Mr. Raff has been a senior government official, political candidate, and community leader in Mississippi for over forty years. After resigning from the priesthood in 1971, he founded the Mississippi Legal Services Coalition, has run for several elected offices, and worked for several Mississippi governors and mayors of the City of Jackson. He received his M.A. in Theology and B.A. in Philosophy from Immaculate Conception Seminary after attending the University of Notre Dame.