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Frank Lautenberg
Senior Senator from New Jersey
Incumbent
Assumed office  December 27, 1982–January 3, 2001 January 7, 2003– Serving with Bob Menendez
Preceded by	Nicholas F. Brady (1983) Robert Torricelli (2003)
Succeeded by	Jon Corzine (2001) Incumbent (2009)
Born	January 23, 1924 (1924-01-23) (age 83) Paterson, New Jersey
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Lois Lautenberg (divorced) Bonnie S. Englebardt
Alma mater	Columbia University
Religion	Jewish

Frank Raleigh Lautenberg (born January 23, 1924) is a businessman and Democratic Party politician. Now the senior United States Senator from New Jersey, he is in his second stint in office, first serving from 1983 to 2001, and again since 2003.

He is the only current Senator who returned to the Senate after his first term in office and is the third oldest member of the Senate.

Lautenberg was born in Paterson, New Jersey to poor Jewish immigrants from Poland and Russia; his father Sam, who worked in silk mills, sold coal, farmed and once ran a tavern, died of cancer when Frank was 19. Lautenberg served overseas in the United States Army Signal Corps in World War II after graduating from Nutley High School.^[1]. Then, financed by the GI Bill, he attended and graduated from Columbia University in 1949 with a degree in economics. He co-founded the successful Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) and was its chairman and CEO. He was the executive commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 1978 to 1982.

From his first marriage to Lois Lautenberg, which ended in divorce, Lautenberg has four children: Ellen, Nan, Lisa, and Joshua. In 2001, he married his companion of nearly 16 years, Bonnie S. Englebardt. He has a summer home on Martha's Vineyard.

In 1982 he received the Democratic nomination for a US Senate seat from New Jersey for that year's election. The seat had been occupied by Democrat Harrison Williams who resigned on March 11, 1982 after being implicated in the Abscam scandal. After Williams' resignation, Republican Governor Thomas Kean appointed Republican Nicholas F. Brady to the seat. Brady served in the Senate through the primary and general elections but did not run for the seat himself.

Sen. Lautenberg (center) is joined by Sen. Harry Reid (right) and outgoing Sen. Jon Corzine (second to left, with red tie) to welcome the new Senator Bob Menendez (between Corzine and Lautenberg) on Capitol Hill.

Lautenberg won the election, defeating popular Republican congresswoman Millicent Fenwick. Brady, who had just a few days left in his appointed term, resigned on December 27, 1982, allowing Lautenberg to take office several days before the traditional swearing-in of senators, which gave him an edge in seniority over the other freshmen senators.

In 1988, Lautenberg was opposed by Republican Wall Street executive and former college football star Pete Dawkins, who won the 1958 Heisman Trophy for the Army Black Knights. After trailing in early polls, the Lautenberg campaign, headed by Democratic consultant James Carville, ran an aggressive advertising campaign enumerating Lautenberg's legislative accomplishments and questioning whether Dawkins' candidacy was intended solely as a stepping stone to the presidency, as well as his lack of roots in New Jersey. Lautenberg ultimately came from behind to win reelection by a 54-46 percent margin.

Following reelection, Lautenberg became a member of the President's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism (PCAST), which was set up in September 1989 to review and report on aviation security policy in light of the sabotage of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988.

Lautenberg was again reelected in the Republican landslide year of 1994, defeating New Jersey State Assembly Speaker Chuck Haytaian. Lautenberg announced his retirement in 2000, and his fellow Democrat and businessman, Jon Corzine, was elected to replace him.

Lautenberg unexpectedly returned to politics in 2002, when the other New Jersey senator, Democrat Robert Torricelli, withdrew his candidacy for reelection, because of corruption charges. It was rumored, however, that Lautenberg was the second choice to run, the first choice being former Senator Bill Bradley, who turned it down.

The selection of Lautenberg came with some irony, as there had been notoriously bad blood between Lautenberg and Torricelli when the two had served together in the Senate.^[2]

The New Jersey Republican Party challenged the replacement of Torricelli's name on the ballot with Lautenberg's, arguing that it came too late according to state election laws. The ballot name change was unanimously upheld by the New Jersey Supreme Court^[3], and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case. Lautenberg won the election, defeating his Republican challenger Doug Forrester by 54%-44%. That victory made Lautenberg one of very few people in recent times to return to the Senate after leaving it.

Sen. Lautenberg meets with Associate Justice Samuel Alito prior to his confirmation hearings. Sen. Lautenberg eventually voted against the nominee.

Lautenberg is considered to be one of the Senate's most liberal members. He is pro-choice, supports gun control, has introduced many bills increasing penalties for carjacking and car theft, and has criticized the Bush administration on national security issues. He has been very involved in various anti-smoking legislation, anti-alcohol legislation as well as airline safety legislation, and is probably best known for being involved with, and authoring some of, the legislation that banned smoking from most commercial airline flights. He also is known for authoring the Ryan White Care Act, which provides services to AIDS patients. His name is also associated with the Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban (sometimes called the Lautenberg Amendment), which prohibits any persons convicted of misdemeanor or felonious domestic violence from possessing firearms or ammunition.

Upon his return to the Senate, Lautenberg was the first U.S. senator to introduce legislation calling for homeland security funds to be distributed solely on the basis of risk and vulnerability.

In 2005, he became a leading voice within the Senate in calling for an investigation into the Bush administration payment of columnists.^[4]

When Jon Corzine resigned from the Senate to become Governor of New Jersey, Lautenberg became the Senior Senator, again, in 2006. This also makes him the only person to have been both the junior and senior senator from New Jersey twice.

Lautenberg received an "A" on the Drum Major Institute's 2005 Congressional Scorecard on middle-class issues.^[5]

In 2007, Lautenberg proposed the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2007, designed to close loopholes that permit weapons purchases by persons that the executive branch has classified as "dangerous terrorists".

On June 21st, 2007, Lautenberg passed Clifford Case for the most votes on the Senate floor of any New Jersey Senator in New Jersey history.

Sen. Lautenberg (center) along with Sen. Barbara Boxer (right) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (left) at a news conference discussing whether oil executives lied during a recent Congressional testimony regarding price gouging.

Main article: New Jersey United States Senate election, 2008

In February 2006, Lautenberg announced that he intends to run for reelection in 2008, saying that deciding not to run for reelection in 2000 "was among the worst decisions of his life."^[6]

• 1982 Race for U.S. Senate
  • Frank Lautenberg (D), 50%
  • Millicent Fenwick (R), 48%

• 1988 Race for U.S. Senate
  • Frank Lautenberg (D) (inc.), 54%
  • Pete Dawkins (R), 46%

• 1994 Race for U.S. Senate
  • Frank Lautenberg (D) (inc.), 50%
  • Chuck Haytaian (R), 47%

• 2002 Race for U.S. Senate
  • Frank Lautenberg (D), 54%
  • Doug Forrester (R), 44%

• United States Senate
• List of United States Senators
• New Jersey

• United States Senator Frank Lautenberg, U.S. Senate site

• Frank Lautenberg's biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Frank Lautenberg's voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Frank Lautenberg's campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Frank Lautenberg's campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Frank Lautenberg's biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Frank Lautenberg's issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• New York Times — Frank R. Lautenberg News collected news and commentary
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Frank R. Lautenberg profile

v • d • e United States Senators from New Jersey

Class 1: Elmer • Rutherfurd • Davenport • Schureman • Ogden • Condit • Lambert • Wilson • Southard • McIlvaine • Bateman • Dickerson • Southard • W. Dayton • R. Stockton • Thomson • Field • J. Wall • Wright • F. T. Frelinghuysen • J. Stockton • Randolph • Sewell • Blodgett • J. Smith • J. Kean • Martine • J. Frelinghuysen • Edwards • H. Kean • Moore • Milton • Barbour • Walsh • H. Smith • Williams • Brady • Lautenberg • Corzine • Menendez Class 2: Paterson • Dickinson • F. Frelinghuysen • Richard Stockton • J. Dayton • Kitchell • Condit • Dickerson • T. Frelinghuysen • G. Wall • Miller • Wright • Ten Eyck • J. Stockton • Catell • F. T. Frelinghuysen • McPherson • Sewell • Dryden • Briggs • Hughes • Baird • Edge • Baird, Jr. • Morrow • Barbour • Smathers • Hawkes • Hendrickson • Case • Bradley • Torricelli • Lautenberg