Brownback, Sam

▪ American politician

in full  Samuel Dale Brownback 

born Sept. 12, 1956, Garnett, Kan., U.S.

 

 American politician, who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1995–96) and of the U.S. Senate (1996– ) and who pursued the 2008 Republican (Republican Party) presidential nomination.

      Brownback was raised on his family's farm near Parker, Kan., and was the state president of the Future Farmers of America in high school, where his passion for politics began. He graduated from Kansas State University (where he was student body president) in 1978 and received a law degree from the University of Kansas in 1982. After graduating from law school, Brownback worked as an attorney in Manhattan, Kan., for four years before turning to public service. He was appointed secretary of the state board of agriculture in 1986, a position he held until 1993, and he was a White House fellow in 1990. In 1994 Brownback was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as part of the landslide that gave the Republicans a majority. After Kansas Sen. Bob Dole (Dole, Bob) resigned his position to campaign for the presidency in 1996, Brownback won a special election to fill the vacant Senate seat by running on a strongly conservative platform. He was easily reelected in 1998 and 2004, in the latter election garnering the highest number of votes for any office in Kansas history.

      During his tenure as senator, Brownback focused primarily on domestic social issues and international relations. He was a member of the Senate's appropriations and judiciary committees and served on the Joint Economic Committee and on the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki Commission). His political philosophy is outlined in his From Power to Purpose: A Remarkable Journey of Faith and Compassion (2007). In his presidential campaign, Brownback supported tax reform and opposed abortion rights, but his initial support for a stalled immigration-reform bill cost him the support of some social conservatives. In October 2007 he withdrew from the race because of campaign fund-raising shortfalls.

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