Gary Carter Jr.

Gary Carter Jr. (born November 1974) is an African-American attorney from his native New Orleans, Louisiana, who is the Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 102, which encompasses the Algiers neighborhood. On January 11, 2016, he succeeded fellow Democrat Jeff Arnold, who was first elected to the House in a special election held on April 6, 2002.

The term-limited Arnold was ineligible to seek a fourth four-year term in the legislative primary held on October 24, 2015. Instead, Arnold is a candidate in the November 21 runoff election for the District 7 seat in the Louisiana State Senate in which he faces fellow Democrat Troy Carter in that contest.

A graduate of Archbishop Shaw High School and Xavier University, Carter earned his law degree from Tulane University Law School, all in New Orleans. He is a partner at the firm, Kelly Hart & Pitre. He is a Roman Catholic.

In the primary, Carter polled 4,914 votes (57 percent) of the ballots cast against five fellow Democrats, the strongest of whom was Lourdes Moran, who drew 1,410 votes (16 percent). Skip Gallagher trailed with 1,395 votes (also 16 percent).

Carter said that as a state representative, he will emphasize an economic plan to establish more jobs and invest in education to "break the long term cycle of crime in our city."