Edward Spencer Abraham is an American attorney, author and politician who was a United States Senator from Michigan from 1995 to 2001 and the tenth United States Secretary of Energy, serving under President George W. Bush, from 2001 to 2005. Abraham, a Republican, is one of the founders of the Federalist Society and a co-founder of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. To date, Abraham is the last Republican to serve as a U.S. Senator from Michigan.
Education and family
Abraham was born in East Lansing, Michigan, the son of Juliette Elizabeth, a member of the Michigan Republican State Central Committee, and Eddie Joseph Abraham. He is a graduate of East Lansing High School. Of Lebanese descent, Abraham is married to Jane Abraham, current co-chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party, and chair of the Susan B. Anthony List. They have three children. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard University, and is a 1974 Honors College graduate of Michigan State University. In 1978, while at Harvard Law School, Abraham helped found the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. It became one of the official journals of the Federalist Society, which was founded in 1982.
Political career
Before his election to the Senate, Abraham was a law professor at Thomas M. Cooley Law School.
Abraham was elected to represent Michigan in the United States Senate in 1994, and he served until 2001 after being defeated for reelection in 2000 by Debbie Stabenow. He was the only Arab American in the chamber. According to the New York Times, state Republicans attributed his loss to "scathing advertisements by a wide range of special interest groups, including advertisements that criticized Mr. Abraham's support for a relaxation of some immigration restrictions". During the campaign the Federation for American Immigration Reform ran ads asking: "Why is Senator Spencer Abraham trying to make it easier for terrorists like Osama bin Laden to export their war of terror to any city street in America?" The media denounced these commercials as "vengeful". In 1996, when President Bill Clinton endorsed Representative Barbara Jordan's proposed cuts to legal immigration, Abraham played a leading role in blocking the cuts. Another factor in his defeat was his vote to convict Clinton in his 1999 impeachment trial. The next year he received the "Defender of the Melting Pot" award from the National Council of La Raza for his efforts on immigration.
From 2005 to 2007 Abraham was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, a think tank based at Stanford University. After leaving office, he opened , a Washington DC-based international strategic consulting firm providing assistance to clients seeking opportunities in the U.S. and globally, of which he is chairman and CEO.
Thompson for President
On July 24, 2007, Abraham was announced as an "ambassador to official Washington" in Fred Thompson's presidential campaign.
