Bart Stupak

Bartholomew Thomas Stupak (born February 29, 1952) is an American politician and lobbyist.

Because of the 1st District's extensive length of Great Lakes shoreline (over 1,600 miles), Stupak was very active on issues related to the protection of the Great Lakes, including opposing sale or diversion of Great Lakes water and drilling for oil and gas under the lakes.

He was the first Democrat to represent this district since 1967, and only the third Democrat to win it in the 20th century.

Stupak was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and graduated from Gladstone High School in Gladstone, Michigan in 1970.

He is an Eagle Scout.

He earned his Associate's degree from Northwestern Michigan College, a community college in Traverse City in 1972.

He worked as an Escanaba police officer in 1972.

Stupak later served as a Michigan State Police Trooper from 1973 to 1984 and as a member of C-Street while in Congress.

He also practiced law.

He earned his bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Saginaw Valley State University in 1977, graduating magna cum laude, and he earned a J.D. degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan in 1981.

In 1988, Stupak was elected a Michigan State Representative, representing Menominee, Delta, and Dickinson counties, defeating two-term Republican Jim Connors.

In 1990, Stupak ran for state senator but lost a hotly contested primary to eventual general election winner Don Koivisto.

In 1992, Stupak ran for the House of Representatives in the 1st District, covering the Upper Peninsula and the northernmost swath of the Lower Peninsula.

A member of the Democratic Party, Stupak served as the U.S. representative from Michigan's 1st congressional district from 1993 to 2011.

He was easily reelected in 1994 during a bad year for Democrats, becoming the first Democrat in 56 years to be elected to more than one term in the Northern Michigan district.

Stupak defeated Republican Don Hooper of Iron River in the 2002, 2004 and 2006 elections, and Republican Tom Casperson In 2008.

Electric utilities and health care professionals were among the top four industries contributing to his campaigns in 2006, 2008 and 2010.

Of his top 20 largest contributors throughout his political career, 16 were unions and associations, two were energy companies, one was an insurance company and one was a telecommunications firm.

During his service in Congress, Stupak sponsored 36 bills, but none became law.

He cosponsored 157 bills, 5 of which were enacted into law.

He voted with the members of his party 96% of the time, and abstained from 5% of the votes.

In 2009, Stupak voted against the Dodd–Frank Act, which expanded Federal regulation and oversight of the US financial system in the aftermath of the US financial and banking crisis of that year.

Stupak voted for the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, which expanded the definition of hate crimes to include crimes motivated by sexual orientation or gender identity.

Stupak expressed a desire to support the 2009 health care reform bill put forth by President Obama, but wanted restrictions on coverage for abortion.

Therefore, Stupak and Republican Congressman Joseph R. Pitts submitted an amendment known as the Stupak–Pitts Amendment to prohibit such payments.

The Stupak–Pitts Amendment was adopted by the House of Representatives, but a similar provision was defeated in the Senate version of the legislation (known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act).

Stupak announced that he and several other Democratic representatives who supported health reform legislation but opposed abortion would not vote for the final version of the legislation unless the Stupak-Pitts Amendment was included.

The ensuing controversy made Stupak "perhaps the single most important rank-and-file House member in passing the bill."

Abortion-rights advocates held a "Stop Stupak" rally on Capitol Hill in December 2009.

In the ensuing months, Stupak publicly stated that the pressure and opposition he received in regard to his abortion stance on the health reform legislation had caused him to unplug the phone at his house due to "obscene phone calls and threats" and had made his life a "living hell."

"My staff is overwhelmed and we're accosted basically wherever we go by people who disagree," Stupak added.

Stupak chose not to seek re-election in 2010.

On April 9, 2010, Stupak announced that he would not run for re-election, and that he would retire from Congress at the end of his then-current term.

In March 2010, President Obama and Stupak reached an understanding whereby the President promised to sign an Executive Order barring federal funding of abortion through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and Stupak and several of his allies promised to withdraw their opposition to the bill.

Anti-abortion advocates accused Stupak of betraying their movement, with the Susan B. Anthony List revoking an award it had planned to give to him and instead running $150,000 worth of radio advertisements against him.

Stupak was targeted by the Tea Party movement in the wake of his compromise.

He departed Congress in January 2011, and was succeeded by Dan Benishek, a Republican from the Upper Peninsula.

Stupak is now a lobbyist with Venable LLP.

The district had previously been the 11th, represented by retiring seven-term incumbent Republican Robert William Davis.

Stupak won the heavily contested Democratic primary, and defeated Republican Philip Ruppe, Davis' predecessor, in the general election.