Neil Abercrombie

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Neil Abercrombie

United States Representative from Hawaii's 1st district
In office 1991-present
Preceded by	Pat Saiki
Succeeded by	Incumbent

Born	June 26, 1938 Buffalo, New York
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Nancie Caraway
Religion	Non-denominational Protestant

Neil A. Abercrombie (born June 26, 1938) is an American politician and elder statesman of the Democratic Party of Hawaii. He is most notable for his service in the United States House of Representatives representing the First Congressional District of Hawaii (map) since 1991.

Abercrombie was born in Buffalo, New York. Upon graduating from Williamsville High School (now Williamsville South High School), he went on to pursue studies at Union College in Schenectady, New York. There, Abercrombie obtained his bachelor's degree in 1959 and his master's degree in 1964. He moved to Honolulu, Hawaii to become a public school teacher at various elementary and high schools in the Hawaii State Department of Education. He also pursued work as a probation officer for the Hawaii State Judiciary. While teaching, Abercrombie studied at the University of Hawaii at Manoa where he obtained his doctorate in 1974. With his doctorate, Abercrombie became a sociologist and joined the University of Hawaii System faculty as a professor.

Abercrombie first participated in a political campaign in 1970, having sought the Democratic nomination to run for the United States Senate. Unsuccessful, Abercrombie ran for the Hawaii State House of Representatives where he served from 1975 to 1979. He moved to the upper chamber winning a seat in the Hawaii State Senate where he served from 1979 to 1986. After Cecil Heftel resigned from the United States Congress in July 1986 to run for Governor of Hawaii, Abercrombie was elected in a September 1986 special election to complete Heftel's unexpired term. However, on the same day Abercrombie lost the Democratic primary for a full two-year term to Mufi Hannemann, who went on to lose to Republican Pat Saiki in the general election. Abercrombie thus served in Congress from only September 20, 1986 to January 3, 1987. [1]

Abercrombie then set his sights on a seat of the Honolulu City Council. He won the race and served from 1988 to 1990. At the end of his council tenure, Abercrombie once again ran for Congress and won in 1990, and has since been reelected eight times. In 2006 he garnered 69% of the vote against his GOP opponent Richard Hough. He currently resides in Honolulu, Hawaii.

While generally compiling a liberal voting record, Abercrombie has bucked the liberal establishment on some issues, such as being opposed to genetic cloning research, a stance which puts him on the same side as many Pro-Life groups on this issue.

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Preceded by Cecil Heftel	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii's 1st congressional district 1986-1987	Succeeded by Pat Saiki
Preceded by Pat Saiki	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii's 1st congressional district 1991 – present	Incumbent