Gary Franks

Gary A. Franks (born February 9, 1953) was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut for six years, from 1991 until 1997. He was the first and to date only African-American elected to Congress from Connecticut.

Early life

Franks was born in Waterbury, Connecticut. He received his B.A. from Yale University in 1975. He served as a member of the Waterbury, Connecticut board of aldermen from 1986 to 1990. Franks was an unsuccessful candidate for comptroller of Connecticut in 1986. He was elected as a Republican to the One Hundred Second and to the two succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1991 – January 3, 1997). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the 105th Congress in 1996 and an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1998.

Career

Franks was the first black Republican to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives since Oscar Stanton De Priest won his last term on the South Side of Chicago in 1932. The other African-American Republican member of the U.S. House in the 1990s was J. C. Watts from Oklahoma. In his 1990 election Franks defeated former 6th District congressman Toby Moffett whom Franks portrayed as too liberal to represent the conservative 5th District. Franks won in a three-way election in 1992 when the Democrats split between endorsed candidate Judge James Lawlor, a moderate from Waterbury, and A Connecticut Party candidate Lynn Taborsak, a labor-liberal candidate from Danbury. James H. Maloney, then the Democratic state senator from Danbury, challenged Franks in 1994 and received 46% of the vote.

Maloney ran again in 1996 and defeated Franks, benefitting from the coattails of President Bill Clinton's strong showing in Connecticut.

Franks became the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 1998, challenging incumbent Senator Chris Dodd in 1998. Dodd was re-elected, with Franks receiving 32 percent of the vote.

External links

• Gary Franks at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress