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Bud Cramer

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Bud Cramer
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Alabama's 5th district
In office
January 3, 1991 – January 3, 2009
Preceded byRonnie Flippo
Succeeded byParker Griffith
District Attorney of Madison County
In office
1981–1991
Succeeded byMo Brooks
Personal details
Born
Robert Edward Cramer Jr.

(1947-08-22) August 22, 1947 (age 77)
Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Children1
EducationUniversity of Alabama (BA, JD)
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Army
Years of service1972–1978
UnitUnited States Army Reserve

Robert Edward "Bud" Cramer Jr.[1] (born August 22, 1947) is an American politician and was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1991 to 2009, representing Alabama's 5th congressional district.[2] On March 13, 2008, Cramer announced he would not seek re-election to a 10th term.[3]

Early life

Cramer was born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama. Known as Bud by his classmates, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1969 and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1972. After graduating, he joined the Army as a tank officer. He served at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and remained a member of the Army Reserve from 1976 to 1978.

Early political career

In 1973, Cramer was appointed assistant district attorney in Madison County, a position he held until going into private practice in 1975. He remained in private practice until 1980, when he challenged the incumbent Madison County District Attorney and won at age 33.

In 1985, he founded the National Children's Advocacy Center, a child-friendly environment for abused children. He was briefly considered for a post in the Bush administration in 2001.

Congress

Congressional elections

Cramer was district attorney from 1981 to 1990, until Rep. Ronnie Flippo ran unsuccessfully for governor. Cramer ran for the vacant Congressional seat in 1990, defeating Republican Al McDonald with 67% of the vote. He was handily reelected in 1992. However, he was nearly defeated in 1994 by Republican businessman Wayne Parker—the closest that a Republican had come to winning one of the few remaining districts (prior to 2010) in the former Confederacy to have never elected a Republican since Reconstruction. Cramer only held onto his seat by 1,770 votes. Cramer managed to defeat Parker with less difficulty in 1996 and never faced serious opposition again, winning five more terms by over 70 percent of the vote before running unopposed in 2006.

Tenure

In the House, Cramer was a tireless supporter of the International Space Station and a leading advocate for spending increases in missile defense, as Huntsville has long been a center for research and development of these two projects, as Redstone Arsenal—located in the district—is home of the United States Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

A liberal in his early days, he largely supported the Democratic line for his first three terms. The 1994 near-defeat, however, led Cramer to move more to the right in his voting. He often broke with his party on issues such as abortion, gay rights, gun control, taxes, regulation of business, and the environment. Cramer was one of only four Democrats in the House to vote for the tax cut bill of 2003. However, unlike a few other conservative Democrats, he did not vote in favor of any of the articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton.

Cramer's voting record placed him near the center of the House; however, he was often cited as unpredictable in his votes. Child protection was a longtime legislative project of Cramer's pursuant to his work with the area prior to his ascent to the House.

Cramer was a long-time member of the Blue Dog Democrats, a coalition of conservative and moderate House Democrats. Because of his largely conservative positions, he was encouraged by fellow Alabama politician Sen. Richard Shelby to make the same switch that he did and register as a Republican. Cramer resisted these efforts, and won reelection easily in his increasingly conservative district despite his party affiliation.

Cramer with Donald Trump in 2005

On October 10, 2002, Bud Cramer was among the 81 House Democrats who voted in favor of authorizing the invasion of Iraq. He also voted in favor of some measures favored by the Republican majority, including the continued occupation of Iraq and re-authorization of the Patriot Act. However, Cramer joined fellow Democrats in opposing President Bush's plan to send 21,000 additional troops to Iraq.

Committees

  • House Committee on Appropriations
    • Subcommittee on Defense
    • Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
    • Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
    • The Select Intelligence Oversight Panel
  • Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
    • Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations (Chairman)
    • Subcommittee on Technical & Tactical Intelligence
  • The Blue Dog Coalition, Co-Founder
  • The Congressional Missing & Exploited Children's Caucus, Co-Chairman and Co-Founder
  • The End the Death Tax Caucus, Co-Chairman and Co-Founder
  • The House Anti-Terrorism Caucus, Co-Chairman and Co-Founder
  • The Tennessee Valley Authority Caucus, Co-Chairman

Retirement

On March 13, 2008, Cramer surprised colleagues by announcing that he would not seek re-election in 2008 and would retire at the end of his term. Alabama State Senator and Democrat Parker Griffith defeated Republican Wayne Parker in the race to succeed Cramer. Griffith would announce on December 22, 2009 that he was switching parties to join the Republican caucus, becoming only the second Republican ever to represent the district.

Personal life

A widower, Cramer has a daughter, Hollan Lanier; two grandsons, Dylan and Mason; and a granddaughter, Patricia. He is a member of the United Methodist Church, and taught Sunday school classes to young people for many years.

Research Resources

Cramer's Congressional Papers are held by Special Collections and Archives at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Electoral history

Alabama's 5th congressional district election, 1990
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Robert E. Cramer 113,047 67.1
Republican Albert McDonald 55,326 32.9
Write-in 10 0.0
Total votes 168,383 100.0
Democratic hold
Alabama's 5th congressional district election, 1992
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Robert E. Cramer (incumbent) 160,060 65.6
Republican Terry Smith 77,951 31.9
Libertarian C. Michael Seibert 6,006 2.5
Write-in 116 0.0
Total votes 244,133 100.0
Democratic hold
Alabama's 5th congressional district, 1994
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Robert E. Cramer (incumbent) 88,693 50.5
Republican Wayne Parker 86,923 49.5
Write-in 77 0.0
Total votes 175,693 100.0
Democratic hold
Alabama's 5th congressional district election, 1996
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Robert E. Cramer (incumbent) 114,442 55.7
Republican Wayne Parker 86,727 42.2
Natural Law Shirley Madison 2,484 1.2
Libertarian Craig Goodrich 1,856 0.9
Write-in 38 0.0
Total votes 205,547 100.0
Democratic hold
Alabama's 5th congressional election, 1998
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Robert E. Cramer (incumbent) 134,819 69.7
Republican Gil Aust 58,536 30.3
Write-in 135 0.1
Total votes 193,490 100.0
Democratic hold
Alabama's 5th congressional district election, 2000
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Robert E. Cramer (incumbent) 186,059 88.8
Libertarian Alan Barksdale 22,110 10.6
Write-in 1,345 0.6
Total votes 209,514 100.0
Democratic hold
Alabama's 5th congressional district election, 2002
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Robert E. Cramer (incumbent) 143,029 73.3
Republican Stephen Engel 48,226 24.7
Libertarian Alan Barksdale 3,772 1.9
Write-in 144 0.1
Total votes 195,171 100.0
Democratic hold
Alabama's 5th congressional district election, 2004
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Robert E. Cramer (incumbent) 200,999 73.0
Republican Gerry Wallace 74,145 26.9
Write-in 315 0.1
Total votes 275,459 100.0
Democratic hold
Alabama's 5th congressional district election, 2006
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Robert E. Cramer (incumbent) 143,015 98.3
Write-in 2,540 1.7
Total votes 145,555 100.0
Democratic hold

Group ratings (2004)

Notes

  1. ^ USATODAY.com
  2. ^ "CRAMER, Robert E. (Bud), Jr. - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved 2018-07-11.
  3. ^ AL.com: Cramer will not seek re-election to Congress
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Alabama's 5th congressional district
1991–2009 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Chair of the Blue Dog Coalition for Administration
1999–2001
Served alongside: Chris John (Communications), Charles Stenholm (Policy) 		Succeeded by
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded byas Former US Representative Order of precedence of the United States
as Former US Representative 		Succeeded byas Former US Representative
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