Sen. Sam Brownback (R) Elected 1996, 1st term up 2004
Born:	Sept. 12, 1956, Garnett
Home:	Topeka
Education:	KS St. U., B.S. 1978, U. of KS, J.D. 1982
Religion:	Methodist
Marital Status:	married (Mary)
Elected  Office:	U.S. House of Reps., 1994-96.
Professional Career:	Radio broadcaster, KKSU, 1978-79; Practicing atty., 1982-86, 1993; Prof., KS St. U. Law Schl., 1982-86; Ogden & Leonardville City Atty., 1983-86; KS Secy. of Agriculture, 1986-93; White House Fellow, Office of USTR, 1990-91.
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Sam Brownback grew up on a farm in Anderson County, some 50 miles from Kansas City, was student body president at Kansas State University and briefly was a farm broadcaster. After law school, Brownback practiced law for four years in Manhattan, Kansas, in the 1980s; he was appointed secretary of the state Board of Agriculture in 1986 and served until it was abolished in 1993. He claims credit for encouraging the use of wheat to make plastics and cattle hides to make wound dressings. He was a White House Fellow, working from 1990-91 for Special Trade Representative Carla Hills. In March 1994 he announced for Congress, condemning "a welfare system that discourages the work ethic and encourages the disintegration of families and a government that can't say no to spending or yes to reform." Brownback won the three-way House primary; in the general, he faced John Carlin, governor from 1978-86. Brownback won 66%-34%, carrying every county.

Brownback was one of the enthusiastic 1994 freshmen who tried to shake up the House. He was put in charge of selling off a House annex building, which proved harder than expected. He pushed successfully to reduce Congress' own budget. He headed a group of "New Federalists," which sought to abolish three cabinet departments. He backed the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill and in 1995 spoke at Ross Perot's United We Stand convention denouncing "influence peddling" in Washington. On immigration, he played a key role in separating the legal and illegal immigration issues, which led to passage of a tough measure against illegal immigrants but no major reductions in the number of legal immigrants.

On May 15, 1996, Bob Dole surprised just about everyone when he announced he was resigning from the Senate on June 11. On May 17, Brownback said he would seek the seat, noting, "They are size 25 shoes that even Michael Jordan couldn't fill." Governor Bill Graves' choice to fill the vacancy, Lieutenant Governor Sheila Frahm, delayed ten days before accepting. Though both were labeled conservative, Frahm and Brownback presented a strong contrast in the subsequent primary. She was pro-choice on abortion, he was pro-life. Brownback accused her of voting as a state legislator to raise taxes $500 million; she criticized his "slash and burn" approach to federal spending. Graves and Senator Nancy Kassebaum endorsed Frahm; William Bennett of Empower America and James Dobson of Focus on the Family endorsed Brownback. In the August primary, Brownback won 55%-42%. In the general election for the remaining two years of Dole's term, Brownback faced a Democrat with a great political name, Wichita stockbroker Jill Docking, wife of a former lieutenant governor whose father and grandfather both served as governor. Docking promised "Kansas common sense" and likened herself to Kassebaum. Brownback campaigned on the 3 Rs: "Reduce, reform and return. Reduce the size and scope of the federal government. Reform the Congress. Return to the basic values that built the country: Work and family and the recognition of a higher moral authority." He promised to serve only two terms--presumably two full terms. Both candidates spent liberally, and some fall polls showed the race close. But Brownback won by the convincing though not overwhelming margin of 54%-43%.

Brownback has a very conservative voting record in the Senate but has also made common cause with liberals on some issues. "I think every life is sacred and beautiful, whether it's the unborn or whether it's Ted Kennedy," he has said. "I really try to reach out and work with anybody and everybody I can." After September 11, Brownback and Kennedy co-sponsored a bill to strengthen the nation's borders. It provided for an automatic entry and exit system, the development of biometric identifiers and tracking of foreign students and called for greater sharing of information about potential terrorists by the INS, State Department and intelligence agencies. The bill became law in May 2002. He has had less success in banning human cloning, an issue he became interested in while working as state agriculture secretary. His bill, co-sponsored by Mary Landrieu, would ban reproductive human cloning and the cloning of embryos for use in research; as a fallback, he called for a six-month moratorium on cloning. In November 2001 Majority Leader Tom Daschle promised him a freestanding vote that winter. Then in June 2002 Daschle offered him floor time under rules that required 60 votes for passage and favored the competing bill sponsored by Dianne Feinstein and Arlen Specter which would prohibit only reproductive cloning; Brownback refused the offer and tried, unsuccessfully, to bring up his bill as an amendment to the terrorism insurance bill, but that was voted down 65-31.

Brownback has a seat on Foreign Relations and is chairman of the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee. He co-sponsored the Iraq Liberation Act in 1998; he criticized the Clinton administration's handling of UNSCOM inspections in Iraq. He returned from a trip to India in 1999 determined to do something about the international sex trade; working with liberal Paul Wellstone, he sponsored a bill to curb sex trafficking that became law in October 2000. In the process, he focused as well on the continued existence of slavery in Sudan and other countries. He and Kansas colleague Pat Roberts sponsored a law passed in October 1999 authorizing the president to lift the embargo on India; Bill Clinton, determined to get India to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty that the Senate had rejected that same month, refused. After September 11, he worked to ease sanctions against Pakistan and urged a tough approach on Iraq; he called the Iraqi National Congress, a group shunned by many in the State Department and the CIA, "invaluable in the fight to rid the world of Saddam's threat." He worked with Barbara Boxer on women's rights in Afghanistan.

Brownback has taken interesting initiatives on communications issues. He worked closely with Joe Lieberman on measures addressing religious persecution in Sudan and other countries. After Lieberman was nominated for vice president, Brownback explained their joint efforts: "Senator Lieberman and I are part of a political alliance that is quite logically emerging between theologically orthodox Christians and Jews. … We share a belief in universal Truths, in a moral order ordained by God and discovered, not created, by man." He has tried to get a national policy to make broadband communication universal, which he argues is especially important in rural areas, and he has urged broadcasters to move more quickly to digital television.

He has worked with liberals on other issues. With Congressman John Lewis, he has worked to build an African-American Museum on Washington's Mall; in late 2002, he explored the idea of creating a temporary congressional committee on race relations but dropped the initiative after failing to win support from party leadership.

In 2003, Brownback won an Appropriations Committee seat; he received a waiver that permitted him to serve on two "Super A" committees (the other is Foreign Relations). He was elected to a full six-year term in 1998 by a 65%-32% margin after well-known candidates declined to run. Campaign finance caused him some embarrassment. In March 1997, the Kansas City Star ran stories revealing that Brownback's in-laws gave $32,500 to seven PACs which promptly gave his campaign $31,500; in December 2002 the Federal Election Commission fined the in-laws $9,000 and ordered the Brownback campaign to refund $19,000 to the U.S. Treasury. Brownback announced in November 2002 he would run again; Democrats mentioned as possible opponents include Jill Docking, former Congressman Dan Glickman and Congressman Dennis Moore.

Update: September 23, 2003
On September 9, 2003, Glickman said he will not run against Brownback in 2004.

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DC Office
303 HSOB 20510, 202-224-6521; Fax: 202-228-1265; Web site: brownback.senate.gov

State Offices
Garden City, 316-275-1124; Overland Park,913-492-6378; Pittsburg,620-231-6040; Topeka,785-233-2503; Wichita,316-264-8066.

Committees

• Appropriations: Agriculture & Rural Development; Commerce, Justice, State & Judiciary; District of Columbia; Interior; Military Construction; Transportation, Treasury & General Government.
• Commerce, Science & Transportation: Aviation; Communications; Competition, Foreign Commerce & Infrastructure; Science, Technology & Space (Chmn.); Surface Transportation & Merchant Marine.
• Foreign Relations: African Affairs; East Asian & Pacific Affairs (Chmn.); International Operations & Terrorism; Near Eastern & South Asian Affairs.
• Joint Economic Committee (2d of 10 Sens.).

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	5	20	0	6	69	88	67	100	100	94	--
2001	0	--	0	0	--	--	85	93	96	--	100

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	7%	--	86%		22%	--	77%
Social	33%	--	59%		0%	--	62%
Foreign	7%	--	72%		0%	--	76%
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 Y 2. Expand Patients' Rights N 3. Campaign Finance Reform N 4. Permit ANWR Development Y 5. Confirm Ashcroft as AG Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts Y		7. $ for Hate Crime Prosecution N  8. Overseas Military Abortions N  9. Bar Coop. with Intl. Court Y 10. Trade Promotion Authority * 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Homeland Sec. Dept. Union N

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
1998 general	Sam Brownback (R)	474,639	65%	$1,719,612
	Paul Feleciano Jr. (D)	229,718	32%	$39,500
	Other	22,879	3%
1998 primary	Sam Brownback (R)	unopposed
1996 spec. gen.	Sam Brownback (R)	574,021	54%	$2,269,550
	Jill Docking (D)	461,344	43%	$1,125,844
	Other	29,351	3%
1996 special primary	Sam Brownback (R)	187,914	55%
	Sheila Frahm (R)	142,487	42%
	Christina Campbell-Cline (R)	12,378	4%
1992 general	Bob Dole (R)	706,246	63%	$3,542,989
	Gloria O'Dell (D)	349,525	31%	$249,359
	Christina Campbell-Cline (I)	45,423	4%
	Other	25,253	2%
Prior winning percentages: 1994 House (66%)