Running to represent the entire district in U.S. House of Representatives, Max Burns is a Republican running for Congress in the newly drawn 12th Congressional District of Georgia. Max, a former Screven County Commissioner and Chairman, represented the former 12th District in the 108th Congress.
As a Congressman, Max was “rock solid. And he represents Georgia’s values as well as anyone could,” said the Augusta Chronicle. The Savannah Morning News said, “Mr. Burns has been a good legislator, …and his support for improving Georgia's infrastructure…expanding Georgia's highway system will broaden access between local communities and those in neighboring states, encourag[e] regional economic development…and better jobs, especially for rural Georgians, [which] mean[s] better education and health care opportunities as well.”
As a Member of the 108th Congress, Max served on the House Committees on Agriculture; Education and the Workforce; and Transportation and Infrastructure. In his brief tenure in Congress, Max Burns proved to be one of the most legislatively prolific freshmen representatives in congressional history. Max authored and passed in the House several significant pieces of legislation including: The Emergency Agricultural Disaster Assistance Act of 2003 to help Georgia farmers; The Simple Tax for Seniors Act enabling seniors to file their taxes more easily; The Child Medication Safety Act of 2003 allowing parents to control how their child is medicated; The Priorities for Graduate Studies Act of 2004, recruiting more math and science teachers for our schools; and The Historically Black Colleges and University Teacher Centers of Excellence, teaching minority students the tools they need to be qualified teachers. He also introduced the Pell Grant Plus Act, which was modeled after Georgia’s Hope Scholarship and would provide an additional $1,000 to Pell eligible students who pass a rigorous course load.
Born and raised in the heart the 12th District, Max learned the importance of hard work, community service and traditional values at an early age. Max’s father was a World War II veteran, farmer, and bread truck driver, while Max’s mother was the county health nurse. He was a Distinguished Military Graduate at Georgia Tech and served in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Army Reserve. Max still lives today on the family farm outside Sylvania, where he has spent a lifetime working in and around agriculture, growing corn, soybeans, hay, oats, and timber, and raising beef cattle. Max has been a high school football referee for twenty years and a youth athletic coach for ten years.
Prior to his election to Congress in 2002, Max served twenty years on the faculty of the University System of Georgia, as a professor of Information Systems at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. During his teaching career, he was a Senior Fulbright Scholar to Sweden in 1993, and also received fellowships to teach and consult in Corporate Information Management in Australia, New Zealand, and Korea.
Max graduated from Georgia Tech in 1973 with a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering. He earned his Masters in Business Information Systems from Georgia State University in 1977 and a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Georgia State University in 1987. He and his wife Lora have been married for over 30 years. They have two adult sons, Andrew and Nathan. The Burns’ are active members of Jackson Baptist Church in Sylvania, where Max serves as song director and Deacon.
