Rush Holt Jr.
Rush Dew Holt (born October 15, 1948) is an American politician and the current U.S. Representative for New Jersey's 12th Congressional District (map). He is the son of Rush D. Holt Sr., who served as a United States Senator for West Virginia (1935–1941), and Helen Holt, the first woman to be appointed West Virginia Secretary of State (1957–1959).
Holt was born in Weston, West Virginia. His father died of cancer when Rush was six years old. Holt graduated with a B.A. in physics from Carleton College and holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. in physics from New York University. From 1980 until 1988, Holt served on the faculty of Swarthmore College. During that time, he also worked as a Congressional Science Fellow for U.S. Representative Bob Edgar of Pennsylvania. From 1987 until 1989, Holt headed the Nuclear and Scientific Division of the Office of Strategic Forces at the U.S. Department of State. From 1989 until his winning congressional campaign in 1998, Holt was the Assistant Director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab at Princeton University, the University's largest research facility and the largest center for energy research in New Jersey. Holt is also a five-time champion of the game show "Jeopardy!"
His first race was in 1996, where he finished in third place in the Democratic party primary. Holt ran again in 1998 and won the primary, putting him against Congressman Mike Pappas in the general election. Pappas was hurt by reading a poem, set to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", praising Kenneth Starr on the floor of the House of Representatives. Holt won the election by a 50-47% margin, becoming the first Democrat to represent the district in 2 decades.
Holt was challenged by former Republican Congressman Dick Zimmer in 2000; Holt's prior win was thought by Republicans to be a fluke, and the race attracted considerable money and advertising. The election was hotly contested, with Zimmer ahead on election night, with Holt ahead the next day. Ten days after the election, Holt declared himself the winner by 481 votes. Zimmer challenged the results, but a recount showed that[1]. Holt won the election by 651 votes (48.7% to 48.5%)[2]. Redistricting before the 2002 elections made Holt much safer, in part by adding most of Trenton. While Holt faced a fairly well-funded challenge from New Jersey Secretary of State Buster Soaries, an African-American, he defeated Soaries handily with 61% of the vote. He was reelected in 2004 over Bill Spadea with 59%.
On May 22, 2003 Holt introduced legislation to require electronic voting machines to produce a paper record in time for the 2004 election. The bill entitled Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003 is designed to address concerns that there is no way to verify vote counts on electronic touch screen voting machines, should a similar situation arise as did in Florida during the 2000 election.
In Congress, Holt serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Intelligence Policy. He also serves on the House Education and Workforce Committee.
External links
- Official House of Representatives site
- Official campaign site
- Representative Rus Holt's Progressive / Conservative Rating Index