Luke Hawthorne

NS Nation Name: Cormactopia Prime
Character Name: Luke Hawthorne
Character Gender: Male
Character Age: 41
Character Height: 6'2 *(188 cm)
Character Weight: 175 lbs. (79 kg)
Character Position/Role/Job: Athens County Assistant Prosecutor (2002-2011); U.S. Representative from Ohio's 6th District (2011-2017); U.S. Senator from Ohio (2017-)
Appearance:*

Character State of Origin: Ohio
Character State of Residence: Ohio
Character Party Affiliation: Republican
Main Strengths: Charismatic, social media savvy, passionate, hard working, good moral character
Main Weaknesses: Temperamental, cocky, hyper-competitive, attention seeking, divisive, seen as a careerist, recovering alcoholic (openly)
Biography:

Luke Jameson Hawthorne was born in Steubenville, Ohio on March 23, 1977, the only child of Alan and Delores Hawthorne (née O'Malley). His parents divorced before his first birthday, and he was raised by his mother, a social worker. In 1990, his father died in a car accident, the result of drunk driving.

Hawthorne graduated from Steubenville Catholic Central High School in 1995. He attended Ohio University on a wrestling scholarship, and received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in 1999, graduating cum laude. He was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, the College Republicans, and the Bobcats men's wrestling team. Hawthorne then attended Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University, where he received his Juris Doctor in 2002.

Following law school, Hawthorne married his college girlfriend and fiancée of three years, Marissa Mackey, and the couple decided to move back to their college town of Athens to settle down. Hawthorne began working as an Athens County Assistant Prosecutor, a job he kept for nearly nine years. In 2004, the couple had twin sons Matthew and Mark. They welcomed their daughter Samantha into the world in 2007.

In 2010, having earned a reputation as a tough prosecutor in Athens County, Hawthorne made the decision to run for the U.S. House of Representatives. He campaigned as a cultural conservative in the primary, emphasizing his strong stance in support of religious freedom and the right to bear arms, taking hard line stances against same-sex marriage and abortion, and highlighting his tough on crime record as a prosecutor. He easily won the primary with 67% of the vote against two lesser known Republican competitors. In the general election, he focused on economic populism, and was particularly outspoken in opposing the bipartisan political establishment's support for free trade deals. While this combination of cultural conservatism and economic populism didn't play particularly well in Athens County, which is more left-leaning due to the large student population, it proved popular in the rest of the largely rural and industrial 6th District. On election day, Hawthorne defeated incumbent Charles Williamson by a 50-45% margin.

As a Congressman, Hawthorne continued to beef up his cultural conservative and economic populist credentials. He was a consistent vote on issues important to cultural conservatives throughout his time in the House. Hawthorne voted against every free trade measure that came up during his time in the House, beginning in October 2011 with bills to implement trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. He was especially outspoken in his opposition to the 2016 Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement supported by some establishment Republicans. In 2015, Hawthorne was a founding member of the insurgent House Freedom Caucus. Hawthorne was re-elected to the House by comfortable margins in 2012 and 2014.

In 2015, incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Ray Portland announced he would not seek re-election to a second term, citing ongoing treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Hawthorne declared his candidacy for the U.S. Senate soon after. He faced a tough primary against Lieutenant Governor Marianne Tyler, who struck a more culturally moderate and pro-business chord and had the backing of Ohio's Republican establishment. Hawthorne eked out a narrow win against Tyler in the primaries, 50-49%. In the general election, he faced his toughest race yet against former Democratic Governor Todd Stillman, who led in the polls right up until election day. Propelled in part by the anti-establishment victory of Arnold Wolf in securing Ohio's electoral votes for President of the United States, Hawthorne was elected to the U.S. Senate by a 52-47% margin. He has been a legislative ally of the Wolf agenda in the Senate.

Hawthorne's frequent and vocal clashes with party leadership, along with his scorched earth campaign against Marianne Tyler in the primaries, have led to a perception he's a bit of a "diva" and spotlight grabber rather than a reliable team player. Many party insiders felt he should not have run for the Senate after just three terms in the House, and that Tyler had better prospects of holding the seat long-term given Ohio's swing state tendencies. Rumor has it this has left him less influential and disliked among many Senate Republicans, which has led to talk of him being ineffective in representing Ohio.

Other Info: Hawthorne has been open about his struggle with alcoholism during his freshman and sophomore years at Ohio University, as well as his father's longtime alcoholism which led to his parents' divorce in 1978 and his father's death in 1990. He is a recovering alcoholic and has been sober for the past 22 years, which he credits to the grace of God, his wife's tough love early in their college relationship, and the support of his fraternity brothers, teammates, and other friends in staying sober during his last two years at a college that has a well earned party reputation.

The Hawthornes are Catholic. They regularly attend Mass at St. Paul Catholic Church in Athens and St. Joseph Catholic Church in Washington, D.C.

I have read and accept the rules of the roleplay: Cormactopia Prime