Gordon Harold SMITH, Congress, OR (1952)

SMITH, Gordon Harold, (cousin of Thomas Udall and Mark Udall), a Senator from Oregon; born in Pendleton, Oregon, May 25, 1952; relocated with his family to Bethesda, Maryland, where he attended the public schools; served a two year church mission in New Zealand; graduated from Brigham Young University 1976; received law degree from Southwestern University School of Law, Los Angeles 1979; admitted to the New Mexico bar 1979, Arizona bar 1980; law clerk, New Mexico supreme court 1979-1980; practiced law in Arizona; president of Smith Frozen Foods; member, Oregon State senate 1992-1997, president 1995-1997; unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in January 6, 1996, special election for the remainder of the term ending January 7, 1999, left vacant by the resignation of Robert W. Packwood; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1996, becoming the first individual to run for a state’s two United States Senate seats in one calendar year; reelected in 2002, and served from January 3, 1997, to January 3, 2009; chair, Special Committee on Aging (One Hundred Ninth Congress); was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 2008.

Bibliography

Smith, Gordon H. Remembering Garrett: One Family’s Battle with a Child’s Depression. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2006.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present