Richard Burr

Richard Mauze Burr (born November 30, 1955) is an American businessman and politician who served as a United States senator from North Carolina from 2005 to 2023.

A member of the Republican Party, Burr was previously a member of the United States House of Representatives.

Born in Charlottesville, Virginia, Burr is a graduate of Wake Forest University.

Before seeking elected office, he was a sales manager for a lawn equipment company.

Burr was born on November 30, 1955, in Charlottesville, Virginia, the son of Martha (Gillum) and Rev. David Horace White Burr.

He was the first Republican since Jesse Helms to be reelected to the U.S. Senate from North Carolina and the first incumbent senator from North Carolina receive a double-digit margin of victory since Sam Ervin's 1968 reelection.

Burr's win also represented the first time that North Carolina reelected a senator to this seat since Ervin’s 1968 victory, leading Burr to declare "the curse has been broken" on election night; Democrats and Republicans swapped control of the seat five times between 1968 and 2010.

Burr defeated Democratic nominee Deborah K. Ross, 51%–45%.

He graduated from Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 1974 and earned a B.A. in communications from Wake Forest University in 1978.

In college, Burr played defensive back for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team.

He is a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

Before running for Congress, Burr worked for 17 years as a sales manager for Carswell Distributing Company, a distributor of lawn equipment.

In 1992, Burr ran against incumbent Representative Stephen L. Neal for the seat in the Winston-Salem-based 5th District and lost.

In 1994, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for North Carolina's 5th congressional district as part of the Republican Revolution.

He ran again in 1994 after Neal chose not to seek reelection, and was elected in a landslide year for Republicans.

In the House, Burr authored the FDA Modernization Act of 1997.

He also helped create the National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, he successfully sponsored amendments to improve defenses against bioterrorism.

He never received less than 62% of the vote, and ran unopposed in 2002.

As a representative, Burr co-sponsored, with Senator Kit Bond, an amendment to the Energy Policy Act of 2003 relaxing restrictions on the export of specific types of enriched uranium that were first enacted in the Schumer Amendment to the Energy Policy Act of 1992.

The original Schumer amendment placed increased controls on U.S. civilian exports of weapons-grade highly enriched uranium (HEU) to encourage foreign users to switch to reactor-grade low-enriched uranium (LEU) for isotope production.

HEU is attractive to terrorists because it can be used to create a simple nuclear weapon, while LEU cannot be used directly to make nuclear weapons.

Burr's amendment allowed exports of HEU to five countries for creating medical isotopes.

Burr was reelected four times with no substantial opposition.

Burr was first elected to the United States Senate in 2004.

In July 2004, Burr won the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by John Edwards, who chose to not seek reelection while running for vice president as Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's running mate in the 2004 presidential election.

Burr faced Democratic nominee Erskine Bowles and Libertarian Tom Bailey; he won the election with 51.6% of the vote.

Burr was sworn in to the Senate on January 4, 2005.

Burr defeated the Democratic nominee, North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, 51%–47%.

In 2007, Burr ran for chair of the Senate Republican Conference, but lost to Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee by a vote of 31 to 16.

From 2015 to 2020, he chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee.

In 2016, he announced that he would not seek reelection in 2022.

Burr was an advisor for Donald Trump's successful 2016 presidential campaign.

On July 20, 2016, while campaigning for a third Senate term, Burr announced that he would not seek a fourth term in 2022.

He did not seek reelection in 2022.

Burr delivered a farewell address on the Senate floor on December 14, 2022, and his final term expired on January 3, 2023.

He was succeeded by Ted Budd.

Burr temporarily stepped down as chair of the Intelligence Committee on May 15, 2020, amid an FBI investigation into allegations of insider trading during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On January 19, 2021, the Department of Justice announced that the investigation had been closed, with no charges against Burr.

Burr was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Donald Trump of incitement of insurrection in his second impeachment trial.