Rick Lazio

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Enrico Anthony "Rick" Lazio (born March 13, 1958) is a former U.S. Representative from the state of New York. A Republican, he is most known for having run unsuccessfully against Hillary Rodham Clinton for the U.S. Senate in New York's 2000 Senate election.

Lazio was born in Amityville, New York in Suffolk County. He graduated from West Islip High School in 1976. He received his A.B. from Vassar College in 1980 and received his J.D. from the Washington College of Law at American University. Prior to being elected to Congress, he was the executive assistant district attorney for Suffolk County and served in the Suffolk County Legislature. He currently resides in Brightwaters, NY.

He represented the New York 2nd Congressional District as a Republican and was first elected in 1992, defeating the incumbent, Tom Downey, who had served for eighteen years but was one of the most prominent figures in the 1992 Rubbergate scandal.

Lazio served four terms from 1993 to 2001, becoming Deputy Majority Whip and Assistant Majority Leader. In 2000, he ran for the Senate but was defeated by Hillary Clinton in the race to succeed Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

His comparatively late entry into the race (five months before Election Day) followed New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's decision not to run for the Senate.

After the defeat, he became the President and CEO of Financial Services Forum.

As of December 2005, Lazio was an executive vice-president at JPMorgan Chase & Co. After considering a run for New York State Attorney General in 2006, he stated that for both family and political reasons, he would not be running for any office in that year.

[edit] Electoral history

• 2000 Race for U.S. Senate
  • Hillary Rodham Clinton (D), 55%
  • Rick Lazio (R), 43%

Preceded by Tom Downey (D)

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 2nd congressional district 1993–2001

Succeeded by Steve Israel (D)