Rush Dew Holt, Jr.
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 12th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3 1999
Preceded by	Mike Pappas
Personal details
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Margaret Lancefield

Rush Dew Holt, Jr. (born October 15 1948, Weston, West Virginia) is a professor and a American Democratic Party politician and the current U.S. Representative for New Jersey's 12th Congressional District. He is currently the only Quaker in the Congress and one of only a dozen who have PhD's.

Holt is a possible candidate for the Senate in 2008. If he decides to run, he would oppose Frank Lautenberg in the primary.

Early life, career and family

Rush Holt was born to Rush D. Holt Sr., who served as a United States Senator for West Virginia (1935–1941), and his wife Helen Holt, the first woman to be appointed West Virginia Secretary of State (1957–1959).^[1] Holt Sr. was the youngest person ever to be elected to the U.S. Senate, at age 29. He died of cancer when Rush was six years old.

Holt graduated with a BA degree in physics from Carleton College in Minnesota, and holds MS and PhD degrees in physics from New York University.

Holt served as a faculty member at Swarthmore College from 1980 to 1988 where he taught physics, public policy, and religion courses. During that time, he also worked as a Congressional Science Fellow for U.S. Representative Bob Edgar of Pennsylvania. From 1987 until 1989, Holt headed the Nuclear and Scientific Division of the Office of Strategic Forces at the U.S. Department of State.

From 1989 until his successful congressional campaign in 1998, Holt was the Assistant Director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory at Princeton University, the University's largest research facility and the largest center for energy research in New Jersey.

Holt is married to Margaret Lancefield, a physician and Medical Director of the charity clinic of the University Medical Center at Princeton. They have three grown children: Michael, Dejan and Rachel; and six grandchildren: Noah, Niala, Boaz, Varun, Cecile, and Rohan.

Holt was also a 5-time winner on the version of Jeopardy! hosted by Art Fleming.

United States House of Representatives

Holt's first race was in 1996, where he finished in third place in the Democratic party primary. Holt ran again in 1998 and won the primary, pitting him against conservative Congressman Mike Pappas in the general election. Pappas' campaign experienced a setback after he read a poem, set to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", praising Kenneth Starr on the floor of the House of Representatives. Holt won the election by a 51-48% margin, becoming the first Democrat to represent the district in two decades.^[2]

Holt was challenged by former Republican Congressman Dick Zimmer in the 2000 election; Holt's prior win was thought by Republicans to be a fluke, and the race attracted considerable money and advertising. The election was hotly contested, with Zimmer ahead on election night, but Holt ahead the next day. Ten days after the election, Holt declared himself the winner by 481 votes. Zimmer challenged the results, but conceded after the count began to go against him.^[3][4]

Redistricting before the 2002 elections made Holt safer, in part by adding much of Trenton. While Holt faced a fairly well-funded challenge from New Jersey Secretary of State Buster Soaries, an African-American, he defeated Soaries handily with 61% of the vote. He was reelected again in 2004 over Bill Spadea (59-41%) and in 2006 over former Helmetta, New Jersey Council President Joseph Sinagra (65-35%).

On May 22, 2003, Holt introduced legislation to require electronic voting machines to produce a paper record in time for the 2004 elections. The bill entitled Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003 is designed to address concerns that there is no way to verify vote counts on electronic touch screen voting machines, should a similar situation arise as did in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. At the first meeting of the 110th Congress Rush Holt was the first Congressman to bring an issue to the Speaker. He has been active in contested elections especially the current one in Florida.

Rush Holt is a member of the New Democrat Coalition.

In Congress, Holt serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and was appointed Chairman of the Subcommittee on Intelligence Policy by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi at the start of the 110th Congress. Congressman Holt is the only representative from New Jersey to serve on the committee. ^[5]He also serves on the House Committee on Education and Labor and the House Committee on Natural Resources. Holt received a grade of 100% on the progressive Drum Major Institute's 2005 Congressional Scorecard on middle-class issues.^[6]

Holt also serves on the U.S. Congressional Caucus on Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan Americans. ^[7] In February 2008 a controversy arose in relation to Congressman Holt's influence on the Caucus when two of Sri Lanka's largest circulation newspapers, The Island and The Ceylon Daily News, reported ^{[8] [9]}, that Congressman Holt has for years been accepting campaign contributions from the leadership of the outlawed Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (T.R.O.), which the U.S. government has determined ^[10] is a front group for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam,^[11] which is on the U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.^[12] . The U.S. Treasury department stated in November 2007 that "T.R.O. passed off its operations as charitable, when in fact it was raising money for a designated terrorist group responsible for heinous acts of terrorism," ^[13]. In January 2005 the Seattle Times reported <ref>"Tsunami disaster hasn't mended Sri Lankan divide". The Seattle Times. 2005-01-22. Retrieved 2008-02-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) the name of the New Jersey state leader of the T.R.O. , and a review of publicly available Federal Campaign contribution records confirms Congressman Holt's acceptance of contributions from the leadership of the banned T.R.O. <ref>[[2]], <ref>[[3]]<ref>

His focus on environmental issues has led him to produce campaign bumper stickers whose predominant color is green. His scientific background has led to them reading, "My Congressman IS a rocket scientist!"

References

External links

• U.S. Representative Rush Holt official House site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Profile at Vote Smart
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Rush Holt profile
• Re-Elect Congressman Rush Holt official campaign site