LEGISLATOR US Senator (D-DE)

IN OFFICE CONTACT

Up for re-election in 2020 Email Contact Form http://coons.senate.gov/ 2nd Term contact Re-elected in 2014 Web coons.senate.gov SENIORITY RANK http://coons.senate.gov 56 Twitter @SenCoonsOffice Out of 100 http://www.twitter.com/ SenCoonsOffice

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DC Office 127A Russell Senate Office Building

BGOV BIOGRAPHY

By Chris Strohm, Bloomberg News Many people spend their time commuting to and from work on public transportation by reading, chatting with friends or catching up on sleep. Christopher Coons spends part of his time traveling on Amtrak between Wilmington and Washington recording personalized video messages responding to constituent inquires. He regularly rides the train to work -- the trip is about 90 minutes each way -- just as a previous holder of his Senate seat, , did for years. Coons, a former conservative who once campaigned for Republicans, doesn’t shy away from controversial topics in the videos he posts on his Senate website and YouTube, including deficit reduction, health care, energy production and . He won his Senate seat in November 2010 to finish the final four years of the term Biden won in 2008. In that same election Biden was also elected vice president, and he vacated the Senate seat on Jan. 15, 2009, just before he was inaugurated. The seat was temporarily filled by gubernatorial appointee , one of Biden’s top Senate advisers, who served until the next general election in 2010. Because Coons won a special election to complete Biden’s term, he was sworn into office on Nov. 15, 2010, allowing him to serve in the lame-duck session of the 111th Congress and getting a six-week head start on getting acclimated to Capitol Hill. In that lame-duck session, he uniformly supported the Democratic Party line on issues such as a reduction in the payroll tax, repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on gays serving openly in the military, and the so-called Dream Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for certain young illegal immigrants. In April 2011 he introduced his first bill, which proposed that the research and development tax credit be made permanent. Congress had passed a short-term extension of the credit in late 2010. Bipartisan Bill

© 2015 Bloomberg Finance L.P. All Rights Reserved Coons has continued to support Democratic issues while watching for opportunities to work with Republicans. In late 2011, when partisan tensions ran high over reducing the budget deficit, he and Florida Republican teamed to propose a wide-ranging jobs creation bill. In a joint statement, they wrote, “As freshman senators from states hit hard by the recession, we believe Congress can’t afford to spend the next year spinning its wheels -- scoring political points in a debate that is more about protecting political jobs in 2012 elections than getting the jobless back to work. We should unite behind policy ideas we all agree on and that would likely be signed into law if we stop letting politics get in the way.” Semester in Coons’s interest in politics began in 1980, when he was a teenage volunteer for ’s presidential campaign and worked on the campaign of incumbent Republican Senator Bill Roth. He has said that his political transformation was hastened when, during his junior year at , he spent a semester studying in Kenya. In an opinion article for the college newspaper, titled “Chris Coons: The Making of a Bearded Marxist,” he said seeing poverty and oppression in Kenya challenged the basic assumptions of his “fairly sheltered, privileged, and politically conservative background.” Coons was born in Greenwich, , and moved to as a boy. After his parents’ divorce, his mother married into the founding family of W.L. Gore & Associates Inc., which makes Gore-Tex fabrics. He graduated from Amherst in 1985 with degrees in chemistry and political science. He earned his law degree and a master’s degree in ethics from in 1992. Political Career Coons first entered public office when he was elected president of the New Castle County Council in 2000. He ran for and won the post of county executive in 2004 and was re-elected in 2008. Prior to becoming county executive of Delaware’s most populous county, Coons worked for six years as an attorney for W.L. Gore. In 2010, after , the Delaware attorney general, unexpectedly announced that he wouldn’t run for the Senate seat long held by his father, Coons jumped into the race. Later, the expected Republican nominee, Representative Michael Castle, was upset in that party’s and Coons faced Tea Party-backed Christine O’Donnell, a political neophyte. Coons won the election handily, by almost 17 percentage points. Updated Oct. 10, 2012

BIO FROM REPRESENTATIVE'S WEBSITE

From the Senator's Website Senator Chris Coons has earned a reputation as a principled and pragmatic lawmaker, focused on some of the most important issues confronting Delaware and the nation. Chris has emerged as a strong voice for job creation and the innovation economy, responsible deficit reduction, progressive social justice, and Delaware's values. Serving on the Appropriations, Judiciary, Foreign Relations, and Budget committees, Chris is uniquely positioned to help nurture American innovation and make the United States more competitive in the global market. His legislative agenda has focused on job creation, leveling the playing field for clean-energy technology, expanding the impact of the research and development tax credit, and measures focused on helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Before joining the Senate, Chris spent a decade of successful service in New Castle County government. As New Castle County Council President and then New Castle County Executive, he earned a reputation for delivering real results on behalf of Delawareans, preserving critical community services while protecting the county's finances during the least stable national economic climate in decades. Prior to serving as county executive, Chris worked as an attorney for Delaware-based W.L. Gore & Associates, an innovative, science-based business, where he helped the company expand. Chris previously worked for the 'I Have a Dream' Foundation, helping at-risk youth stay in school, get to college and build their lives, and with the Coalition for the Homeless.

© 2015 Bloomberg Finance L.P. All Rights Reserved Senator Coons is a graduate of Amherst College with bachelor's degrees in chemistry and political science, taking a semester to study abroad at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. He earned a law degree from while simultaneously earning a master's degree in ethics from . A longtime New Castle County resident, Chris grew up in the Pike Creek and Hockessin areas and lives in Wilmington with his wife, Annie, and their three children, Michael, Jack, and Maggie.

PERSONAL PROFILE

COMMITTEES Birthdate 09/09/1963 PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS Senate Committee on Education Appropriations Birthplace Greenwich, CT

Senate Committee on Foreign Political Party Democratic Party Yale Divinity Schl Relations Master's Degree 1992 Senate Committee on the Judiciary Marital Status Married

Senate Committee on Small Amherst College Spouse Annie Lingenfelter Business and Entrepreneurship Bachelor's Degree 1985 Senate Select Committee on Ethics Residence Wilmington, DE CAUCUSES Yale Law School Family 3 children JD 1992 Senate Global Internet Freedom Caucus University of Nairobi Senate Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Caucus

Senate Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases Caucus Attorney, WL Gore & Assoc Inc 2001 - 01- 01-2005 Council President, County of New Castle DE 01-01-2005 - 11-15-2010 County Executive, New Castle County/DE 11-15- 2010 - Present Senator:Delaware, (US)Senate

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