115th Congressional Directory Members of Congress Representing Publicly-Supported HBCUs Thurgood Marshall College Fund Alabama SENATOR RICHARD SHELBY Sen. Richard Shelby Biography Alabama senior Sen. Richard Shelby has held the top Republican slot on committees dealing with banking and spying, and in 2015 returned as chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. But the issue for which he remains best known at home is spending. Adept at securing federal money for his state, he has five buildings at Alabama’s public universities named for him. Shelby grew up in Birmingham, the son of a steelworker. After earning two degrees from the University of Alabama, he stayed in Tuscaloosa and practiced law with Walter Flowers, who was later a conservative Democratic congressman. Shelby, a Democrat at that time, was elected to the state Senate in 1970 at age 36. When Flowers ran, unsuccessfully, for the U.S. Senate in 1978, Shelby ran for his House seat. In the House, Shelby had a conservative voting record, opposing the Voting Rights Act extension and the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. He ran for the Senate in 1986 and won the Democratic primary with 51% of the vote after then-Secretary of State (and later governor) Don Siegelman withdrew. On domestic issues, Shelby has compiled a conservative record. But he is not a free market purist. Despite his party switch, he has remained friendly with trial lawyers, who usually support Democrats in Alabama. He easily won reelection in 2010 against Democrat William Barnes, a Birmingham lawyer. Shelby easily won his primary in 2016 against his main opponent, Jonathan McConnell. Biography Stance on Issues Committees Currently: • Strongly opposes amnesty for illegal Committee on Appropriations Senator, AL immigrants Elected: 1986 Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee • Strongly favors expanding the military Committee on Rules and Administration Education: • Opposes expanding Obamacare U. Of AL, B.A., 1957, L.L.B., 1963 • Favors privatizing Social Security Religion: Presbyterian Election Results Contact: (202) 224-5744 2010 General 304 Russell Senate Office Building Richard Shelby (R) Votes: 968,181 Percent: 65.2% Washington, DC 20510 William Barnes (D) Votes: 515,619 Percent: 34.7% Sources: Ballotpedia, 2016; National Journal Almanac 2016. September 13, 2016 | Katharine Conlon SEN. LUTHER STRANGE PROFILE Sen. Luther Strange Biography Luther Strange was appointed as senator by Alabama Governor Robert Bentley to replace Sen. Jeff Sessions following his confirmation as attorney general. Luther Strange graduated from Tulane University with a bachelors' degree in political science in 1976 and a JD in 1979. After graduating from law school, Strange began working for Sonat Inc., a large Fortune 500 American energy company located in Birmingham. Later on, Strange was promoted to head their Washington, DC office. In 1998, he went on to join the law firm of Bradley, Arant, Rose & White, where he focused on economic development work. In 2010, Strange filed to run for attorney general of Alabama. Strange was easily able to defeat incumbent Troy King in the Republican primary with a vote of 60.1% to 39.9%. In the general election, he beat Democratic opponent James Anderson by a vote of 58.8% to 41.1%. Throughout his tenure as attorney general, he has filed many lawsuits regarding the Affordable Care Act and argued a successful First Amendment case before the US Supreme Court in Lane V. Franks. Biography Stance on Issues Committees Currently: • Strongly opposes expanding Obamacare TBD Senator, AL • Strongly supports second amendment Appointed: 2017 rights Education: • Strongly opposes abortion as an Tulane U., B.S. 1976; unrestricted right Tulane U., J.D. 1979 Religion: Episcopalian Election Results Family: Married (Melissa), two sons 2018 General Votes: Percent: Contact: (334) 242-7300 Office of the Attorney Votes: Percent: General Montgomery, AL 36104 Sources: National Journal Almanac, 2016. Ballotpedia 2016. February 9, 2016 | Hunter Hamrick REP. MO BROOKS Rep. Mo Brooks Biography In 2010, Mo Brooks, the 5th District congressman, became the first Republican to be elected to the seat since 1868. Brooks was born in Charleston, SC, and moved to Huntsville, AL, when he was 9. Brooks studied economics and political science at Duke University, graduating in three years. He received his J.D. from the University of AL, and moved back to Huntsville for a circuit court clerkship. In 1982, he ran for the Alabama House. Brooks was reelected three times, and says he was most proud of his No. 1 ranking from the Alabama Taxpayers’ Defense Fund for his efforts fighting tax increases. He left the legislature when Gov. Guy Hunt appointed him Madison County district attorney in 1991. Brooks lost a bid to keep the D.A.’s job two years later. He returned to public office in 1996, when he was elected to the Madison County Commission. Brooks won his U.S. House seat following hard-fought primary and general election battles in 2010. Within four months of taking the seat, he landed in the headlines when multiple deadly tornadoes struck his district. He worked to obtain disaster funds as a member of the committees on Armed Services and Homeland Security, but drew more attention for his subsequent remarks on other issues. Notably, on a conservative radio talk show, Brooks claimed that the Republican Party was not alienating non-white voters, but that it was “a part of the war on whites that’s being launched by the Democratic Party. And the way they’re launching this war is by claiming that whites hate everybody else.” Democratic Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell said his comments "do not represent the views of the state of Alabama.“ Brooks was unapologetic. Biography Stance on Issues Committees Currently: • Favors repealing Obamacare Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Representative, AL-5 • Favors an absolute right to gun ownership Elected: 2010 Committee on Foreign Affairs • Opposes government funding for Education: renewable energy development Committee on Armed Services Duke U., B.A., 1975; U. of AL, J.D., 1978 • Opposes federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions Religion: Christian • Favors the expansion of the military Election Results Family: Married, 4 children, 2016 General 3 grandchildren Mo Brooks (R) Votes: 205,647 Percent: 66.7% Contact: (202) 225-4801 LHOB Room 1230 Will Boyd (D) Votes: 102,234 Percent: 33.2% Washington, DC 20515 Sources: National Journal Almanac, 2017; Ballotpedia, 2017. January 17, 2017 | Emilia Varrone REP. TERRI SEWELL PROFILE Rep. Terri Sewell Biography Democrat Terri A. Sewell is one of the first women elected to Congress from Alabama and the first black woman to serve her district. Congresswoman Sewell was freshman class president in the 112th Congress. She currently serves as Chief Deputy Whip. Before she was elected, Congresswoman Sewell was the first black woman partner at Maynard, Cooper & Gale’s Birmingham law office. Born and raised in the Deep South after the peak of the civil rights movement, Sewell came from modest background. Her mother was a librarian and her dad was a high school teacher. As Sewell continued on to graduate from Princeton, receive a scholarship to attend Oxford, attend Harvard Law, and eventually work at a high- profile firm in New York City, she developed close friendships with influential young women. At Princeton, Sewell’s assigned mentor was Michelle Robinson, who would later become first lady. The two became friends and Sewell eventually followed Michelle to Harvard Law. Sewell is also close friends with former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Sewell is up for reelection this term, but faces no opposition. Stance on Issues Committees • Strongly favors job creation, workforce House Ways and Means Committee Biography development, skills training, and workers rights Currently: Representative, AL-7 • Strongly favors preserving civil rights sites House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Elected: 2010 • Strongly favors voting rights protections Education: Princeton University, B.A., 1986 Oxford University, M.A., 1988 Harvard Law School, J.D., 1992 Religion: Protestant Election Results Family: Divorced (Theodore Dixie 2016 General (div.)) Terri Sewell (D) Votes: 229,330 Percent: 98.4% Contact: (202) 225-2665 Write-in Votes: 3,698 Percent: 1.6% 2201 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 Sources: Abby Livingston, “Six Degrees of Terri Sewell,” Roll Call, December 22, 2014; Ballotpedia, 2017; National Journal Almanac, 2017. April 6, 2017 | Libbie Wilcox REP. MIKE ROGERS PROFILE Rep. Mike Rogers Biography Rogers is a fifth-generation resident of Calhoun County, the son of a textile worker and a fireman. At the age of 28 in 1986, he was the first Republican elected to the county commission. In 1994, he won a seat in the Alabama House, and in his second term, he became minority leader. In 2002, Rogers succeeded Republican Bob Riley as U.S. Congressman for Alabama’s 3rd district. During the election, Rogers touted his working-class values, support from the National Rifle Association, opposition to abortion rights and support for a constitutional amendment permitting prayer in the public schools. On the Armed Services Committee, Rogers became chairman of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee in 2015. He seeks to protect Anniston Army Depot as well as Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base and Fort Benning in nearby Georgia. Like other Alabama Republicans, he has supported having the power to earmark spending bills to protect those and other state interests. He has been highly critical of the Transportation Security Administration, saying in May 2012 that the aviation security agency must become “smarter, leaner, and tougher.” In general, Rogers harbors a conservative’s distrust of federal agencies, saying in a 2011 radio interview, “Who says the federal government has to have an EPA?” He is occasionally centrist on economic issues, but he has been a reliable Republican vote since the GOP regained the majority in 2011.