Ebony Woodruff

Ebony Tanjel Woodruff (born September 1980)^[1] is a lawyer from Jefferson Parish in suburban New Orleans, Louisiana, who is an African-American Democratic former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 87. Without opposition, she won a special election on October 4, 2013, which followed the resignation of her fellow African-American Democrat, Girod Jackson, III^[2] because of charges and subsequent conviction of tax evasion.^[3]

Woodruff received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Louisiana State University and a Juris Doctorate from the historically black Southern University Law Center, both in Baton Rouge.^[2] She is a former special education teacher and a former assistant district attorney for Jefferson Parish.^[4]

Representative Woodruff is a member of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus, the Women's Caucus, and the Democratic Caucus. She sits on the (1) Administration of Criminal Justice, (2) Commerce, and (3) the Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs committees.^[2] She resides in Harvey,^[5] but her office is in Terrytown.^[2]

In 2014, the conservative Louisiana Family Forum scored Woodruff 33 percent. She was ranked that year 80 percent by Louisiana Right to Life even though she was one of only five representatives to vote against the requirement that abortion providers have hospital admitting privileges near their clinics. She ranked 58 percent from the Louisiana Association of Educators.^[6]

Woodruff co-sponsored but did not vote on final passage in 2014 on the matter of extending the time for implementation of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. She also did not vote on the question of forbidding the transportation of dogs in open truck beds on interstate highways. She voted to repeal the anti-sodomy laws; the measure failed in the House, 27-67. She voted to permit concealed carry of weapons in restaurants that serve alcoholic beverages. She voted against the requirement that companies must give public notice of proposed hydraulic fracking.^[7]

Woodruff lost her bid for a full term in the House in the primary election held on October 24, 2015. She was unseated by her fellow Democrat, Rodney Lyons, who polled 2,883 votes (58.6 percent) to Woodruff's 2,034 (41.4 percent).^[8]

A Baton Rouge Advocate study found that Woodruff has in recent years personally voted in fewer than half of the elections held in Orleans Parish.^[9]

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