Alumni fare well in elections

Harvard Law School graduates across the country won political victories in the 2012 elections. In addition to a victory by President Barack Obama ’91 in a close race with Republican candidate Mitt Romney J.D./M.B.A ’75.  A Harvard Law School Professor and two HLS alumni won seats in the Senate, and 15 alumni are going to the House.

Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) made history as the first woman elected to serve as a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, defeating incumbent Scott Brown. In other Senate races, Ted Cruz ’95 (R-TX), a Cuban-American, becomes the first Hispanic to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate. In Virginia, Tim Kaine ’83 (D-VA), former governor of Virginia, won the open seat for Senate.

Several HLS alumni won their U.S. House re-election races: Terri Sewell ’92 (D-AL) District 7, John Barrow ’79 (D-GA.) District 12, Jim Cooper ’80 (D-TN) District 5, Sander Levin ’57 (D-MI) District 9, Tom Petri ’65 (R-WI) District 6, Mike Pompeo ’94 (R-KS) District 4, John Sarbanes ’88 (D-MD) District 4, Adam Schiff ’85  (D-Calif.) District 28, Brad Sherman ’79 (D-Calif.) District 30 and Juan Vargas ’91 (D-CA), District 51.

Among the challengers in the U.S. House race, several HLS alumni secured seats: Joaquin Castro ’00 (D-TX) District 20, Tom Cotton ’02 (R-AR) District 4, Ron DeSantis ’05 (R-FL) District 6, Alan Grayson ’83 (D-FL) District 9, who was unseated in 2010, and Joseph Kennedy III ’09 (D-MA) District 4.

In hard-fought Congressional races, Shelley Adler ’84 (D-NJ) District 3 was narrowly defeated, and Kristin Cabral ’91 (D-VA) lost her challenge in Virginia’s 10th congressional district to longtime incumbent Frank Wolf.