Джон Дункан младший: Биография американского политика

American politician (born 1947)

John James Duncan Jr. (born July 21, 1947) is an American politician who served as the U. S. representative for from 1988 to 2019. An attorney, former Criminal Court judge, and former long serving member of the Army National Guard, published author and newspaper columnist. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Duncan was born in Lebanon, Tennessee, in Wilson County, Tennessee. His "paternal grandparents were small acreage farmers in Scott County, which in 1861 left Tennessee, refusing to follow the Volunteer State into the Confederacy, and declared itself 'the Free and Independent state of Scott.'" Duncan's parents were Lois (Swisher) and John Duncan Sr., who "hitchhiked into Knoxville with five dollars in his pocket,' and after an education at the University of Tennessee was elected mayor of Knoxville and then congressman."

Duncan's father, John Sr., who had represented the Knoxville, Tennessee based 2nd District since 1965, died in June 1988. Jimmy Duncan won the Republican nomination to succeed him. He ran in and won two elections on November 8, 1988. The first election being a special election for the balance of his father's 12th term, followed by a regular election for a full two year term following his father's term. He was re elected every two years from then until his retirement from a district that had been held continuously by Republicans (or their antecedents) since 1859, and by a Duncan since his father was first elected in 1964. He never faced a serious or well funded challenge for reelection, and was reelected without major party opposition in four consecutive elections (1994 through 2000). For four the general elections from 1990 to 2000 Duncan's primary challenger came from an independent candidate or a member of the Libertarian Party. On the occasions he did face major party opposition, he only dropped below 70% of the vote twice, during the special and regular elections in 1988, while surpassing the 80% threshold 5 times and once exceeding 90% of the total vote. In 2017, he announced he would not seek re election in the 2018 election for Tennessee's 2nd District, and would instead retire. His eventual replacement Tim Burchett, who was the Knox County, Tennessee Mayor at the time announced his intention to run for the seat shortly thereafter.

In February 2017, Duncan refused to hold any town halls in his district after the election of then recently inaugurated President Donald Trump. Duncan said that he preferred one on one meetings rather than town halls, adding that he was not willing to give a platform to "extremists, kooks and radicals."

Duncan was accused of misuse of campaign funds for using them to pay his son almost $300,000 over the course of five years, for work not done or for fees that were too high. Duncan denied the charges. However his son, John Duncan III (R) a Knox County Trustee, pled guilty to a felony charge of official misconduct for handing out bonuses to his own staff for training they had not received. Duncan III resigned from office and was given one year of probation. His charges are now expunged.

On July 31, 2017, Duncan announced that he would not run for reelection in 2018, citing to spend more time with his family.

Following his retirement from the U. S. House of Representatives Duncan published a book about his life and career titled "From Batboy to Congressman." He also is a regular columnist for a newspaper in Knoxville.

Duncan and his wife Lynn ( Hawkins) were married in 1978. They have four children, including former Knox County Trustee John Duncan III, and eight grandchildren. Lynn died in August 2021. He married Vickie Dowling in May 2022. He is also the brother of Tennessee State Senator Becky Duncan Massey. After retiring from Congress, Duncan relocated from his home in Knoxville to Bean Station in neighboring Grainger County.