Daniel Mongiardo

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Daniel Mongiardo, (born July 4, 1960) is a physician and a Democratic U.S. politician from the state of Kentucky.

Born to Italian immigrants in Hazard, Kentucky, Mongiardo attended Transylvania University and completed a medical degree at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in 1986. From 1986 to 2000, Mongiardo worked as a physician, first as a medical resident in Lexington, and later in his hometown of Hazard.

In Hazard, he helped to establish a free clinic for the poor, volunteering his time while working at the Appalachian Regional Medical Center, where he became Chief of Surgery and, later, Chief of Staff. The ARMC became a major health care center in eastern Kentucky, growing to house over a hundred doctors.

In 2000, Mongiardo entered politics, challenging Hazard's state senator with a campaign to reform health care in Kentucky. He won, and was soon appointed to the Health and Welfare Committee and a leadership role in the joint Medicaid Oversight Task Force. Due to partisan politics, he was removed from the Task Force chair shortly thereafter, and his health care proposals were blocked by the Republican Senate leadership. After Kentucky's state districts were redrawn in 2002, Mongiardo found himself running for re-election. Because of the redistricting he was actually serving two seperate districts. He won his old district by a large margin and could have actually been the senator in two seperate Kentucky districts. However he resigned the Northern Kentucky district that the Republicans had placed him in.

In 2004 Mongiardo declared that he would run to unseat Jim Bunning, a former baseball player and 1st-term U.S. Senator. Although early polls showed Mongiardo to be the decided underdog against the fairly popular and well-financed Bunning (Bunning had an estimated $4 million campaign war chest, while Mongiardo had only $600,000), he gained support in September and October due to Bunning's controversial remarks, erratic behavior, and negative attacks that questioned the single Mongiardo's sexuality despite the fact that Mongiardo was a co-sponsor of the Kentucky Senate bill that stated Kentucky would "provide that only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized" as well as prohibit "a legal status identical to or substantially similar to that for marriage"^[1]. Democrats began pumping more money to Mongiardo when it became clear Bunning's erratic behavior was costing him votes, buying $800,000 of television airtime on his behalf.

The November 2 election was one of the closest in Kentucky history, with Mongiardo leading for much of the night, even with as much as 80% of the returns in. However, Bunning eventually won by just over a percentage point. It is very likely that had it not been for George W. Bush's 20-point victory in the state, Mongiardo would have pulled off a colossal upset.

On December 9, 2006 it was rumored that Mongiardo will be seeking the Lt. Governor office on a ticket with Steve Beshear.