luke Messer was cited for driving under the influence in 1990 and 1996.
41.
Luke Messer is listed as a registered voter at his mother's address in Greensburg, Indiana.
42.
Luke Messer has clarified that he owns the home with his mother and lives there when he is in the state.
43.
Luke Messer faced criticism from his opponents in the 2018 Republican primary election for the United States Senate for moving his family to the Washington, DC area.
44.
Luke Messer is paid $20,000 a month as a part-time contract attorney for the city.
45.
Jennifer Luke Messer began the work for the City of Fishers two years before her husband was elected to Congress.