Richard Burr

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Richard Burr
Richard Burr

Incumbent
Assumed office 
January 3, 2005
Serving with Elizabeth Dole
Preceded by John Edwards

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from North Carolina's 5th district
In office
January 3, 1995 – January 3, 2005
Preceded by Stephen L. Neal
Succeeded by Virginia Foxx

Born November 30, 1955 (1955-11-30) (age 52)
Charlottesville, Virginia
Political party Republican
Spouse Brooke F. Burr
Alma mater Wake Forest University
Religion Methodist

Richard Mauze Burr (born November 30, 1955) is a United States Senator from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A Republican, Burr represented North Carolina's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives for five terms, and was elected to represent North Carolina as a U.S. Senator in the 2004 election. He defeated the Democratic Party nominee, former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, in the open seat contest.

Contents

[edit] Background

Burr was born in Charlottesville, Virginia to Martha Gillum and Rev. David Horace Burr, a prominent minister.[1] He graduated from Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, N.C. in 1974 and earned a B.A. from Wake Forest University in 1978. Burr was on the school football team at both Reynolds High School and Wake Forest. He is a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

Prior to running for Congress, Burr worked for 17 years as a sales manager for Carswell Distributing Company, a distributor of lawn equipment.[2] Burr is currently a board member of Brenner Children's Hospital, as well as of the group Idealliance - a group of local, academic, and government officials working to expand North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad Research Park, which involves bio-hazard and chemical, vaccines research.[3]

In 1984, Burr married Brooke Fauth; the couple has two sons.

Burr is a twelfth cousin of Aaron Burr. He is the first Burr in the Senate -- and only the second person with his last name to win election to Congress (the first being the presumably unrelated Albert G. Burr) -- since Aaron.[4] [5]

[edit] House career

In 1992, Burr ran against incumbent Democratic Representative Stephen L. Neal and lost. He ran again in 1994 after Neal chose not to seek re-election, and was elected to Congress.

[edit] Senate career

In July 2004, Burr won the Republican primary to seek the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Democrat John Edwards. He faced Democrat Erskine Bowles and Libertarian Tom Bailey.

Burr won the election by five percentage points. Bowles's and Burr's combined campaign expenditures totaled over 26 million dollars, making it one of the most expensive Senate races in the country. Burr raised more money from political action committees, $2.8 million, than any other Senate candidate in 2004, primarily from the business community. Of the 100 largest companies in America, at least 72 contributed to Burr. Those included the PACs for such corporations as Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil, General Motors, Ford, General Electric and ChevronTexaco.[citation needed]

Burr has strongly supported the policies of the Bush administration, publicly saying that President Bush "is right 96% of the time."[6] Like Bush, Burr is pro-life, supports the death penalty, and favors a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. In May 2007, he was one of fourteen Senators to vote against the Iraq War funding bill despite his strong support of the war, due to his opposition to the clauses of the bill that provide for an increase in domestic spending and assistance. [7] On June 26, 2007, Burr voted in favor of cloture for the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007. Two days later he voted against cloture.[8]) (S. 1639)[9].

A November 1, 2007 poll has his approval rating at 30% with 34% disapproving. [10]

According to www.congress.org, in 2007 Burr was the 86th most powerful Senator out of 100 (37th among Senate Republicans).[11]

In 2007, Burr ran for the leadership post of Republican Conference chairman [12] but lost to Sen. Lamar Alexander by a vote of 31 to 16. [13]

[edit] Committee Assignments

  • Committee on Veterans' Affairs (Ranking Member)
  • Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
    • Subcommittee on Energy
    • Subcommittee on National Parks (Ranking Member)
    • Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests
  • Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
    • Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety
    • Subcommittee on Retirement and Aging (Ranking Member)
  • Committee on Indian Affairs
  • Select Committee on Intelligence
  • Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

[edit] Endorsements

Sen. Burr endorsed Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), for the 2008 Presidential Election, stating his confidence in McCain's leadership and style of governing.[14]

[edit] Bioshield Two

Burr is the sponsor of Senate bill 1873, the Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005, nicknamed "Bioshield Two", which he says will give the Department of Health and Human Services "additional authority and resources to partner with the private sector to rapidly develop drugs and vaccines." Critics have stated that this bill would eliminate current regulatory and legal safeguards applied to vaccines. In addition, they state the bill is being pushed through Congress without giving voters the chance to make their objections known to their elected officials.[15] Portions of Senate Bill 1873 were eventually included in Senate Bill 3678 (the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act[16]), which was signed into law in December 2006.

[edit] Electoral history

North Carolina's 5th congressional district: Results 1992–2002[17]
Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct
1992 Stephen L. Neal 117,835 53% Richard Burr 102,086 46% Gary Albrecht Libertarian 3,758 2% *
1994 A. P. "Sandy" Sands 63,194 43% Richard Burr 84,741 57%
1996 Neil Grist Cashion, Jr. 74,320 35% Richard Burr 130,177 62% Barbara J. Howe Libertarian 4,193 2% Craig Berg Natural Law 1,008 <1%
1998 Mike Robinson 55,806 32% Richard Burr 119,103 68% Gene Paczelt Libertarian 1,382 1%
2000 (no candidate) Richard Burr 172,489 93% Steven Francis LeBoeuf Libertarian 13,366 7%
2002 David Crawford 58,558 30% Richard Burr 137,879 70%
*Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 1992, write-ins received 4 votes.
North Carolina Senator (Class III) 2004 results:[17]
Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct
2004 Erskine Bowles 1,632,527 47% Richard Burr 1,791,450 52% Tom Bailey Libertarian 47,743 1% *
*Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 2004, Walker F. Rucker received 362 votes.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Stephen L. Neal
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from North Carolina's 5th congressional district

1995 – 2005
Succeeded by
Virginia Foxx
United States Senate
Preceded by
John Edwards
United States Senator (Class 3) from North Carolina
2005 – present
Served alongside: Elizabeth Dole
Incumbent