French Hill (politician)


James French Hill is the former Chairman and CEO of Delta Trust & Banking Corporation and an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for Arkansas's 2nd congressional district since 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party.
In 2018 his net worth was estimated to be $7.04 million.

Early life and education

Hill graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Vanderbilt University. He pledged the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and served as president. He later attended the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management where he earned a certified corporate director designation.

Career

Hill served as executive secretary to President George H. W. Bush’s Economic Policy Council and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Corporate Finance.
Hill founded and was the CEO and chairman of the Board Delta Trust and Banking Corporation in Little Rock until its acquisition by Simmons Bank in 2014. Hill owns close to $5.25 million in Simmons Bank stock.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

;2014
Hill decided to run for the 2nd district U.S. House seat after fellow Republican Tim Griffin decided instead to run for lieutenant governor. Hill then defeated Democrat Pat Hays, the mayor of North Little Rock, 52 to 44 percent.
;2016
Hill was renominated in the Republican primary over Brock Olree of Searcy and was reelected with 58% of the vote against former Little Rock School District Board President Dianne Curry, a Democrat, and Libertarian nominee Chris Hayes of North Little Rock.
;2018
In 2017, Arkansas's 2nd district was included on the initial list of Republican held seats being targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2018. In the November 2018 general election, Hill defeated Democratic nominee Clarke Tucker with 52.1% of the vote to Tucker's 45.8%. Libertarian Joe Swafford received 2%.

Committee assignments

As of September 2018, Hill had voted with his party 95% of the time in the current session of Congress and voted in line with President Trump's position 96.6% of the time.
On May 4, 2017, Hill voted to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and pass the American Health Care Act.
Hill voted in support of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

CARES Act Congressional Oversight Panel

On April 17, 2020, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy appointed Hill to the COVID-19 Congressional Oversight Commission to oversee the implementation of the CARES Act. Conflicts of interests have been raised towards Hill regarding his role overseeing CARES Act appropriations. Specifically Hill's ownership of $5.25 million in shares of Simmons Bank. A financial institution that has issued between $7.33 million and $1.4 billion worth of Payment Protection Program loans. Half of which has been issued to large companies in sums larger than $150,000.

Electoral history

Personal life

A ninth-generation Arkansan and a Roman Catholic, Hill resides in Little Rock. He and his wife, Martha McKenzie, have two children. McKenzie is a state lobbyist at Mitchell Williams.