Larry Pressler | |
---|---|
Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee | |
In office January 3, 1995 –January 3, 1997 | |
Preceded by | Fritz Hollings |
Succeeded by | John McCain |
United States Senator from South Dakota | |
In office January 3,1979 –January 3,1997 | |
Preceded by | James Abourezk |
Succeeded by | Tim Johnson |
Member of the U.S.HouseofRepresentatives from South Dakota's 1st district | |
In office January 3,1975 –January 3,1979 | |
Preceded by | Frank E. Denholm |
Succeeded by | Tom Daschle |
Personal details | |
Born | Larry Lee Pressler March 29,1942 Humboldt,South Dakota,U.S. |
Political party | Independent (2013–present) |
Other political affiliations | Republican (c. 1974–2013) Democratic (1968–c. 1974) |
Spouse | Harriet Pressler |
Children | 1 |
Parents |
|
Education | |
Signature | |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Branch/service | United States Army |
Years of service | 1966–1968 |
Rank | First lieutenant |
Battles/wars | Vietnam War |
Awards | |
Larry Lee Pressler (born March 29, 1942) is an American lawyer and politician from South Dakota who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1979, and United States Senate from 1979 to 1997, as a Republican. He remained active in politics following his failed reelection campaign in 1996 and attempted to regain his former seat in 2014 as an independent, but was unsuccessful. He has since supported Democratic tickets.
Pressler is founder and president of the Pressler Group, a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, a small business to work on projects in service of veterans.
Larry Lee Pressler was born in Humboldt, South Dakota, to Loretta Claussen and Antone Lewis Pressler and was raised on his family's farm. [1] In 1961 he was selected as one of four 4-H members to attend the World Agricultural Fair in Cairo, Egypt. [2] At the 1962 National 4-H Club Congress in Chicago, Illinois, he was one of two recipients of the national citizenship award and also selected to meet with President John F. Kennedy on March 4, 1963. [3]
In 1963, he defeated Steve Byrnes with 1,014 to 909 votes and was elected as president of the University of South Dakota's Student Association to serve until 1964. [4] He graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1964 and was later awarded the Rhodes Scholarship. [5] Pressler attended St. Edmund Hall at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and received a Bachelor of Arts. He returned to the United States and in 1966 completed his Master of Public Administration degree at Harvard University. [6]
He joined the United States Army and served in the Vietnam War from 1966 until 1968. After returning from Vietnam as a first lieutenant, he served for several years in the United States Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer. [7] He later attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and Harvard Law School where he graduated in 1971. [8] [9] In 1970 he became the business manager of the Harvard Law Record. [10]
During the 1968 House elections Pressler considered running for the Democratic nomination for the 1st Congressional District, but chose not to run. [11]
In 1974, he filed to run for the Republican nomination in the 1st District on the last day possible and later won it, but the South Dakota Republican Party told him that he would not be given any campaign funds. [12] [13] Despite the Watergate scandal hurting the Republicans nationally in the 1974 elections Pressler was one of six Republicans to gain a seat held by the Democrats. [14] [15]
In April 1975, he was accepted as a member of the Congressional Rural Caucus, later supported having open committee meetings for the House Republican Conference, and throughout the year he served as assistant minority leader to Minority Leader John Jacob Rhodes. [16] [17] [18] On April 2, 1975, he was hospitalized at the Bethesda Naval Hospital to be treated for diverticulitis and had surgery in December for it. [19] [20] Later in the month he cosponsored legislation to create a House select committee to reinvestigate the assassinations John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and the attempted assassination of George Wallace. [21] On July 30, the House voted 214 to 213 to increase its salary from $42,500 to $44,600. Pressler and eight other members of the House stated that they would not keep the raise given to members of Congress. [22]
During the 1976 Republican presidential primaries, he criticized the rivalry between President Gerald Ford and former governor Ronald Reagan which he stated would hurt moderate Republicans as both Ford and Reagan were pushing their conservative stances. [23]
In March 1976, Jack Anderson and Les Whitten claimed that multiple articles written by Pressler had been copied in their entirety from The Washington Post and other newspapers. [24] Pressler denied the charge of plagiarism, but admitted that a January 1976 article had "accidentally" included excerpts from The Washington Post . [25]
After winning reelection in 1976 with almost eighty percent of the vote, Pressler stated that he was interested in running for Senate in 1978. [26]
In 1978, he was elected to the United States Senate, succeeding retiring Democratic incumbent James Abourezk and becoming the first veteran of the Vietnam War to serve in the Senate. [28]
He served in the Senate from 1979 to 1997 and was chairman of the Commerce Committee (1995–1997). [29] While in the Senate, he also served on the Science and Transportation Committee, Foreign Relations Committee and European and Asian Subcommittees. Pressler ran for a fourth term in 1996 but lost by three points to Democratic Congressman Tim Johnson. [30]
He briefly sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1980, campaigning on Vietnam veterans' issues. [31]
Pressler authored and won Congressional and Presidential approval of a sweeping reform of telecommunications legislation through the Telecommunications Act of 1996. [32] Among Pressler's staffers included future U.S. Attorney Kevin V. Schieffer [33] and future state senator Neal Tapio. [34]
During a sting operation conduced as part of the Abscam investigations in 1980, Pressler refused to take a bribe from undercover FBI agents and reported the bribe attempt. In a front-page story, The Washington Post reported:
Thanks to the FBI's undercover "sting" operation, there now exists incontrovertible evidence that one senator would not be bought. Preserved among the videotape footage that may be used as bribery evidence against a number of members of Congress, there is a special moment in which Sen. Larry Pressler (R-SD) tells the undercover agents, in effect, to take their sting and stick it. Pressler, according to law enforcement sources was the one approached member of Congress who flatly refused to consider financial favors in exchange for legislative favors, as suggested by undercover agents posing as Arabs. At the time he said he was not aware that he was doing anything quite so heroic. [35]
In an overall review of the Abscam cases, Judge George C. Pratt praised Pressler, writing that, "Pressler, particularly, acted as citizens have a right to expect their elected representatives to act. He showed a clear awareness of the line between proper and improper conduct, and despite his confessed need for campaign money, and despite the additional attractiveness to him of the payment offered, he nevertheless refused to cross into impropriety." [36]
Pressler was also the sponsor of the Pressler Amendment, which banned most economic and military assistance to Pakistan unless the president certified on an annual basis that [37] "Pakistan does not possess a nuclear explosive device and that the proposed United States assistance program will reduce significantly the risk that Pakistan will possess a nuclear explosive device." [38]
After his defeat in the 1996 election, Pressler passed the New York bar and worked again as a lawyer. Pressler subsequently became senior partner of the law firm O'Connor and Hannan, where he served for six years, and then formed his own law firm, The Pressler Group. Pressler is a member of the New York Bar, the Washington DC Bar, and the Supreme Court Bar. [39] [40]
He has also lectured at more than twenty universities in China, India and the U.S., and has been granted two lifetime Fulbright teaching awards. [41]
In 1998, Pressler considered a bid for Mayor of Washington D.C., though he ultimately would not go through with it. [42]
During the 2000 presidential election he served on Governor George W. Bush's presidential campaign on its Information Technology Steering Committee, and later served on the Bush Presidential Transition Team in 2001. [43]
Pressler attempted a political comeback in 2002 by running for South Dakota's open at-large House seat but he essentially discontinued his campaign when Republican governor Bill Janklow unexpectedly entered the race.
Pressler was appointed an official observer of Ukraine's national election in December 2004. [44]
On November 10, 2009, President Obama named Pressler to the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad. [45] He also serves on the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission. [46]
In October 2012, based on veterans' issues, Pressler endorsed Obama for a second term with an article in The Huffington Post and on national television networks. [47] Pressler campaigned in a bipartisan team for Obama in the fall of 2012, speaking on behalf of the Obama ticket to certain veterans’ groups in Virginia. [48]
He taught as a distinguished visiting professor at Sciences Po University, Paris, France, and Reims, France, in the fall of 2012. [49] He chiefly teaches international relations to graduate students.[ citation needed ]
In 2013, Pressler was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case. [50]
During the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections he endorsed and voted for Barack Obama. [51] Pressler endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election [52] and Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. [53]
Pressler continued his public lectures including a speech at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland, on June 4, 2018, for the 2018 International Security Forum. [54]
In 2020, Pressler, along with over 130 other former Republican national security officials, signed a statement that asserted that Donald Trump was unfit to serve another term, and "To that end, we are firmly convinced that it is in the best interest of our nation that Vice President Joe Biden be elected as the next President of the United States, and we will vote for him." [55]
The Native American Times reported in November 2013 that Pressler, at the age of 71, was weighing an independent comeback bid for the seat vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Tim Johnson in the 2014 election. [56] After being approached by a group of citizens asking him to run, Pressler assessed his chances of victory by saying, "I think it's possible but unlikely." [57] At the conclusion of an exploratory tour of South Dakota's 66 counties in late 2013, however, Pressler announced his candidacy and stated confidently, "I intend to win." [58] Pressler faced Republican former Governor Mike Rounds, Democratic congressional aide Rick Weiland, and independent conservative state legislator Gordon Howie in a four-way race. [59] [60]
Shortly before announcing his intention to run for office, Pressler explained his becoming an independent: "I don't think I've moved, I think the party has moved. I feel like a man without a party. … My intent is not to hurt anyone." [61] During his unsuccessful campaign, Pressler did not commit to caucusing with either party in the Senate if elected. [62] He stated that he would only serve for one term, and pledged that he would "never raise a dollar" in campaign funds while in office. [62] Pressler has said that he views both parties as being "too entrenched in their respective ideologies at the expense of common sense solutions." [57]
Pressler supported raising taxes on the rich, possibly gradually increasing the retirement age for Social Security. [57] He said that his top priority was cutting the national deficit. [30] He also supported "much, much stronger" background checks for gun sales for mentally challenged persons. [57] According to the Argus Leader, Pressler was "adamantly opposed to military adventurism, supports expanding background checks on gun sales, favors restricting corporate donations to political campaigns and has called for a museum honoring Native Americans wiped out by white expansion." He had also voted for Barack Obama for president, citing "fiscally conservative reasons". [63] Pressler stated his support for same-sex marriage and filed an Amicus Curiae brief to the Supreme Court in regard to Hollingsworth v. Perry. [64]
During the 2014 campaign, Pressler was endorsed by South Dakota's two largest newspapers, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader and the Rapid City Journal, as well as The Daily Republic in Mitchell. [65] [66] The race also drew some national attention. The Wall Street Journal reported, "Republicans had been expected to easily win the open Senate seat in South Dakota this year, but the race has tightened recently. Earlier this month, Democrats began sending cash to the race after concluding the unusual, four-way race was winnable." [67] The New York Times said, "A race that most had thought was safely Republican is suddenly the focus of national attention, thanks to the surprisingly successful candidacy of former Senator Larry Pressler, a Republican who is running as an independent." [68]
Pressler ultimately lost the 2014 Senate election to Governor Rounds. [69]
In 1975 Pressler cosponsored a bill that would prohibit the importation of beef and dairy products to improve domestic sales of those products to help farmers and he later asked President Gerald Ford to place a tariff on all imported cheese products. [70] [71] He later sent a letter to Vern Loen, one of Ford's advisors, stating that Harry S. Truman's victory in the 1948 presidential election was due to his support among farmers in swing states. He stated that in order to gain the vote of farmers that Ford should impose tariffs on dairy products while subsidizing exporting dairy products, removing most favored nation trade status for countries that have restrictions on United States beef, dairy, and pork products, and to give equal priority to agricultural products that industrial products were given at the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. [72]
The House of Representatives voted 212 to 202 in favor of allotting $3.5 billion to foreign aid in the 1975 budget with Pressler voting against it stating that the United States couldn't afford to give money to foreign countries and criticized the $1 billion given to Middle Eastern countries for weapons. [73] On September 2, 1975, he criticized the Sinai Interim Agreement as it would have as it would give $2.8 billion to Israel, $2.3 billion to Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab states, and require the United States to send 100 technicians to observe the Israeli-Egyptian border. [74] [75] On April 28, 1976, he voted against a $3.2 billion foreign military aid increase as it would be given to both sides participating in the Cyprus dispute. [76]
On April 28, 1975, Pressler stated that American military bases in Europe should be relocated to the United States to improve the economy and due to European aggravation against the United States military presence. [77] After President Ford gave his State of the Union Address in 1976 Pressler criticized him for not offering national defense spending cuts. [78]
In 1975 Pressler supported a bill to create a Missing In Action select committee to investigate the 921 cases of soldiers still missing in action from the Vietnam War. [79]
Pressler is married to Harriet Pressler. The couple has one daughter and four grandchildren. [80] In 2015, at the age of 73, Pressler converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. [81]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Larry Pressler | 22,724 | 50.15% | ||
Republican | Ione Larsen | 13,940 | 30.76% | ||
Republican | Cornelis VanHelden | 8,650 | 19.09% | ||
Total votes | 45,314 | 100.00% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Larry Pressler | 78,266 | 55.27% | +15.80% | |
Democratic | Frank E. Denholm (incumbent) | 63,339 | 44.73% | −15.80% | |
Total votes | 141,605 | 100.00% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Larry Pressler (incumbent) | 121,587 | 79.78% | +24.51% | |
Democratic | James V. Guffey | 29,533 | 19.38% | −25.35% | |
Independent | Donald Stevens | 1,282 | 0.84% | +0.84% | |
Total votes | 152,402 | 100.00% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Larry Pressler | 66,893 | 73.88% | ||
Republican | Ron Williamson | 23,646 | 26.12% | ||
Total votes | 45,314 | 100.00% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Larry Pressler | 170,832 | 66.84% | +23.88% | |
Democratic | Don Barnett | 84,767 | 33.16% | −23.88% | |
Total votes | 255,599 | 100.00% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Larry Pressler (incumbent) | 235,176 | 66.84% | +7.65% | |
Democratic | George V. Cunningham | 80,537 | 25.51% | −7.65% | |
Total votes | 315,713 | 100.00% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Larry Pressler (incumbent) | 135,682 | 52.39% | −14.45% | |
Democratic | Ted Muenster | 116,727 | 45.07% | +19.56% | |
Independent | Dean L. Sinclair | 6,567 | 2.54% | +2.54% | |
Total votes | 258,976 | 100.00% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Tim Johnson | 166,533 | 51.32% | +6.25% | |
Republican | Larry Pressler (incumbent) | 157,954 | 48.68% | −3.71% | |
Total votes | 324,487 | 100.00% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Mike Rounds | 140,741 | 50.37% | +12.86% | |
Democratic | Rick Weiland | 82,456 | 29.51% | −32.98% | |
Independent | Larry Pressler | 47,741 | 17.09% | +17.09% | |
Independent | Gordon Howie | 8,474 | 3.03% | +3.03% | |
Total votes | 279,412 | 100.00% |
Marion Michael Rounds is an American businessman and politician serving as the junior United States senator from South Dakota since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 31st governor of South Dakota from 2003 to 2011.
John Randolph Thune is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from South Dakota, a seat he has held since 2005. A member of the Republican Party, he has been elected the Senate majority leader and Senate Republican leader, a post he is to assume in January 2025. Thune is in his fourth Senate term and is the Senate minority whip, a post he has held since 2021, and the dean of South Dakota's congressional delegation. From 1997 to 2003 he served three terms as the U.S. representative for South Dakota's at-large congressional district.
James George Abourezk was an American attorney and politician from South Dakota. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in both chambers of the United States Congress for one term each; a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1973 and a member of the United States Senate from 1973 to 1979; he was the first Arab to serve in the United States Senate. In 1980, Abourezk founded the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) with the goal of counteracting anti-Arab racism in the country. He served in the United States Navy during the Korean War, but was also a critic of United States foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly with regard to the Arab–Israeli conflict. Under his leadership, the ADC became especially active following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent Gulf War, during which he became concerned about the rising rate of targeted hate crimes against Arabs and also against people misidentified as Arabs.
Gladys Shields Pyle was an American educator and national record setting female politician during the first score of years post-ratification of Women's Suffrage Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, who set numerous national and state partisan electoral records before the age of 50, including at least a dozen national records related to her 1938 U. S. Senate election. Her most significant national electoral records are:
Harlan John Bushfield was an American politician from South Dakota. He served as the 16th governor of South Dakota and as a United States senator.
Harvey Lowell Wollman was an American politician who served as the 26th Governor of South Dakota from 1978 to 1979. He was the first Lieutenant Governor in the history of South Dakota to succeed to the governorship. To date, he is the last Democrat to serve as South Dakota's governor.
The 2008 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on November 4, 2008. Primary elections were held on June 3, 2008. Incumbent Senator Tim Johnson won re-election to a third term. As of 2024, this election alongside the simultaneous House race is the last time a Democrat won a statewide election in South Dakota. This is the last time that a Senate candidate and a presidential candidate of different political parties simultaneously won South Dakota.
The structure of the government of South Dakota is based on that of the federal government, with three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. The structure of the state government is laid out in the Constitution of South Dakota, the highest law in the state. The constitution may be amended either by a majority vote of both houses of the legislature, or by voter initiative.
The 1996 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on November 4, 1996. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Larry Pressler ran for re-election to a fourth term, but was narrowly defeated by Democratic nominee Tim Johnson by 9,000 votes. Pressler was the only incumbent Senator to lose reelection in the 1996 election cycle, of which this was the only Democratic flip. Pressler later ran again unsuccessfully for this seat in 2014 as an Independent.
The 1932 United States Senate election in South Dakota took place on November 8, 1932. Incumbent Republican Senator Peter Norbeck ran for re-election to a third term. After easily turning back a challenge from former State Senator Harry F. Brownell in the Republican primary, Norbeck faced attorney Ulysses Simpson Grant Cherry, the Democratic nominee, in the general election. Owing in part to Franklin D. Roosevelt's landslide victory in South Dakota, the race was much closer than it was in 1926, but Norbeck still defeated Cherry by a decisive margin to win his third, and final, term. Norbeck died in office on December 20, 1936, triggering a special election in 1938.
The 2014 United States Senate election in South Dakota took place on November 4, 2014, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of South Dakota, concurrently with the election of the Governor of South Dakota, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Larry Rhoden is an American politician and businessman serving as the 39th lieutenant governor of South Dakota since 2019.
Billie Harmon Sutton is an American former professional bronc rider and politician. He was a member of the South Dakota Senate from 2011 to 2019, served as Minority Leader, and was the 2018 Democratic nominee for Governor of South Dakota, which he narrowly lost to Republican nominee Kristi Noem in the general election.
The 1920 United States Senate election in South Dakota took place on November 2, 1920. Incumbent Democratic Senator Edwin S. Johnson declined to seek re-election to a second term. In the Democratic primary, attorney Ulysses Simpson Grant Cherry defeated former State Senator Louis Napoleon Crill and former U.S. Marshal Tom Taubman, while in the Republican primary, Governor Peter Norbeck defeated former State Supreme Court Justice Dick Haney. In the general election, Cherry and Norbeck faced a litany of independent candidates, including Nonpartisan League candidate Tom Ayres. Benefiting from the split in left-wing candidates, Norbeck won by a wide margin, with Ayres narrowly beating out Cherry for second place.
The 2018 South Dakota gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the next governor of South Dakota. Incumbent Republican governor Dennis Daugaard was term-limited and could not seek a third consecutive term.
The 1932 United States Senate election in South Dakota took place on November 7, 1944. Incumbent Republican Senator Chan Gurney ran for re-election to a second term. He faced a strong challenge in the Republican primary from Lieutenant Governor A. C. Miller, who claimed that Gurney was too friendly to New Deal policies, but was defeated by Gurney by a wide margin. In the general election, Gurney faced former State Senator George M. Bradshaw, whom he defeated in a landslide as Thomas E. Dewey was decisively winning the state over President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the presidential election.
The 1978 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on November 7, 1978. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator James Abourezk did not run for re-election to a second term, but was succeeded by his political rival, Republican U.S. Representative Larry Pressler.
The 1984 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on November 6, 1984. Incumbent Republican Senator Larry Pressler was easily re-elected to a second term.
Neal Tapio is an American businessman, South Dakota state senator, and a former candidate for U.S. Representative for South Dakota's at-large congressional district. Tapio gained attention as an early supporter of Donald Trump and served as the Trump presidential campaign director for South Dakota.
L. Roy Houck was an American rancher and politician from the U.S. state of South Dakota. A Republican, he served in the South Dakota State Senate from 1948 through 1954 and as lieutenant governor of South Dakota from 1955 through 1959.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)