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Representative Mark A. Sharp represents Jackson County (District 37) as a Democrat in the Missouri House of Representatives after initially willing a special election in November 2019. Born and raised in south Kansas City, the same area he now represents, Sharp is a product of the Hickman Mills School district and graduated from Hickman Mills High School in 2004.
Sharp serves as Treasurer for the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus and also sits on several committees, including the those on Consent and Procedure, Local Government, Legislative Research and Crime and Public Safety, for the last of which he serves as Ranking Member. Sharp also chairs the Special Committee on Urban Issues.
Notably, Sharp was a pivotal in the passage of "Blair's Law," which bans celebratory gunfire in the state. The legislation was named after 11-year-old Blair Michaela Shanahan Lane, who was struck and killed by a stray bullet fired during a Kansas City holiday celebration on July 4, 2011. It represents the first and only gun safety legislation in years to be signed into law in Missouri.
Sharp was a student-athlete in high school and received several athletic scholarships for football and baseball. He would go on to accept a baseball scholarship to Clark Atlanta University where Sharp obtained his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration on Marketing in December of 2009.
After a stint playing minor league and independent league baseball in New York, Arizona, and Texas, Sharp went on to become a certified teacher so he could coach. As a teacher and coach he was able to further his passion for athletics and continue his mission to help young people, knowing the positive impact athletics had on him.
Sharp was a teacher and coach for five years beginning in Texas before moving back home to Kansas City, Missouri where he continued teaching at a Kansas City public charter school with KIPP KC: Endeavor. He last taught 3rd grade English Language Arts before being sworn-in as a Missouri state legislator.
As a legislator, Sharp has focused his efforts on reducing violent crime and increasing public safety by sponsoring policy that would seek to reduce gun violence, make it safer for Missouri drivers on our roads, and make it safer for our children to attend public schools.
In 2022 at the end of Sharp’s freshman term, he was voted by his Democrat freshman colleagues as the freshman Crime Prevention and Public Safety champion. He was also recognized by Mothers Against Drunk Driving as a 2022 legislator of the year.
As a member of the super minority party in the Missouri House, Sharp has worked across the aisle and has had several pieces of legislation to pass in his short time in the Missouri House, including establishing that Missouri recognize February as Black History Month and November as Native American Heritage month codifying state law with federal law.
Sharp also passed legislation to create the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum special license plate, celebrating the 100 years of the inception of the Negro Leagues in Kansas City, Missouri in 1920. He also offered the amendment that was adopted on House Bill 26 to reform prison policy for our juvenile offenders to have a second chance at being productive members of society.
During a record breaking homicide year in Kansas City, Missouri in 2020, Sharp co-sponsored the Pretrial Witness Protection Program to empower witnesses and victims of violent crime in our state, the only Democrat to do so during that special session.
Lastly, from an economic standpoint, Sharp co-sponsored the legislation that allowed the city of Kansas City, Missouri to secure itself as one of the North American host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup that will bring in hundreds of millions of dollars to Missouri.
Sharp lives in south Kansas City with his wife, Renee, and their daughter. When back home, in his spare time he enjoys spending time with his family, playing baseball and going golfing.
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