Benjamin Leader Erdreich (born December 9,1938) is an American lawyer and former congressman from Alabama. From 1983 to 1993,he served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Erdreich was born in Birmingham,Alabama to an upper-middle-class family. He attended Yale University,graduating in 1960. He served as editor of the Alabama Law Review while attending the University of Alabama law school,graduating in 1963. He passed the bar that year.
In 1982,Erdreich was elected to Congress from the 6th District,based in Birmingham,defeating one-term Republican incumbent Albert Smith,Jr. To date,this is the last time a Democratic challenger defeated a Republican congressman in Alabama. He is among a small number of Jewish politicians to be elected to federal office from the Deep South.
Erdreich was the first Democrat to represent the 6th since 1965. It was among the five districts won in 1964 by Republicans during Barry Goldwater's sweep of the state in that year's presidential election. Analysts believe that Goldwater's performance in Alabama was also related to resistance and opposition to federal passage of civil rights legislation in 1964,including the Civil Rights Act,that was disapproved of by many white residents.
Erdreich was re-elected four times,rarely facing serious opposition. However,in 1992,Erdreich's district was significantly redrawn as a result of a United States Department of Justice directive to create a majority-black district in the Birmingham area in order to overcome problems of voter dilution. African Americans had been divided into different districts that diluted their voting power by making them a minority in each district,preventing them from electing candidates of their choice. The state legislature failed to take action,and a federal court drew a map that shifted most of Birmingham's black residents to the 7th District.
To make up for the loss in population,the 6th was redrawn to take in several whiter and wealthier areas of Shelby and Tuscaloosa counties,areas which Erdreich had never previously represented. Erdreich now found himself in a mostly suburban district that was almost 97 percent white,and was on paper one of the most Republican districts in the country. By comparison,his old district was urban in character,with more liberal Democratic voters,and approximately 35 percent black.
Erdreich outspent his opponent,state Republican Party chairman Spencer Bachus,almost 2 to 1,but could not overcome the more conservative hue of his new district and lost by seven percentage points. In the same election,George H. W. Bush prevailed over challenger Bill Clinton in the district by about 74 percent to 26 percent,demonstrating its conservative character. Further demonstrating just how Republican this district was,Erdreich is the last Democrat to cross the 40 percent mark in this district,and only one Democratic challenger has garnered even 30 percent since Erdreich left office.
Erdreich was known for his bipartisan work in Congress,and co-sponsored several hundred bills during his five terms.
He was the lead sponsor of four bills that were signed by the president and enacted into law:
1987,H.R. 614Archived 2016-04-08 at theWayback Machine ,A bill to designate the new United States courthouse in Birmingham,Alabama,as the "Hugo L. Black United States Courthouse" (co-sponsored by the entire Alabama congressional delegation).
1990,H.R. 3691Archived 2008-12-02 at theWayback Machine ,to redesignate the Federal building located at 1800 5th Avenue,North in Birmingham,Alabama,as the "Robert S. Vance Federal Building" (co-sponsored by the entire Alabama congressional delegation and several others).
1990,H.R. 1243Archived 2008-12-02 at theWayback Machine ,The Department of Energy Metal Casting Competitiveness Research Act of 1990,co-sponsored by the entire Alabama congressional delegation and several others.
1992,H.R.4398Archived 2016-04-08 at theWayback Machine ,The Federal Reserve Bank Branch Modernization Act,with no co-sponsors.
Recent life and career
Erdreich is currently involved with property development in Birmingham,concentrating on central-city projects.
William Edward Miller was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from New York as a Republican. During the 1964 presidential election, he was the Republican nominee for vice president, the first Catholic nominated for the office by the Republican Party.
Robert Brown Aderholt is an American politician and attorney serving as the U.S. representative for Alabama's 4th congressional district since 1997. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes most of Tuscaloosa County north of the Black Warrior River, as well as Birmingham's far northern suburbs in Walker County and the southern suburbs of Huntsville and Decatur.
Spencer Thomas Bachus III is an American politician. He is a former U.S. Representative for the state of Alabama, serving from 1993 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served as ranking member (2007–2011) and chairman (2011–2013) of the House Financial Services Committee. On September 30, 2013, Bachus announced his retirement from Congress. His term ended in 2015.
Thomas Timothy Holden is an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Democratic member of the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district from 1993 to 2013. Holden was the dean of the Pennsylvania Congressional Delegation during the 112th United States Congress. On April 24, 2012, Holden was defeated in the Democratic primary in his attempt to seek re-election after the boundaries of his district were redrawn. He is now chairman of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
Frank Rudolph Wolf is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 10th congressional district from 1981 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he announced in December 2013 that he would not run for reelection in 2014. Wolf retired at the conclusion of his 17th term in office, in January 2015. At the time of his retirement, he was the dean of the state's congressional delegation, having served for 34 consecutive years.
William Franklin Shuster is an American politician and lobbyist who served as the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 9th congressional district from 2001 to 2019. He is a member of the Republican Party, and is a son of former Congressman Bud Shuster.
James Boyd Utt was an American politician. A Republican from Orange County, California, he served in the United States House of Representatives from 1953 until his death from a heart attack in 1970.
The U.S. state of Alabama is currently divided into seven congressional districts, each represented by a member of the United States House of Representatives.
Alabama's 6th congressional district is a United States congressional district in Alabama that elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives. It is composed of the wealthier portions of Birmingham, nearly all of Jefferson County outside Birmingham, most of Blount County, and the entirety of Bibb, Chilton, Coosa, and Shelby counties.
South Carolina's 1st congressional district is a coastal congressional district in South Carolina, represented by Republican Nancy Mace since January 3, 2021. She succeeded Democrat Joe Cunningham, having defeated him in the 2020 election. Cunningham was the first Democrat to represent the district since the 1980s.
William Jackson Edwards was an Alabama lawyer and politician who represented the 1st Congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1965 to 1985. A Republican, Edwards first won election to Congress in 1964, one of five Republicans elected to the House from Alabama amid Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater's sweep of the state in that year's presidential election.
William Louis Dickinson was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, Dickinson served in the United States House of Representatives for Alabama's 2nd congressional district from 1965 to 1993.
John Hall Buchanan Jr. was an American politician who served as a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1965 to 1981, representing Alabama's 6th congressional district.
Derek Christian Kilmer is an American politician who has been the U.S. representative for Washington's 6th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a member of the Washington House of Representatives from 2005 to 2007 and the Washington State Senate from 2007 to 2012, representing the 26th district.
Terrycina Andrea "Terri" Sewell is an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served since 2011 as the U.S. representative for Alabama's 7th congressional district, which includes most of the Black Belt, as well as most of the predominantly black portions of Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, and Montgomery.
The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Alabama were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to elect the seven U.S. representatives from the state, one from each of the state's seven congressional districts. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election. Primary elections were held on March 13, 2012; runoff elections were held on April 24.
Susan Lynn Brooks is an American prosecutor and politician. She is a Republican and the former U.S. Representative for Indiana's 5th congressional district. She was elected in 2012. The district includes the northern fifth of Indianapolis, as well as many of the city's affluent northern and eastern suburbs. Brooks served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana from 2001 to 2007.
Gary James Palmer is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Alabama's 6th congressional district since 2015. His district includes the wealthier parts of Birmingham, as well as most of its suburbs. Before becoming an elected official, Palmer co-founded and served as the longtime president of the Alabama Policy Institute, a conservative think tank.
Frank Dean Lucas is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Oklahoma's 3rd congressional district since 2003, having previously represented the 6th district from 1994 to 2003. A member of the Republican Party, Lucas has chaired the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology since 2023. His district, numbered as the 6th from 1994 to 2003, is Oklahoma's largest congressional district and one of the largest in the nation that does not cover an entire state. It covers 34,088.49 square miles and stretches from the Panhandle to the fringes of the Tulsa suburbs, covering almost half of the state's land mass. Lucas is the dean of Oklahoma's congressional delegation.
The 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Alabama were held on November 3, 2020, to elect the seven U.S. representatives from the state of Alabama, one from each of the state's seven congressional districts. The elections coincided with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate, and various state and local elections.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
