In 2013, Portman became the first sitting Republican U.S. Senator to publicly support gay marriage.
Early life
Portman was born in 1955, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Joan (née Jones) and William C. "Bill" Portman II. Portman was raised in a Presbyterian family.[1][2] His great-grandfather on his father's side, surnamed "Portmann", immigrated from Switzerland; Portman also has Scots-Irish, English, and German ancestry.[3]
In 1926, Portman's grandfather Robert Jones purchased the Golden Lamb Inn in Lebanon, Ohio, and, together with his future wife, Virginia Kunkle Jones, refurbished it, and decorated it with antique collectibles and Shaker furniture.[5] The couple ran the inn together until 1969, when they retired.[6]
When Portman was young, his father started the Portman Equipment Company, a forklift dealership where he and his siblings all worked growing up.[citation needed] It was from his mother Joan, a liberal Republican, that Portman inherited his political sympathy for the Republican Party.[7]
Education and early career
Portman graduated from Cincinnati Country Day School in 1974 and went on to attend Dartmouth College, where he started leaning to the right, and majored in anthropology and earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in 1978.[8] In Cincinnati, Portman worked on Bill Gradison's Congressional campaign, and Gradison soon became a mentor to Portman.[8] Portman next entered the University of Michigan Law School, earning his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in 1984 and serving as vice president of the student senate.[9] During law school, Portman embarked on a kayaking and hiking trip across China and met Jane Dudley, whom he married in 1986.[10] After graduating from law school, Portman moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked for the law firm Patton Boggs, with some describing his role as a lobbyist and others arguing that such a description was not accurate.[11][12][13][14] Portman next became an associate at Graydon Head & Ritchey LLP, a law firm in Cincinnati.[15]
In the primary, Portman was criticized for his previous law firm's work for Haitian president Baby Doc Duvalier.[18] Buchert ran campaign commercials labeling Portman and McEwen "Prince Rob and Bouncing Bob."[18] Portman lost four of the district's five counties. However, he won the largest, Hamilton County, his home county and home to 57% of the district's population. Largely on the strength of his victory in Hamilton, Portman took 17,531 votes (36%) overall, making him the overall winner.
In the general election, Portman defeated his Democratic opponent, attorney Lee Hornberger by 53,020 (70%) to 22,652 (29%).[19]
Of Portman's work on the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union said, "He set a professional work environment that rose above partisanship and ultimately gave taxpayers more rights."[22] Democratic Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones from Cleveland said Portman, "compared to other Republicans, is pleasant and good to work with."[26] Additionally, during the first four years of the Bush Administration, Portman served as a liaison between Congressional Republicans and the White House.[26] Portman voted for the Iraq War Resolution in 2002.[27] Portman was known for his willingness to work with Democrats to ensure that important legislation was enacted.[16]
Portman spoke on March 17, 2005 at the White House during a ceremony at which President George W. Bush nominated him to be United States Trade Representative, calling Portman "a good friend, a decent man, and a skilled negotiator."[31] Portman was confirmed on April 29,[32] and sworn in on May 17, 2005.[33][34][35]
Portman sponsored an unfair-trading claim to the World Trade Organization against Airbus because American allies in the European Union were providing subsidies that arguably helped Airbus compete against Boeing. European officials countered that Boeing received unfair subsidies from the United States, and the WTO ruled separately that they each received unfair government assistance.
As the United States' Trade Representative, Portman was an attendant of the World Trade Organization's Hong Kong conference in 2005. He addressed the conference with a speech on development in Doha, and advocated a 60% cut in targeted worldwide agricultural subsidies by 2010.[38][39] Portman then sponsored a claim against China for extra charges it levied on American auto parts. U.S. steel manufacturers subsequently beseeched the White House to halt an influx of Chinese steel pipe used to make plumbing and fence materials. This was a recurring complaint and the United States International Trade Commission recommended imposing import quotas, noting "the economic threat to the domestic pipe industry from the Chinese surge." With Portman as his top trade advisor, Bush replied that quotas were not part of U.S. economic interest. He reasoned the American homebuilding industry used the pipe and wanted to maintain a cheap supply and that other cheap exporters would step in to fill China's void if Chinese exports were curtailed. This occurred at a time when the U.S. steel industry lost $150 million in profit between 2005 and 2007, although China's minister of commerce cited the U.S. industry's "record high profit margins" in the first half of 2004 and continued growth in 2005. China next lobbied Portman to leave matters alone, meeting with his office twice and threatening in a letter that restrictions and what it called "discrimination against Chinese products" would bring a "serious adverse impact" to the U.S.-China economic and trade relationship.[40] Portman vowed to "hold [China's] feet to the fire" and provide a "top-to-bottom review" of the U.S.–China trade relationship.[36] Portman's claim that China had improperly favored domestic auto parts became the first successful trade suit against China in the World Trade Organization.[36] During Portman's tenure as trade ambassador, the U.S. trade deficit with China increased by 21 percent.[36]
Portrait of Rob Portman used during his time as OMB Director
On April 18, 2006, President George W. Bush nominated Portman to be the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, replacing Joshua Bolten, who was appointed White House Chief of Staff.[41] Portman said at the time that he looked forward to the responsibility, "It's a big job. The Office of Management and Budget touches every spending and policy decision in the federal government," while President Bush expressed his confidence in the nominee, "The job of OMB director is a really important post and Rob Portman is the right man to take it on. Rob's talent, expertise and record of success are well known within my administration and on Capitol Hill."[42] He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate unanimously by voice vote on May 26, 2006.[43][44]
As OMB director from May 2006 to August 2007, Portman helped to craft a $2.9 trillion budget for fiscal year 2008. The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote that "The plan called for making the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, at a cost of more than $500 billion over the five-year life of the proposal. It requested a hefty increase in military spending, along with reductions in low-income housing assistance, environmental initiatives, and health care safety-net programs."[36][45] Portman is said to have been "frustrated" with the post, calling the budget that President Bush's office sent to Congress, "not my budget, his budget," and saying, "it was a fight, internally." Edward Lazear of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers said that Portman was the leading advocate for a balanced budget, while other former Bush administration officials said that Portman was the leading advocate for fiscal discipline, within the administration.[46]
On June 19, 2007, Portman resigned his position of OMB director, citing a desire to spend more time with his family and three children.[47] Democratic Chairman of the Senate Budget CommitteeKent Conrad expressed regret at Portman's resignation, saying, "He is a person of credibility and decency that commanded respect on both sides of the aisle."[48]
On January 14, 2009, two days after George Voinovich announced he would not be running for re-election, Portman publicly declared his candidacy for the open U.S. Senate seat.[57][58] Running unopposed in the Republican primary, Portman benefitted substantially from Tea Party support, and by July 2010 had raised more campaign funds than DemocratLee Fisher by a 9 to 1 margin.[59] Portman campaigned on the issue of jobs and job growth.[60]
Of all candidates for public office in the U.S., Portman was the top recipient of corporate money from insurance industries and commercial banks in 2010.[60][61] Portman possessed the most campaign funds of any Republican during 2010, at $5.1 million, raising $1.3 million in his third quarter of fundraising.[62]
Portman won the election with a margin of 57 to 39 percent, winning 82 of Ohio's 88 counties.[63] In a 2010 campaign advertisement, Portman said a "[ cap-and-trade bill] could cost Ohio 100,000 jobs we cannot afford to lose;" subsequently, The Cleveland Plain Dealer and PolitiFact called Portman's claim "barely true" with the most pessimistic estimates.[64]
The 2016 re-election campaign posed several special challenges to Portman and his team—it would be run in heavily targeted Ohio, it would occur in a presidential year when Democratic turnout was expected to peak, and both parties would bombard Buckeye State voters with tens of millions of dollars in TV, cable and digital ads for the national, senatorial and downticket contests. For his manager, Portman chose Corry Bliss, who had just run the successful re-election of Sen. Pat Roberts in Kansas. Portman and Bliss chose to run what Time magazine called "a hyperlocal campaign without betting on the nominee's coattails."[65]
As Real Clear Politics noted, Portman faced "the thorny challenge of keeping distance from Trump in a state Trump [was] poised to win. Portman, in the year of the outsider, [was] even more of an insider than Clinton ... Yet he [ran] a local campaign focused on issues like human trafficking and opioid addiction, and secured the endorsement of the Teamsters as well as other unions" (despite being a mostly conservative Republican).[66]
Polls showed the race even (or Portman slightly behind) as of June 2016; afterwards, Portman led Democratic ex-Gov. Ted Strickland in every public survey through Election Day. The final result was 58.0% to 37.2%, nearly a 21-point margin for Portman.
Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post argued that the context of Ohio's result had wider implications. "There are a lot of reasons Republicans held the Senate this fall. But Portman's candidacy in Ohio is the most important one. Portman took a seemingly competitive race in a swing state and put it out of reach by Labor Day, allowing money that was ticketed for his state to be in other races, such as North Carolina and Missouri ..."[67]
The Washington Post said "Portman took the crown for best campaign",[67] while Real Clear Politics said, "Sen. Rob Portman ran the campaign of the year.".[68] Portman himself was generous in praising his campaign manager: "With an emphasis on utilizing data, grassroots, and technology, Corry led our campaign from behind in the polls to a 21-point victory. He's one of the best strategists in the country."[69]
In the 112th Congress, Portman voted with his party 90% of the time.[70] However, in the 114th United States Congress, Portman was ranked as the third most bipartisan member of the U.S. Senate by the Bipartisan Index, a metric created jointly by The Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy to reflect Congressional bipartisanship.[71] During the first session of the 115th Congress, Portman's bipartisanship score improved further, propelling him to second in the Senate rankings (only Senator Susan Collins scoring higher),[72][73] Portman's intellectual leadership among the Senate G.O.P., and his fundraising capabilities,[74] led to his being named the Vice Chairman for Finance of the National Republican Senatorial Committee for the 2014 election cycle.[75] In March 2013, Portman was one of several Republican senators invited to have dinner with President Obama at The Jefferson Hotel in an attempt by the administration to court perceived moderate members of the upper chamber for building consensual motivation in Congress; however, Portman did not attend and instead had dinner with an unnamed Democratic senator.[76]
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, while in the Senate, Portman has portrayed himself as a "deficit hawk" and is "considered a centrist-to-conservative Republican" who has typically voted with the party leadership, although he has broken with it on a number of issues, including same-sex marriage.[93] In 2013, Portman was several times described as staunchly conservative.[94][95] During the Trump administration, Portman was characterized as a centrist or moderate Republican.[96][97][98][99] In 2020, Portman's former campaign manager described him as a "proud conservative."[99]Chris Cillizza, writing in 2014, described Portman as more governance-oriented than campaign-oriented.[100]
According to FiveThirtyEight, which tracks congressional records, Portman voted in line with Trump's position on legislation 90.4% of the time.[103] CQ RollCall, which also tracks voting records, found that Portman voted with President Obama's positions on legislation 59.5% of the time in 2011.[104] Portman was one of five Senate Republicans who voted with Obama's position more than half the time.[105]
After Mitt Romney selected Paul Ryan as his running mate, Portman spoke at the 2012 Republican National Convention about trade and his family business.[110] On trade agreements, Portman stated: "President Obama is the first president in 75 years-Democrat or Republican-who hasn't even sought the ability to negotiate export agreements and open markets overseas. Now why is this important? Because 95 percent of the world's consumers live outside our borders. And to create jobs, our workers and our farmers need to sell more of what we make to those people."[110] In October 2012, Romney spoke at and toured Portman's Golden Lamb Inn.[111]
Portman portrayed President Obama in Romney's mock debate sessions for the general election, reprising a role that he played in the debate preparations of Republican presidential nominee John McCain in 2008.[112]
In March 2014, Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia Center for Politics speculated that Portman might run for president in 2016.[113][114] In October 2014, students from the College of William and Mary formed the Draft Rob Portman PAC to encourage Portman to run for president in 2016.[115] However, Portman announced in December 2014 that he would not run for president and would instead seek a second term in the United States Senate.[116]
In the 2020 presidential election, Portman supported Trump, in a reversal of his 2016 vote.[120] Portman maintained his support for Trump during the impeachment proceedings against Trump for his conduct in the Trump–Ukraine scandal.[121][121] Portman said that it was "wrong and inappropriate" for Trump to ask a foreign government to investigate a political rival,[122] and that he accepted that that there was quid pro quo between Trump and Ukraine in which U.S. aid to Ukraine was on the line,[122] but that he did not consider it to be an impeachable offense.[121][122] Following the Senate trial of Trump, Portman voted to acquit Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.[123] Portman also opposed proposals to formally censure Trump.[122]
In 2013, Portman sponsored a bill that would have made it a federal crime to transport a minor across state lines for an abortion if doing so would circumvent state parental consent or notification laws.[126]
Budget and economy
Portman is a leading advocate for a balanced budget amendment.[127] Portman worked with Democratic Senator Jon Tester in 2012 to end the practice of government shutdowns and partnered with Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill on an inquiry into the Obama administration's public relations spending.[128] Portman has proposed "a balanced approach to the deficit" by reforming entitlement programs, writing "[r]eforms should not merely squeeze health beneficiaries or providers but should rather reshape key aspects of these programs to make them more efficient, flexible and consumer-oriented."[129] Portman became known for his ability to work in a bipartisan fashion when working to pass a repeal of the excise tax on telephone service.[130] He also unsuccessfully proposed an amendment to the surface transportation reauthorization bill to allow states to keep the gas tax money they collect, instead of sending it to Washington with some returned later.[128]
LGBT rights
Prior to 2013, Portman was opposed to LGBT rights; he co-sponsored the Defense of Marriage Act, passed in 1996, which banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage[131] and in 1999 he voted for a measure prohibiting same-sex couples in Washington, D.C., from adopting children.[132] On March 14, 2013, Portman publicly announced that he had changed his stance on gay marriage, and now supported its legalization,[133][134][135] becoming the first sitting Republican U.S. Senator to do so.[136] The change came two years after his son Will came out to Portman and his wife as gay in 2011.[137] The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which supports same-sex marriage and gay rights, gave Portman an 85% score in 2016 and a 45% in 2014; the HRC also gives Portman a 100% rating for sharing their position on same-sex marriage.[102]
In November 2013, Portman was one of ten Republican senators to vote in favor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), after the Senate adopted an amendment proposed by him to expand the religious protections.[138]
In 2011, Portman voted to limit the government's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and in 2015, he voted to block the Clean Power Plan.[140][141] In 2013, he voted for a point of order opposing a carbon tax or a fee on carbon emissions.[142] In 2012, Portman said he wanted more oil drilling on public lands.[143] Portman supported development of the Keystone XL pipeline, stating "The arguments when you line them up are too strong not to do this. I do think that at the end of the day the president [Obama] is going to go ahead with this."[144]
Portman co-sponsored an amendment to the 2017 Energy Bill that acknowledged that climate change is real and human activity contributes to the problem.[147]
Portman has repeatedly supported legislation to treat currency manipulation by countries as an unfair trade practice and to impose duties on Chinese imports if China does not stop the practice.[158] In 2016, Portman opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement because he said it does not address currency manipulation and includes less-strict country-of-origin rules for auto parts.[159] In April 2015, Portman co-sponsored an amendment to Trade Promotion Authority legislation which would require the Obama administration to seek enforceable rules to prevent currency manipulation by trade partners as part of TPP.[160]
In November 2018, Portman was one of 12 Republican senators to sign a letter to Trump requesting the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement be submitted to Congress by the end of the month to allow a vote on it before the end of the year; the letter-writers cited concerns that "passage of the USMCA as negotiated will become significantly more difficult" if it had to be approved through the incoming 116th Congress, in which there was a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives.[162]
In 2019, Portman was one of thirty-one Republican senators to cosponsor the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, a bill introduced by Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz (Republicans of Texas) that would allow persons concealed carry privileges in their home state to also carry concealed weapons in other states.[165]
Health care
Portman has worked to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.[166] In 2017, Portman voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act.[167] He opposed steep cuts to Medicaid because the expansion of the program had allowed some Ohioans to gain coverage, including some impacted by Ohio's opioid crisis.[168] As a member of a group of 13 Republican Senators tasked with writing a Senate version of the AHCA,[169] he supported proposed cuts to Medicaid that would be phased in over seven years.[170][171]
Immigration
In June 2018, Portman was one of thirteen Republican senators to sign a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions requesting a moratorium on the Trump administration family separation policy while Congress drafted legislation.[172] In March 2019, Portman was one of a dozen Republicans who broke with their party, joining all Democrats, to vote for a resolution rejecting Trump's use of an emergency declaration to build a border wall.[173] He later co-sponsored a bill to provide for congressional approval of national emergency declarations.[174]
Portman opposed President Donald Trump's Muslim ban. He stated that the executive order was not "properly vetted" and that he supported the federal judges who blocked the order's implementation.[175]
Jobs
In 2014, Portman voted against reauthorizing long-term unemployment benefits to 1.7 million jobless Americans. He expressed concern with the inclusion of a provision in the bill which would allow companies to make smaller contributions to employee pension funds.[176] Portman voted in April 2014 to extend federal funding for unemployment benefits. Federal funding had been initiated in 2008 and expired at the end of 2013.[177]
In 2014, Portman opposed the Minimum Wage Fairness Act, a bill to phase in, over two years, an increase in the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour.[178] The bill was strongly supported by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats, but strongly opposed by congressional Republicans.[179][180][181]
In 2015, Portman voted for an amendment to establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund to allow employees to earn paid sick time.[182]
In September 2018, Portman stated he would support Trump's nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, saying, "The Brett Kavanaugh I know is a man of integrity and humility"; Portman did not call for an investigation by the FBI for sexual assault allegations.[183]
In September 2020, Portman supported a vote on Trump's nominee to fill the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg less than six weeks before the 2020 presidential election. In April 2016, Portman said that Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, who was nominated eight months before the election, should not be considered by the Senate, as it was "a very partisan year and a presidential election year ... it's better to have this occur after we're past this presidential election."[184]
Human trafficking
Portman has been involved in efforts to end human trafficking.[93] As a member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Portman began investigating sex trafficking in 2015. The investigation found that classified advertising website Backpage was aware that the website was being used to sell young girls for sex. Portman sponsored the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, which clarified sex trafficking laws to make it illegal to knowingly assist, facilitate, or support sex trafficking. SESTA was passed by Congress signed into law by President Donald Trump and in April 2018.[185]
Throughout his career, Portman and his family have resided in Terrace Park, Ohio
Portman married Jane Dudley in July 1986.[7] Dudley, who previously worked for Democratic Congressman Tom Daschle, "agreed to become a Republican when her husband agreed to become a Methodist."[190] The Portmans attend church services at Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church.[191][192] Jane Portman has served on the board of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center for 7 years and has driven a route for Meals on Wheels for 12 years.[10] The Portmans have three children.[7] Portman still owns the Golden Lamb Inn with his brother Wym Portman and sister Ginna Portman Amis.[193] In 2004, a Dutchconglomerate purchased the Portman Equipment Company. Portman had researched the firm's local acquisitions, stating "It's a concept I've heard described as 'Glocalism.' All these companies are trying to achieve economies of scale. This lets us develop a network and coverage globally. But you can still have the local spirit, the local name and the customer intimacy to accomplish great things."[194] A July 2012 article about Portman stated that in 40 years, his only citation has been a traffic ticket for an improper turn while driving.[195] Portman is an avid kayaker, is fluent in Spanish, and enjoys bike rides.[8][196]
Michael Barone, Richard E. Cohen, and Grant Ujifusa. The Almanac of American Politics, 2002. Washington, D.C.: National Journal, 2001. ISBN0-89234-099-1
"Politics in America, 1992: The 102nd Congress". Congressional Quarterly. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press. 1991. ISBN0-87187-599-3.
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↑ Dana Bash (March 15, 2013). "One conservative's dramatic reversal on gay marriage". CNN. [Portman has] been a leading Republican voice on economic issues for four decades...the prominent Ohio conservative...Though he is a staunch conservative, Portman
↑ Richard Socarides (March 15, 2013). "Rob Portman and His Brave, Gay Son". New Yorker. Portman is not only a staunch conservative but also an important member of the Republican Party establishment
↑ The couple is cited as "Mrs. Jane Dudley Portman and Mr. Robert Portman" in the Giving Reports of the Forsythe County Day School, which are available online at fcds.org. She is also cited as Jane Dudley Portman in property records available at http://www.city-data.com/hamilton-county/M/Miami-Avenue-31.html, where she is listed as the owner of property the couple once owned together.
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