Robert A. Borski, Jr.

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Former Rep. Robert Borski

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Robert Anthony Borski (born October 20, 1948), was an American Democratic Party Congressman from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1983 until 2003, representing the state's 3rd Congressional district.

Borski was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and he graduated from the University of Baltimore in 1971. He was a member of the Pennsylvania state house of representatives, from 1977 to 1983.

In 1982, he took on GOP Representative Charles F. Dougherty in the newly redrawn 3rd district of Pennsylvania. 1982 was a rough year for Republicans due to a recession and Borski would be a beneficiary of the public discontent. He also was helped by some friendly redistricting which added some Democrating wards to the 3rd. Borski scored a narrow victory of less than 3,000 votes. The Borski-Dougherty battles would be fought out in this district three more times in 1992, 1998, and 2000 with Borski victorious each time.

In his 20 years in Congress, Borski rose to become the second-ranking Democrat on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

In 2002, the Republican-controlled State Legislature threw Borski a curve. They redrew the 13th Congressional District to encompass a large part Northeast Philadelphia. The goal was to force the pro-life Borski to run against pro-choice Montgomery County Democrat Joe Hoeffel in the primary. The end result would be a bloodied Democrat facing a fresh, well-funded Republican. However, Borski decided not to run, instead retiring from Congress and allowing Congressman Hoeffel to avoid a costly primary campaign.

After retiring, Borski formed his own lobbying firm, Borski Associates. Governor Ed Rendell hired Borski in 2003 to help lobby for the state of Pennsylvania in Congress.