Todd Akin

Todd Akin
Todd Akin
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives; from Missouri's 2nd district
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; January 3, 2001
Preceded by	Jim Talent
Personal details
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Lulli Akin
Residence	Town and Country, Missouri
Alma mater	Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Covenant Theological Seminary
Occupation	Engineer, plant manager
Military service
Branch/service	United States Army National Guard
Years of service	1972-1980
Unit	Missouri

W. Todd Akin (born July 5, 1947), is an American politician from the U.S. state of Missouri currently serving his fifth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. A Republican, he represents Missouri's 2nd congressional district (map), which includes the affluent western St. Louis suburbs of Kirkwood, Chesterfield, Wildwood, Town and Country, and Des Peres located along Interstate 270 in West County and the northwestern exurbs of St. Charles and St. Peters in St. Charles County.

Biography

Born in New York City, Akin later moved to St. Louis and attended John Burroughs School. After graduating, he attended the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts where he earned a degree in management engineering, and in 1984 he earned a Master of Divinity degree at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. From 1972 to 1980, he served in the Missouri National Guard.^[1] After his military career, he took up work at IBM as an engineer and later became a manager at Laclede Steel. Akin was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives representing western St. Louis County (West County) in 1988. He was reeelected five times.

In 2000, Republican U.S. Representative Jim Talent vacated the seat in his unsuccessful run for Governor of Missouri. Akin won a closely contested Republican primary election to replace Talent, defeating former St. Louis County Executive Gene McNary and State Senator Franc Flotron.^[2] He defeated Democratic State Senator Ted House in the general election, winning 55 percent of the vote.^[3]

Akin is currently a member of the House Armed Services Committee, House Science Committee, and the House Small Business Committee. In 2009, he was named the Ranking Member of the Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over all Navy and Marine Corps procurement.

Akin lives in Town and Country, a wealthy suburb in West St. Louis County. However, he is listed on the House roll as "R-St. Louis." This may be because many areas of the St. Louis County portion of the district (including one of his district offices) have St. Louis addresses even though the district does not include any portion of St. Louis itself.

Pledge of Allegiance Botch

During a November 5, 2009 Teaparty protest on Capitol Hill, Akin attempted to lead a gathering of conservative protesters in the Pledge of Allegiance, because in Akin's words, the pledge "drives the liberals crazy." However, after Akin zealously uttered the phrase "One nation under God" he omitted the phrase "indivisible" and jumped ahead to "with liberty and justice for all" which caused him to be out-of-sync with the rest of the gathering.^[4]

The incident caused a stir online as some liberal bloggers pointed out the irony of a conservative politician accusing the left of being unpatriotic while at the same time being unable to accurately recite the pledge.^[5]

Views

As a State Representative, Akin earned a reputation as one of the most conservative members of the Republican caucus. Akin was an outspoken opponent of abortion and embryonic stem cell research, a supporter of the right to keep and bear arms, and is generally opposed to increases in taxation and spending. As a U.S. Representative, he has continued to support these views, earning a 96% rating from the American Conservative Union in 2008, and 100% in 2007.^[6]

Akin is a staunch advocate of a federal prohibition of online poker. In 2006, he co-sponsored H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act^[7] and H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.^[8]

Committee Assignments

References

^ "Veterans in the US House of Representatives 109th Congress" (PDF). Navy League. Retrieved 2007-10-08.
^ http://www.sos.mo.gov/enrweb/raceresults.asp?eid=13&oid=3681&arc=1
^ http://www.sos.mo.gov/enrweb/raceresults.asp?eid=14&oid=3986&arc=1
^ [1]
^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/05/michele-bachmann-tells-su_n_346640.html
^ Barone, Michael (2009). The Almanac of American Politics 2010. Washington, D.C.: National Journal. p. 875. ISBN 978-0-89234-119-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ Thomas (Library of Congress): HR 4411
^ Thomas (Library of Congress): HR 4777

External links

U.S. Congressman Todd Akin official 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
Todd Akin for Congress official campaign site

U.S. House of Representatives Template:USRepSuccession box

[navyleague-1] "Veterans in the US House of Representatives 109th Congress" (PDF). Navy League. Retrieved 2007-10-08.

[2] ttp://www.sos.mo.gov/enrweb/raceresults.asp?eid=13&oid=3681&arc=1

[3] ttp://www.sos.mo.gov/enrweb/raceresults.asp?eid=14&oid=3986&arc=1

[4] [1]

[5] ttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/05/michele-bachmann-tells-su_n_346640.html

[Barone2010-6] Barone, Michael (2009). The Almanac of American Politics 2010. Washington, D.C.: National Journal. p. 875. ISBN 978-0-89234-119-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

[7] Thomas (Library of Congress): HR 4411

[8] Thomas (Library of Congress): HR 4777

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v t e Missouri's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators	▌Josh Hawley (R) ▌Eric Schmitt (R)
Representatives (ordered by district)	▌Cori Bush (D) ▌Ann Wagner (R) ▌Blaine Luetkemeyer (R) ▌Mark Alford (R) ▌Emanuel Cleaver (D) ▌Sam Graves (R) ▌Eric Burlison (R) ▌Jason Smith (R)