Parey Branton

Parey Pershing Branton, Sr.
Louisiana State Representative for Webster Parish
In office 1960–1972
Preceded by	Mary Smith Gleason
Succeeded by	R. Harmon Drew, Sr.
Mayor of Shongaloo, Webster Parish, Louisiana, USA
In office 1972–1990
Personal details
Born	(1918-11-17)November 17, 1918 Shongaloo, Louisiana, USA
Died	September 15, 2011(2011-09-15) (aged 92) Shreveport, Louisiana
Resting place	Union Springs Cemetery in Shongaloo, Louisiana
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Georgia Porter Lusby Branton (married 1943-2011, his death)
Children	two
Alma mater	Louisiana State University University of Texas at Austin
Occupation	Businessman
Religion	Southern Baptist
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
(1) Branton was a leader of Louisiana conservatives though he remained within his state's then dominant Democratic Party until his later years, when he became a Republican. (2) Branton's political career included an unlikely defeat in 1958 for a school board seat by a write-in candidate. (3) Branton and his older son, Daniel, served as mayor of tiny Shongaloo. (4) In his last term in the House, Branton tried unsuccessfully to block a legislative pay raise.

Louisiana State University

(1) Branton was a leader of Louisiana conservatives though he remained within his state's then dominant Democratic Party until his later years, when he became a Republican.
(2) Branton's political career included an unlikely defeat in 1958 for a school board seat by a write-in candidate.
(3) Branton and his older son, Daniel, served as mayor of tiny Shongaloo.

Parey Pershing Branton, Sr. (November 17, 1918 – September 15, 2011), was a businessman from Shongaloo, Louisiana, who was from 1960 to 1972 a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from what is now District 10 in Webster Parish. The district, which includes the parish seat of Minden in northwestern Louisiana, is now represented by the Democrat Gene Reynolds, of Dubberly.

In the mid-1960s, he called himself a "Wallace--Goldwater--Free Enterprise--Right-to-Profit Democrat" and printed that slogan for a time on his private vehicle. He refused to support the national Democratic presidential nominees during his tenure in the legislature. Instead, he endorsed Republican Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona in 1964 and former Alabama Governor George C. Wallace, Jr., in 1968. Wallace ran on the American Independent Party banner in a vain attempt to block the election of either Richard M. Nixon or Hubert Humphrey.

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