James E. Paxton

Paxton was born and reared in Madison Parish, one of four sons and two daughters of Albert Henry Paxton, Sr. (1922-2015), and the former Valeria Logue. Both parents are deceased. The senior Paxton, a native of Warren County, Mississippi, served in the United States Army during World War II. He owned and operated Paxton Quarter Horses and LaClede Plantation in Tallulah, the government seat of Madison Parish. He was a nationally known breeder of quarter horses, having served as the first president of the Mississippi Quarter Horse Association. A lifetime member of the American Quarter Horse Association, he was inducted in 2002 into the National Cutting Horse Hall of Fame.[1]

Like his father, Paxton graduated from Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi. While the senior Paxton studied engineering,[1] Jim Paxton received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1985. In 1988, he obtained his J.D. degree from Louisiana State University Law Center in Baton Rouge.[2]

Paxton and his wife, the former Chris Caffey, reside in St. Joseph in Tensas Parish, with their three children:[2] Annabelle Parker Paxton (born 2001), Samuel Henry Paxton (born 2003), and Kathleen Carlyle Paxton (born 2005).[1]

He is a deacon and Sunday school teacher at the St. Joseph Baptist Church.[2]

After passing the bar, Paxton joined the firm of Christovich & Kearney in New Orleans, where he practiced until 1993. He entered politics and, from 1993 to 2002, he was the assistant district attorney in the 6th District; from 2002 to 2008, the first assistant district attorney.

In November 2007, District Attorney Buddy Caldwell of Tallulah was elected as Attorney General of Louisiana. In January 2008, Caldwell elevated Paxton, a Democrat, to the position of district attorney.[2] Thereafter, Paxton was elected as DA in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 4, 2008. He received 5,767 votes (72 percent) to 2,242 (28 percent) for his lone opponent, Joy Rachelle Jackson (born 1968), another Democrat from Tallulah.[3][4]

Paxton is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association and the Louisiana District Attorneys Association. He describes his goals as DA as making "sure that we seek justice swiftly, but fairly ... that we honor our primary obligation to protect the public, but do so in a manner that is just, ethical, and proper."[2]