Sen. Richard Durbin (D) Elected 1996, 2d term up 2008
Born:	Nov. 21, 1944, E. St. Louis
Home:	Springfield
Education:	Georgetown U., B.S. 1966, J.D. 1969
Religion:	Catholic
Marital Status:	married (Loretta)
Elected  Office:	U.S. House of Reps., 1982-96.
Professional Career:	Staff, Lt. Gov. Paul Simon, 1969-72; Legal Cnsl., IL Sen. Judiciary Cmte., 1972-82; Prof., S. IL Schl. of Medicine, 1978-82.
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Richard Durbin, a Democrat, was first elected to the Senate in 1996. Durbin grew up in East St. Louis, and for almost all his adult life has been in politics: Right out of law school he joined Paul Simon's staff when he was lieutenant governor (1969-73), then was a state Senate staffer in the 1970s. He lost two races for office in the 1970s, but in 1982 won the nomination to oppose Republican Congressman Paul Findley, who had characterized himself as Yasir Arafat's best friend in Congress; that helped Durbin raise large sums from Israel supporters. Durbin won that race, got a seat on the Agriculture Committee and then moved to Appropriations, where in 1993 he became chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee. He worked to promote ethanol and soybean-based ink in government documents--big causes in the homeland of Archer Daniels Midland. Durbin's father died of lung cancer when he was 14, and Durbin's most prominent achievement was the 1988 ban on smoking on domestic airline flights; he followed that up by trying to limit tobacco subsidies and in 1994 moved unsuccessfully to direct the FDA to regulate tobacco as a health hazard.

In the Senate, Durbin has compiled a liberal voting record, though he has supported welfare reform and the death penalty; he has been a dependable Democratic partisan on the floor and on cable news networks. He got a seat on Appropriations in 1998. He defended the Clinton-Gore campaign resolutely in Fred Thompson's 1997 investigation of campaign finance irregularities and staunchly opposed impeachment in 1999, but did criticize Clinton in February 2001 for pardoning Marc Rich.

On tobacco, Durbin opposed provisions to limit FDA regulation of tobacco or "any additive ingredient of a tobacco product" and in July 1998 moved to ban smoking on international flights. In the House, Durbin favored restrictions on abortion, including the Hyde amendment and the Human Life Amendment; in the Senate, he has backed abortion rights and introduced a bill to ban abortions once the fetus can survive outside the womb, except where two physicians certify that a woman's life is at risk or she faces "grievous injury" to physical health. Durbin has tried to move his goal of gun control incrementally forward, calling for a ban on gun possession by foreigners on non-immigrant visas, a ban on certain cheap handguns, criminal penalties for parents whose children get hold of guns, and a permanent extension of the Brady bill's five-day waiting requirement (the original bill had it lapse to be replaced by an instant criminal background check). Durbin has a very strong pro-union voting record, but split with them on trade, supporting NAFTA in the House and PNTR for China in the Senate: Illinois is a big exporter. He sponsored a bill to give the FDA power to approve genetically modified foods but would not require labeling. He opposed the Gulf War resolution in January 1991 and the Iraq war resolution in October 2002, but voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq when Bill Clinton was president in February 1998. In the wake of September 11, Durbin proposed $1.8 billion for more security on trains and on rail bridges and tunnels and for national standards for state-issued driver's licenses. In July 2002 Durbin switched from his previous position and voted for storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, saying that radiation standards were much tougher than in previous bills; Illinois depends more than most states on nuclear power and has much waste it would like to transport elsewhere.

On one local issue of great moment, Durbin was not able to deliver in 2002. This was the expansion of O'Hare Airport, whose supporters wanted federal law to codify an agreement between Mayor Richard M. Daley and Governor George Ryan so that no future governor could undo it. In May 2002 Durbin, previously uncertain on the question, said he was for it and had the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster threatened by his Illinois colleague Peter Fitzgerald. But he did not bring it to the floor that spring nor in the fall, even though Speaker Dennis Hastert and 3d District Congressman William Lipinski managed to rally a two-thirds majority for it in the House in July 2002. Fitzgerald at one point used Senate procedure to frustrate Durbin, and Durbin was unable to get Majority Leader Tom Daschle to call the issue up. All of which prompted Hastert to say, "We moved the bill out of the House and--I'm not trying to talk in a prejudicial way here--but I'm disappointed that Durbin hasn't carried out his side of the bargain." The Chicago Sun-Times's Steve Neal wrote that Durbin "is better at settling scores than passing legislation."

The O'Hare issue was simmering while Durbin was seeking reelection, but it wasn't much of a fight. Durbin had won the seat in 1996 after his onetime employer Senator Paul Simon announced his retirement; the race may have looked more attractive because his margins in the 1992 and 1994 House races were fairly close. Raising more than $1 million, he outspent former state Treasurer (and current Lieutenant Governor) Pat Quinn in the March 1996 primary and won 65%-30%. In the general he faced trial lawyer and abortion opponent Al Salvi. In some states, Senate races often pit two candidates who are known in-depth by the voters; this race in this megastate pitted two candidates with low name identification in a year when Bill Clinton carried the state by a wide margin. The hottest issue may have been gun control. Durbin was endorsed in October by gun control activists Jim and Sarah Brady, at which point Salvi made an astonishing mistake: someone he met at a rally told him that Jim Brady used to sell machine guns and, without checking out the story, Salvi repeated it in a radio interview. It was totally untrue and Salvi had to apologize, but any chance of his overtaking Durbin was gone. Durbin won 56%-41%, carrying both metro Chicago and, narrowly, Downstate. In 2002 Durbin had a more politically adept opponent, but one who raised very little money, and it was no contest. Durbin won 60%-38%, leading 64%-35% in metro Chicago and 56%-42% Downstate. Durbin was mentioned briefly in 2000 as a possible vice presidential nominee (he quickly leaked it to the press when it became apparent he was under consideration); he said that he had been contacted by Warren Christopher in June and asked for information, but had called back four days later to say they he did not want to be considered. He chaired the Democrats' 2000 platform committee and aroused some criticism when he insisted on being one of three white males to announce the Illinois vote on the roll call at the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles.

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DC Office
332 DSOB 20510, 202-224-2152; Fax: 202-228-0400; Web site: www.durbin.senate.gov

State Offices
Chicago, 312-353-4952; Marion,618-998-8812; Springfield,217-492-4062.

Committees

• Appropriations: Agriculture & Rural Development; Defense; District of Columbia; Foreign Operations; Legislative Branch (RMM); Transportation, Treasury & General Government.
• Governmental Affairs: Government Management, Federal Workforce & the District of Columbia (RMM); Investigations (Permanent).
• Intelligence (Select).
• Judiciary: Administrative Oversight & the Courts; Constitution, Civil Rights & Property Rights; Crime, Corrections & Victims' Rights; Immigration, Border Security & Citizenship.
• Rules & Administration.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	95	60	100	88	58	50	9	50	0	0	--
2001	95	--	100	100	--	--	7	31	0	--	0

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	88%	--	9%		80%	--	15%
Social	60%	--	36%		82%	--	0%
Foreign	87%	--	3%		96%	--	0%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts N 2. Expand Patients' Rights Y 3. Campaign Finance Reform Y 4. Permit ANWR Development N 5. Confirm Ashcroft as AG N 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts N		7. $ for Hate Crime Prosecution Y  8. Overseas Military Abortions Y  9. Bar Coop. with Intl. Court Y 10. Trade Promotion Authority N 11. Authorize Force in Iraq N 12. Homeland Sec. Dept. Union Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	Richard Durbin (D)	2,103,766	60%	$4,979,865
	Jim Durkin (R)	1,325,703	38%	$794,634
	Other	57,382	2%
2002 primary	Richard Durbin (D)	unopposed
1996 general	Richard Durbin (D)	2,384,028	56%	$4,966,804
	Al Salvi (R)	1,728,824	41%	$4,696,065
	Other	137,870	3%
Prior winning percentages: 1994 House (55%); 1992 House (57%); 1990 House (66%); 1988 House (69%); 1986 House (68%); 1984 House (61%); 1982 House (50%)