Mitch Harper

Mitchell Van "Mitch" Harper is an American politician from Fort Wayne, Indiana.

He was elected as a Fort Wayne Common Council member from the 4th District on November 6, 2007. He was elected to a second term on November 8, 2011.

Harper served as a Representative in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1978 to 1990. At 22 years of age, Harper was the youngest member of the Indiana House. After 6 terms totaling 12 years in the legislature, Harper voluntarily left the body as a demonstration of his personal commitment to term limits. In 1992 he served as a presidential elector for Indiana. Harper, an attorney, edits the weblog Fort Wayne Observed.

Harper was an Alternate Delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1976; he served as Delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2008.

He is presently a member of the Indiana Republican State Committee by virtue of having been elected as Chairman of the Third Congressional District Republican Committee.

He is a native of New Haven, Indiana, and a lifelong resident of Allen County. Harper grew up living above the family funeral business founded by his great-grandfather, Edward, in 1889. His great-great-grandfather, William Harper, was a pioneer settler in Allen County, Indiana. William Harper had immigrated to the United States from County Tyrone, Ireland.

Mitch Harper is a graduate of Indiana University and the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. He was selected by the Council of State Governments as a Henry Toll Fellow in the first year of that program.

He has served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne. Provided by Wikipedia