Representative Earl Harris Jr.

Earl L. Harris Jr. is a Democratic state representative from Indiana who was first elected to the Indiana House of Representatives in 2016. He represents Indiana House District 2, located within Lake County.

Harris is the founder and owner of Motivation Media, a television and video production company that produces marketing and communication videos for clients and programming for broadcast television networks. He has received two Emmy nominations for programming produced for FOX Sports Midwest and has also produced programming for PBS.

Education

Harris earned his bachelor of arts in Telecommunications from Indiana University in 1992, where he served as vice president of IUPUI Open Channel. He later earned his master of arts in Telecommunications with a focus on digital storytelling from Ball State in 2012. While completing his master's degree, he won a WIPB-TV grant that funded production of a documentary titled "In My Skin: Shaping the Multiracial Identity in Indiana," which was broadcast on PBS.

Political Experience

Harris serves in several key legislative roles, including Assistant Democratic Floor Leader and as a member of the Ways and Means, Roads and Transportation, and Government and Regulatory Reform committees. On December 23, 2022, he was named Chair of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus.

Before his election, Harris held significant positions in television and education. He worked for Educational Television Cooperative as operations manager and later served as president from 1999 to 2007. He also worked for Indianapolis Public Schools as department head and senior television producer/director for the IPS Television/Public Relations Division, where he mentored students. In 2011, he held a special project producer position creating marketing videos for KPWR-FM Power 106 in Burbank, California.