John J. Snow, Jr.

John Joyner Snow Jr. (born October 24, 1945) is a former Democratic member of the North Carolina Senate, who represented the 50th district from 2005 to 2011. His district included Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain and Transylvania counties. Snow was the co-chair of the Subcommittee on Justice and Public Safety.

Franklin orthodontist Jim Davis defeated Snow in 2010 by a margin of less than 200 votes after Snow was subjected to two dozen mass-mailed negative ads during the election. After the election, it was revealed that many of the mail-outs were funded by groups founded by businessman Art Pope, including Civitas Action and Real Jobs NC. In 2012, Snow ran in a re-match with Davis to return to his former seat in the Senate. He was defeated by a substantial margin of 12,548 votes.

Prior to entering politics, Snow played football. He was a defensive tackle for Wake Forest University, and was drafted in the 15th round of the 1967 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints.