HLS competing in 2012 election races

A number of Harvard Law School graduates across the country are candidates for office in this year’s presidential and Congressional races.

In a historic first, both candidates of the major parties in the U.S. presidential election are graduates of Harvard Law School. President Barack Obama is a member of the Class of  ’91 and his Republican opponent Mitt Romney is a 1975 graduate of both Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School.

As the two Harvard Law School grads compete for the U.S. presidency, 19 alumni and one HLS faculty member are running in congressional races across the country. Five grads already serving and not currently up for re-election: Michael D. Crapo ’77 (R-Idaho), Carl Levin ’59 (D-Minn.), Jack Reed ’82 (D-R.I.), Charles E. Schumer ’74 (D-N.Y.), and Mark Warner ’80 (D-Va.).

U.S. House of Representatives

Incumbents: Terri Sewell ’92 (D-Ala.) District 7, Adam Schiff ’85  (D-Calif.) District 28, Brad Sherman ’79 (D-Calif.) District 30, John Barrow ’79 (D-Ga.) District 12, Mike Pompeo ’94 (R-Kan.) District 4, John Sarbanes ’88 (D-Md.) District 4, Sander Levin ’57 (D-Mich.) District 9, Jim Cooper ’80 (D-Tenn.) District 5, Tom Petri ’65 (R-Wis.) District 6

Challengers: Tom Cotton ’02 (R-Ark.) District 4, Juan Vargas ’91 (D-Calif.) District 51, Ron DeSantis ’05 (R-Fla.) District 6, Alan Grayson ’83 (D-Fla.) District 9, Joseph Kennedy III ’09 (D-Mass.) District 4, Shelley Adler ’84 (D-N.J.) District 3, Joaquin Castro ’00 (D-Texas) District 20, Kristin Cabral ’91 (D-Va.), District 10

U.S. Senate

Challengers: HLS Professor Elizabeth Warren, (D-Mass.), Ted Cruz ’95 (R-Texas), Tim Kaine ’83 (D-Va.)