Rep. Paul Gillmor (R) Elected 1988, 9th term
Born:	Feb. 1, 1939, Old Fort
Home:	Old Fort
Education:	Ohio Wesleyan U., B.A. 1961, U. of MI, J.D. 1964
Religion:	Methodist
Marital Status:	married (Karen)
Elected  Office:	OH Senate, 1966-88.
Military Career:	Air Force, 1965-66.
Professional Career:	Practicing atty., 1965-88.
DC Office	1203 LHOB20515, 202-225-6405; Fax: 202-225-1985; Web site: www.gillmor.house.gov
State Offices	Defiance, 419-782-1996; Norwalk, 419-668-0206; Tiffin, 419-448-9016.
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Undergirded by limestone, as flat and fertile as any place in America, northwest Ohio sits astride the land routes in parts of the country that were economically the most productive in the years they were settled. Here were the "Firelands," reserved for Connecticut Yankees whose farms were burned in the Revolution, and the neat and substantial small towns built by German Protestants in the mid-19th century. Northwest Ohio is the beginning of the great corn and hog belt that stretches through Indiana and Illinois into Iowa, and has long been a Republican heartland. Fremont, settled by abstemious Yankees, was the home of President Rutherford B. Hayes, whose wife Lucy served only lemonade in the White House; nearby Sandusky, settled by Germans who built big wineries and breweries, has its own Merry-Go-Round Museum.

This is also prime industrial country: its limestone, rail connections and location near the Great Lakes have spurred the growth of a factory economy that financially is far more important than agriculture. After the first settlement, northwest Ohio grew steadily for many decades, surging ahead in the 1950s and 1960s as its small factories supplied the big auto plants in Detroit and Ohio. Growth lagged noticeably in the 1980s, when the domestic auto industry collapsed, but returned in the 1990s as small firms sold not only to the Big Three but to foreign customers. That gave this area the highest percentage of blue-collar workers in the state.

The 5th Congressional District of Ohio sweeps across northwest Ohio, from northern Ashland County, almost within the ambit of metro Cleveland, across the limestone plains through Sandusky County and Fremont, past the university town of Bowling Green and the Toledo suburb of Perrysburg, to the towns of Defiance and Napoleon and on to the northwest corner where Ohio borders Michigan and Indiana. Its factories include the Heinz ketchup plant in Fremont--the world's largest--and the largest Whirlpool washing machine plant in Clyde, both in Sandusky County. In Seneca County is the Arm and Hammer Baking Soda plant--which is, of course, the world's largest. It does not include Toledo and the Lake Erie shoreline directly east. Historically, this has been a solidly Republican district from the Civil War through the New Deal and up through today; as part of his big push in western Ohio, George W. Bush increased his lead here from 59%-37% in 2000 to 61%-39% in 2004.

The congressman from the 5th District is Paul Gillmor, a Republican first elected in 1988. He grew up in northern Ohio, graduated from Ohio Wesleyan and Michigan law school, practiced law and was elected, at 27, to the state Senate in 1966, where he later became Senate president. For years Gillmor eyed this House seat and waited for incumbent Delbert Latta to retire; he even passed a state law blocking the party from designating Latta's son as nominee if Latta resigned. In the 1988 primary Gillmor beat the junior Latta by exactly 27 votes out of 63,000 cast. He has not been seriously challenged since then.

Gillmor has a relatively moderate voting record. He focused on internal reform in his first years in the House, working to freeze committee funding. He is comfortable with Republican moderates on cultural and foreign issues and has been both a member of the Tuesday Group and a deputy on Roy Blunt's whip team. On Energy and Commerce, he has chaired the Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials, where he sought to resolve long-deadlocked Superfund legislation, in part by giving more authority to the states. In describing his low-profile congressional career, the Cleveland Plain Dealer profiled Gillmor as digging into his work, unwilling to engage in publicity stunts and not especially interested in leadership politics: "a workmanlike lawmaker, chewing on unlit cigars as he pondered public policy." In 2003, he drafted a section of the energy bill that would permit greater flexibility in use of the $2 billion trust fund for cleaning up leaking underground gasoline storage tanks. Also that year he enacted the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act, requiring credit agencies to disclose when inquiries on a consumer's report are considered adversely. With Mike Ross, whose Arkansas district includes Bill Clinton's birthplace, he co-sponsored the Presidential Sites Improvement Act to maintain landmarks such as the Rutherford Hayes library. With Earl Pomeroy, he has pushed for a national database for sex offenders; that has been a harder sell because, as he described, the Justice Department has been "lukewarm at best."

In 2002, Gillmor had a rare primary contest with term-limited state Representative Rex Damschroder, who finished third in the 1988 primary. He criticized Gillmor for living in the Columbus area and not spending enough time in the district. Gillmor defended his record with a blast of advertising, including an endorsement from Dick Cheney, and won the primary 69%-31%. Damschroder won his home base of Sandusky County 54%-46%, but he did not come close in any other county. Gillmor won easily in November 2002 and was reelected without difficulty in 2004.

Committees

• Energy & Commerce (6th of 31 R): Environment & Hazardous Materials (Chmn.); Health; Telecommunications & the Internet.
• Financial Services (13th of 37 R): Capital Markets, Insurance & Government Sponsored Enterprises; Financial Institutions & Consumer Credit.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	5	0	0	9	67	59	100	84	73	84	--
2003	5	--	0	15	--	57	93	76	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	29%	--	70%		35%	--	64%
Social	5%	--	87%		25%	--	73%
Foreign	23%	--	71%		25%	--	68%
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 N 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Paul Gillmor (R)	196,649	67%	$440,891
	Robin Weirauch (D)	96,656	33%	$77,145
2004 primary	Paul Gillmor (R)	unopposed
2002 general	Paul Gillmor (R)	126,286	67%	$666,804
	Roger Anderson (D)	51,872	28%	$21,544
	John Green (Lib)	10,096	5%
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (70%); 1998 (67%); 1996 (61%); 1994 (73%); 1992 (100%); 1990 (68%); 1988 (61%)

2004 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 188,935 (61%) Kerry (D) 119,308 (39%)

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 158,037 (59%) Gore (D) 99,818 (37%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Fifth 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 +10
• District Size: 6,158 square miles
• Population in 2000: 630,730; 48.9% urban; 51.1% rural
• Median Household Income: $41,701; 7.6% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 39.8% blue collar; 46.0% white collar; 14.2% gray collar; 12.8% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 93.7% White, 1.1% Black, 0.4% Asian, 0.2% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 0.7% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 3.8% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 29.9% German, 7.5% Irish, 7.3% USA
• Click here for statewide demographic data.