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Max Sandlin
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 1st district
In office 1997-2005
Preceded by	Jim Chapman
Succeeded by	Louie Gohmert
Born	September 29, 1952 (age 54) Texarkana, Arkansas
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	engaged to Stephanie Herseth
Profession	County executive, Lobbyist

Max A. Sandlin, Jr. (born September 29, 1952), American politician, was a Democratic Congressman representing Texas's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1997 to 2005. Sandlin was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of fiscally moderate Democrats in Congress.

Born in Texarkana, Arkansas, Sandlin earned Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor degrees from Baylor University, and he was also a member of the university's Tryon Coterie Club (now the Texas Lambda chapter of Phi Delta Theta). Here, he was selected Outstanding Young Alumni. His political career began when he was elected county judge (chief executive) of Harrison County in 1986. In only one term, he balanced the county budget and left office with a budget surplus. He also cut ad valorem taxes. In 1989, Sandlin was elected Judge of the County Court at Law in the county seat of Marshall, serving there until his election to Congress in 1996.

Sandlin served on the House Transportation and Infrastructure, House Financial Services, Ways and Means committees. In 2002, Sandlin became a chief deputy whip for the House Democrats.

Sandlin was a leading critic of the 2003 redistricting orchestrated by then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. His district was largely rural and had been throughout its history, but the 2003 redistricting cut out Texarkana and several rural areas that had been part of the district for more than a century. In their place, it added the heavily Republican cities of Tyler and Longview. Sandlin claimed that such a remap silenced unfairly the voices of rural and minority Texans. After considering a run against Democrat-turned-Republican Ralph Hall in neighboring District 4, which had absorbed several counties of his former district, he decided to run again in District 1 in January 2004. He was defeated by Republican Louie Gohmert in the November election.

Sandlin advocated that the 2003 redistricting process was illegal and should be ruled as unconstitutional.

On November 1, 2006, Fleishman-Hillard International Communications announced that Max Sandlin would serve as Co-Chair of the newly merged Fleishman-Hillard Government Relations and Mercury Public Affairs Government Relations Operations.

In December, 2006, Max became engaged to be married to South Dakota's Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth.^[1] The couple will be married in late March 2007 in Brookings, South Dakota.^[2]

1. ^ "Herseth to marry former Texas lawmaker", Sioux Falls Argus Leader, December 17, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-17.
2. ^ Anne Schroeder. "Wedding Bell Bliss", Politico.com, March 22, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post