Neil Abercrombie

Neil Abercrombie
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii's 1st district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 1991
Preceded by	Pat Saiki
Personal details
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Nancie Caraway
Residence	Honolulu, Hawaii
Alma mater	Union College, University of Hawaii
Occupation	business consultant

Neil Abercrombie (born June 26, 1938) is an American politician and elder statesman of the Democratic Party of Hawaii. He is most notable for his service in the United States House of Representatives representing the First Congressional District of Hawaii (map) since 1991. He has no relation to the retail stores Abercrombie & Fitch nor its founder David Abercrombie.

Abercrombie was born in Buffalo, New York to Vera June and Donald Abercrombie. Upon graduating from Williamsville High School (now Williamsville South High School), he went on to pursue studies at Union College in Schenectady, New York. There, Abercrombie obtained his bachelor's degree in 1959. He moved to Honolulu, Hawaii and studied at the University of Hawaii at Manoa where he obtained his doctorate in 1974. There he attended classes with and befriended future US Senator and presumptive presidential nominee Barack Obama's parents, Ann Dunham and Barack Obama, Sr.

Abercrombie first participated in a political campaign in 1970, seeking the Democratic nomination to the United States Senate. Unsuccessful, Abercrombie ran for the Hawaii State House of Representatives where he served from 1975 to 1979. He moved to the Hawaii State Senate, where he served from 1980 to 1986. After Representative Cecil Heftel resigned from the United States Congress in July 1986 to run for Governor of Hawaii, Abercrombie was elected to the House in a September 1986 special election to complete Heftel's unexpired term. However, on the same day Abercrombie lost the Democratic primary for a full two-year term to Mufi Hannemann, who went on to lose to Republican Pat Saiki in the general election. Abercrombie thus served in Congress from only September 20, 1986 to January 3, 1987. [1]

Abercrombie then set his sights on a seat of the Honolulu City Council. He won the race and served from 1988 to 1990. At the end of his council tenure, Abercrombie once again ran for Congress and won in 1990, and has since been reelected nine times. In 2006 he garnered 69% of the vote against his Republican opponent Richard "Noah" Hough, an Iraq War veteran. He currently resides in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Abercrombie's Republican opponent for the 2008 Congressional race is economist Daniel Brackins.

Neil Abercrombie is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and has generally compiled a liberal voting record. On October 10, 2002, Neil Abercrombie was among the 133 members of the House who voted against authorizing the invasion of Iraq.

Mr. Abercrombie is an avid weight-lifter and has a stated goal of lifting 200 lbs more than his age on each birthday. It has been reported and witnessed by other members of Congress that Mr. Abercrombie can indeed do this. On his 67th birthday, he bench pressed 268 lbs.

Committee Assignments

• United States House Committee on Armed Services
  • Air and Land Forces Subcommittee (Chairman)
  • Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Subcommittee
• United States House Committee on Natural Resources

External links

• U.S. Representative Neil Abercrombie, U.S. House site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
• Abercrombie, Campaign site
• Democratic Party of Hawai`i