Spencer Abraham | |
---|---|
![]() Official portrait, 2001 | |
10th United States Secretary of Energy | |
In office January 20, 2001 –January 31, 2005 | |
President | George W. Bush |
Preceded by | Bill Richardson |
Succeeded by | Samuel Bodman |
United States Senator from Michigan | |
In office January 3,1995 –January 3,2001 | |
Preceded by | Donald Riegle |
Succeeded by | Debbie Stabenow |
Chair of the Michigan Republican Party | |
In office 1983–1991 | |
Preceded by | Melvin L. Larsen |
Succeeded by | David J. Doyle |
Personal details | |
Born | Edward Spencer Abraham June 12,1952 East Lansing,Michigan,U.S. |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Jane Abraham |
Education | Michigan State University (BA) Harvard University (JD) |
Awards | Lebanese National Order of the Cedar (Commander Class) |
Edward Spencer Abraham (born June 12,1952) is an American attorney,author,and politician who served as the 10th United States Secretary of Energy from 2001 to 2005,under President George W. Bush. A member of the Republican Party,he previously served as a United States Senator from Michigan from 1995 to 2001. Abraham is one of the founders of the Federalist Society,and a co-founder of the Harvard Journal of Law &Public Policy . As of 2025,he is the last Republican to have served as a U.S. senator from Michigan.
Abraham was born in East Lansing,Michigan,the son of Juliette Elizabeth (Sear),a member of the Michigan Republican State Central Committee,and Eddie Joseph Abraham. [1] He is a graduate of East Lansing High School. Of Lebanese descent,Abraham is married to Jane Abraham,chair of the Susan B. Anthony List. They have three children. He holds a Juris Doctor (J.D.) 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 &Public Policy , [2] which became one of the official journals of the Federalist Society,which was founded in 1982.
Before his election to the Senate,Abraham was a law professor at Thomas M. Cooley Law School.
He was elected chairman of the Michigan Republican Party from 1983 to 1990. He was deputy chief of staff for Vice President Dan Quayle from 1990 to 1991. He later served as co-chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) from 1991 to 1993 and ran for chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1993,coming second to Haley Barbour.
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 Lebanese 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". [3] During the campaign,the Federation for American Immigration Reform,an anti-immigration advocacy group with ties to white nationalism, [4] 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?" [5] [6] [7] The media denounced these commercials as "vengeful". [8] 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. [9] Another factor in his defeat was his vote to convict Clinton in his 1999 impeachment trial. [10] The next year he received the "Defender of the Melting Pot" award from the National Council of La Raza for his efforts on immigration. [11]
![]() | This section possibly contains original research .(October 2008) |
Abraham served on the Budget, Commerce, Science and Transportation, Judiciary, and Small Business Committees. He also chaired two subcommittees: Manufacturing and Competitiveness, and Immigration. Abraham authored the H1B Visa in Global and National Commerce Act, establishing a federal framework for online contracts and signatures; the Government Paperwork Elimination Act, and the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, which protects Internet domain names for businesses and persons against copyright and trademark infringements. In 1999, Abraham co-sponsored S.896, a bill to abolish the U.S. Department of Energy, which would have transferred control of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in large part to the Defense Department. [12]
In 2001, George W. Bush appointed Abraham Secretary of Energy. On November 15, 2004, Abraham announced that he would resign from this position, effective with the swearing-in of his successor, Samuel W. Bodman, on February 1, 2005.
In 2004, Lebanese Ambassador Farid Abboud awarded Abraham the National Order of the Cedar. [13]
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 The Abraham Group, [14] a Washington DC–based international strategic consulting firm, of which he is chairman and CEO. [15] [16]
On July 24, 2007, Abraham was announced as an "ambassador to official Washington" for Fred Thompson's 2008 presidential campaign. [17]
In 2006, Abraham was appointed Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of AREVA Inc., the American arm of the French nuclear company Areva, which is planning to build EPR nuclear power plants in the United States and is building the mixed oxide fuel (MOX) manufacturing plant at the Savannah River Site to convert legacy weapons-grade plutonium into power station fuel. [15] [18]
With William Tucker, Abraham wrote Lights Out!: Ten Myths About (and Real Solutions to) America's Energy Crisis (2010).
In 2016, Abraham was elected to the board of trustees of the California Institute of Technology. [19]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Debbie Stabenow | 2,061,952 | 49.5 | ||
Republican | Spencer Abraham (Incumbent) | 1,994,693 | 47.9 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Spencer Abraham | 1,577,865 | 52 | ||
Democratic | Bob Carr | 1,298,726 | 43 | ||
Libertarian | Jon Coon | 127,783 | 4 |
The United States secretary of energy is the head of the United States Department of Energy, a member of the Cabinet of the United States and fifteenth in the presidential line of succession. The position was created on October 1, 1977, when President Jimmy Carter signed the Department of Energy Organization Act, establishing the department. Originally, the secretary and the department focused on energy production and regulation. Over time, the emphasis shifted to developing technology for more efficient energy sources and energy education. After the Cold War, the department's attention also turned to radioactive waste disposal and environmental quality maintenance. Former secretary of defense James Schlesinger was the first secretary of energy. As a Republican nominated by Democratic President Jimmy Carter, Schlesinger’s appointment remains the only instance of a president choosing a member of another political party for the position. Schlesinger is also the only secretary to be dismissed from the post. Hazel O'Leary, Bill Clinton’s first secretary of energy, was the first female and first African American to hold the position. The first Hispanic to serve as energy secretary was Clinton’s second energy secretary, Federico Peña. Spencer Abraham became the first Arab American to hold the position on January 20, 2001, under President George W. Bush. Steven Chu, appointed on January 20, 2009, under President Barack Obama, became the first Asian American to hold the position. Chu also served as the longest-serving secretary of energy and was the first individual to join the Cabinet after having received a Nobel Prize.
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The 2000 United States Senate election in Michigan was held on November 7, 2000. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham ran for re-election to a second term, but he was narrowly defeated by his Democratic opponent, congresswoman Debbie Stabenow. Stabenow subsequently made history as the first woman to represent Michigan in the United States Senate. By a margin of 1.6%, this election was the second-closest race of the 2000 Senate election cycle, behind only the election in Washington.
The 1994 United States Senate election in Michigan was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic Senator Don Riegle decided not run for re-election. Spencer Abraham won the open seat, becoming the first and so far only Republican to win a U.S. Senate race in Michigan since Robert P. Griffin in 1972 and the first to win the state's Class I seat since Charles E. Potter in 1952. As of 2024, this was the last time that a Republican was elected to a U.S. Senate seat in Michigan.