Cleo Fields

Cleo C. Fields (born November 22, 1962) is an American attorney and politician who serves in the United States House of Representatives, currently representing . He previously represented from 1993 to 1997 and ran unsuccessfully for governor of Louisiana in 1995. He has served as a member of the Louisiana State Senate on three different occasions. Fields is a member of the Democratic Party. Fields 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 1987¹ 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 in second in the jungle primary before losing to Mike Foster in the general election. He did not run for re-election to the House in 1996 and was succeeded by Republican John Cooksey. Fields was elected to the State Senate in 1997 and re-elected in 2003, then ran 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.…

Cleo C. Fields (born November 22, 1962) is an American attorney and politician who serves in the United States House of Representatives, currently representing . He previously represented from 1993 to 1997 and ran unsuccessfully for governor of Louisiana in 1995. He has served as a member of the Louisiana State Senate on three different occasions. Fields is a member of the Democratic Party. Fields 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 in second in the jungle primary before losing to Mike Foster in the general election. He did not run for re-election to the House in 1996 and was succeeded by Republican John Cooksey. Fields was elected to the State Senate in 1997 and re-elected in 2003, then ran 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. He won the November election and was sworn into the House of Representatives after a 28-year absence on January 3, 2025.

Early life

Fields was born on November 22, 1962 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and was educated at McKinley High School. Fields attended Southern University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree and Juris Doctor.

Louisiana State Senate

In 1997, Fields was again elected to the Louisiana State Senate for the 14th district. He served at the same time as his brother Wilson until Wilson Fields won a judgeship, the first time in Louisiana history that two brothers served together in the Senate. In 1997, Fields was caught on an FBI surveillance tape stuffing about $20,000 in cash in his pockets after accepting it from then Governor Edwin Edwards. Fields was not charged with a crime. Fields served until he became ineligible to run for re-election because of term limits. An amendment to the term limits law was meant to have enabled him to run for another term, but the new law was invalidated by the Louisiana Supreme Court. He was succeeded in 2008 by Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb. In 2019, Dorsey-Colomb was herself term-limited, and Fields ran to succeed her. On October 12, 2019, Fields was re-elected to the 14th senatorial district, making history again by becoming the first person in Louisiana to return to the Senate for the third time. He defeated State Representative Patricia Haynes Smith with 53% of the vote.

Committee assignments

Rep. Fields was appointed to the Committee on Financial Services for the 119th United States Congress. Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets Subcommittee on Financial Institutions Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

Relationship with Edwin Edwards

In the 1997 trial of former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards, prosecutors released an FBI surveillance videotape showed him receiving a large amount of cash ($20,000 to $25,000) which the FBI believed was to be used to influence votes in granting casino licenses. Fields was named an "unindicted co-conspirator," but was never formally charged. Jim Letten, leader of the prosecution team and later acting U.S. attorney, said Fields came close to being indicted. At the time, Fields stated that the incident was just an innocent business transaction between friends, and said there was a humorous explanation, which he would make public shortly thereafter. A cloud hung over Fields in Edwards' criminal trial and in the end Fields refused to deliver the promised "humorous" explanation, stating that at the time of the cash transfer, he was not an elected official, and therefore under no obligation to explain publicly.

"Rosa Parks sat...."

Fields is credited with the original version of a quotation that became popular following Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 presidential election. At the "State of the Black Union 2008" symposium in New Orleans, Louisiana in February 2008, Fields said, "Rosa Parks sat down so we could stand up. Martin Luther King marched so Jesse Jackson could run. Jesse Jackson ran so Obama could win." Another version has Fields saying, "W. E. B. Du Bois taught so that Rosa Parks could take a seat. Rosa took a seat so we all could take a stand. We all took a stand so that Martin Luther King Jr. could march. Martin marched so Jesse Jackson could run. Jesse ran so Obama could WIN." Fields's statement was shortened by the rapper Jay-Z in "My President Is Black": "Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther could walk/ Martin Luther walked so Barack Obama could run/ Barack Obama ran so all the children could fly."

External links

Congressman Cleo Fields official U.S. House website Cleo Fields for Congress campaign website |- |- |- |-

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373260978 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.