Rep. Jo Bonner (R) Elected 2002, 2d term
Born:	Nov. 19, 1959, Selma
Home:	Mobile
Education:	U. of AL, B.A. 1982, U. of AL Law Schl. 1988
Religion:	Episcopalian
Marital Status:	married (Janee)
Professional Career:	Sr. Aide, U.S. Rep. Sonny Callahan, 1984-2002.
DC Office	315 CHOB20515, 202-225-4931; Fax: 202-225-0562; Web site: www.bonner.house.gov
State Offices	Foley, 251-943-2073; Mobile, 251-690-2811.
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Mobile, the port where the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers flow into the Gulf of Mexico, was long a key point on the American frontier. Spanish after the Revolutionary War, it was wrested away by threats of war from Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. During the Civil War, it was one of the major Confederate ports; here in 1864 Admiral David Farragut, while steaming into the harbor lashed to his mast, cried, ''Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead.'' Today, Mobile is full of graceful signs of its slightly exotic past. Behind the docks and rail lines are downtown buildings and old houses with Spanish motifs, French accents, or tropical Art Deco lines. Further inland are neighborhoods with spacious houses, often with double porches, overhung by huge live oaks, graced with Spanish moss. Mobile is a Gulf Coast version of Charleston or a smaller, more comfortable New Orleans, with a taste for shellfish and spicy food and an even older Mardi Gras, which the locals have been celebrating since 1703. As befits a frontier city with a martial past, Mobile is bristling with arms: One of the city's proudest possessions is the battleship U.S.S. Alabama, moored at the head of Mobile Bay, with its guns aimed out toward the Gulf. Mobile's economy was based originally on docks and shipyards, factories and terminals, but with a determination to impose touches of beauty on its hot, flat landscape. Its economy has been thriving at the shipyards, chemical plants, and a new cruise terminal. The capital improvements include Mobile's State Docks, which serves Alabama's booming Mercedes, Honda, and Hyundai auto-production factories. But after opposition from local activists worried about safety, Exxon Mobil withdrew plans to build a giant offshore liquefied natural gas terminal.

Mobile is the focus of Alabama's 1st Congressional District, which extends north along the lazily flowing Tombigbee and Alabama Rivers, near the old forts and mansions. Monroeville was the home of great writers--Truman Capote and his childhood playmate, Harper Lee, whose To Kill a Mockingbird is set here; and Winston Groom, author of Forrest Gump. Also here are surviving backcountry settlements of blacks and Cajans (who may or may not be descended from Louisiana Cajuns) and Creek Indians. Once cotton fields, this is now timber land, a major contributor to Alabama's economy, though many stands were devastated by Hurricane Ivan in September 2004. To the south, along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, are the fast-growing condominium communities in Baldwin County, one of the two fastest-growing counties in Alabama; the glorious Gulf beaches are one of the South's best-kept secrets. For years, this southern seaboard of the Confederacy and the Union has been one of the most hawkish parts of America, and today it is solidly Republican in national elections.

The congressman from the 1st District is Jo Bonner, a Republican first elected in 2002. Bonner grew up in Selma and is just a little too young to remember the days when it was the focus of the civil rights movement; his father, who died when he was 13, was a probate judge appointed by the relatively moderate Governor Albert Brewer. Bonner graduated from the University of Alabama in 1982 and two years later started working as a campaign press secretary for Sonny Callahan, a gregarious nine-term Republican who rose to become an Appropriations subcommittee chairman. In 1989, Bonner was promoted to chief of staff and later moved his family back to Mobile, where he became the rare top aide permanently stationed in the district. That background left Bonner well positioned when Callahan announced his retirement just three months before the June 2002 primary.

Bonner's strongest opponent in the in the seven-candidate Republican primary had a similar background: Tom Young had been the chief of staff to Senator Richard Shelby for 12 years. Like Bonner, Young had his former boss's endorsement and showed a knack for campaign fundraising: the two raised more than $2 million between them. With help from their bosses, each raised lots of money from Washington lobbyists; some complained about the pressure to choose sides. Young contrasted his experience on intelligence and defense policy with Bonner's focus on more mundane constituent-service work. Bonner responded by arguing that the Washington-based Young had more connections in Washington than in southern Alabama; he jibed that Young should have been welcomed at a luncheon for "new Mobilians." Young outspent Bonner by $300,000 and was helped by ads from the pro-tax cut Club for Growth, but Bonner led in the June 4 primary 40%-20%. In the June 25 runoff Bonner was endorsed by the Republicans who ran third, fourth and fifth; he won 62%-38%. In a district held by Republicans since 1964, when Barry Goldwater swept Alabama, Bonner beat Democratic businesswoman Judy McCain Belk, who contributed more than $300,000 to her campaign, by a 60%-38% margin--almost the same as George W. Bush's margin in 2000.

In the House, Bonner cast a solidly conservative voting record and made few waves as a party loyalist. He opposed on-shore LNG terminals for Mobile, but proposed an off-shore option for the future. In a rematch against Belk, Bonner won by a 63%-37% margin, a margin very close to Bush's 2004 margin in the district. Starting before the 2004 election, he pushed to get Callahan's seat on Appropriations but failed to get it. Back home, Bonner has succeeded Callahan as host of the weekly "Gulf Coast Congressional Report," which has aired since 1972 and bills itself as the longest-running televised public service program hosted by a member of Congress. He seems likely to have a lengthy tenure in this safely Republican seat.

Committees

• Agriculture (14th of 25 R): Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition & Forestry; General Farm Commodities & Risk Management.
• Budget (7th of 22 R).
• Science (16th of 24 R): Energy; Space & Aeronautics.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	0	0	13	9	90	59	100	95	67	100	--
2003	5	--	0	5	--	61	97	92	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	9%	--	84%		13%	--	87%
Social	5%	--	87%		24%	--	76%
Foreign	11%	--	80%		0%	--	96%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR Y 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 3. Medicare/Rx Bill Y 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. N 5. DC School Vouchers Y 6. Ban Human Cloning Y		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage Y 10. Fund Iraq War Y 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds * 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Jo Bonner (R)	161,067	63%	$1,015,702
	Judy McCain Belk (D)	93,938	37%	$442,141
	Other	159	0%
2004 primary	Jo Bonner (R)	unopposed
2002 general	Jo Bonner (R)	108,102	60%	$1,713,019
	Judy McCain Belk (D)	67,507	38%	$472,383
	Other	3,078	2%

2004 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 168,817 (64%) Kerry (D) 91,832 (35%)

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 138,938 (60%) Gore (D) 86,142 (37%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the First District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R +12
• District Size: 7,182 square miles
• Population in 2000: 635,300; 64.4% urban; 35.6% rural
• Median Household Income: $34,739; 16.9% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 29.7% blue collar; 54.7% white collar; 15.6% gray collar; 14.3% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 67.8% White, 28.0% Black, 1.0% Asian, 1.0% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 0.9% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 1.3% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 12.4% USA, 6.7% Irish, 6.6% English
• Click here for statewide demographic data.