Ron Lewis

Infobox_Congressman
name =Ron Lewis


date of birth=birth date and age|1946|09|14
place of birth =South Shore, Kentucky
state = Kentucky
district = 2nd
term_start=May 26, 1994
preceded = William Natcher
succeeded = Incumbent
party =Republican
religion = Southern Baptist
spouse = Kayi Lewis
residence= Cecilia, Kentucky
alma_mater= University of Kentucky, Morehead State University
occupation= college professor, minister

Ronald (Ron) Lewis (born September 14 1946), an American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1994, representing the 2nd Congressional District of Kentucky.

Lewis announced on January 29 2008 that he will not run for an eighth term.

Early life, education, and career

Lewis was born in South Shore, Kentucky. He graduated from McKell High School in 1964. He attended Morehead State University from 1964 to 1967 and graduated from the University of Kentucky at Lexington in 1969 with a bachelor of arts degree in history and political science. Lewis returned to Morehead in 1980 to earn a master's degree in education in 1981.

Lewis worked in the gubernatorial campaign of Louie B. Nunn in 1967. Nunn's victory got Lewis a state job for a time and encouragement to run for the state House in his native Greenup County in 1971. Lewis lost, but kept an interest in GOP politics. In 1972, Lewis served briefly in the U.S. Navy, [http://www.war-veterans.org/Vetlegis1.htm] attending the Navy Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida; a kidney ailment resulted in his medical discharge that year.

Lewis worked in sales for several companies, including Ashland Oil, before teaching for five years at Watterson College in Louisville, Kentucky, beginning in 1980 (the school closed in the 1990s). He also was ordained as a Southern Baptist minister in 1980, having served as pastor for the historic White Mills Baptist Church, after attending the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In 1985 Lewis opened a religious bookstore, Alpha and Omega Bookstore, in Elizabethtown. He was also a pastor at Friendship Baptist Church, located outside Hodgenville, in the early 1980s.

Lewis has been married to Kayi Gambill Lewis since 1966. They live in Cecilia, near Elizabethtown, and have two children.

Congressional career

1994 election

In 1994, Lewis filed to run against longtime Democratic William H. Natcher in the general election in November 1994. The Second District was predominantly Democratic in terms of voter registration, and Lewis, named as a candidate by the state GOP leadership and Senator Mitch McConnell, was considered somewhat of a "sacrificial lamb".

Natcher died in late March 1994, and a special election was called in May 1994 to replace him. In the special election, Lewis faced Joe Prather, a state senator from Hardin County, Kentucky. Lewis got support from numerous national Republican sources and many religious conservative groups, enabling him to run a very strong campaign in a district that had not elected a Republican in 129 years. Lewis tied Prather to an unpopular Bill Clinton and a proposal to raise taxes on tobacco, the staple crop of the state. He also took advantage of the 2nd's socially conservative tilt.

In a major upset, Lewis defeated Prather by a 55-45 percent in an election with less than a 20 percent turnout. It was a result that many political pundits saw as a harbinger of the Republican gains in Congress in the regular election later that year. [ [http://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/article.php?id=LJS2006061501 Election Exceptions, Crystal Ball, U.Va ] ] Lewis was elected to a full term that November, defeating Democrat David Adkisson with 60 percent of the vote.

One of the centerpieces of Lewis' 1994 campaign was term limits in Washington. He was one of five Republicans who signed a pledge committing themselves to a limited number of terms if elected. [Mark Birtel, [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2519/is_1_20/ai_53889297/pg_2 "Term-limits: as the pledges come home to roost"] , "Campaigns & Elections", February 1999] In 1998, Lewis sent a letter to 3,000 constituents in 1998 informing them he had changed his mind about running in 2002 and beyond. "I made a mistake in 1994, and I admit that. I had said I would not run past 2002," he told the Elizabethtown News Enterprise in October 1998. [John Stamper, [http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/15860327.htm "Term-limits promise, 'change of heart' have candidates at odds"] , "Lexington Herald-Leader", October 27, 2006]

Political positions

According to the non-partisan website TheMiddleClass.org [ [http://themiddleclass.org/legislator/ron-lewis-218 Ron Lewis (R-KY) | TheMiddleClass.org ] ] , Ron Lewis has consistently voted against tax increases and expansion of social programs.

In 2004 Lewis joined numerous Republican colleagues in sponsoring legislation that would allow lawmakers to override certain Supreme Court decisions by a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate. Lewis likened his proposal to the existing right of Congress to override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority.

1996–2004 campaigns

Lewis won a second full term in 1996 with 58 percent of the vote, but did not face another serious bid until 2006. In the 2004 election, he defeated Democrat Adam Smith, getting 68 percent of the vote.

2006

In the 2006 election, Lewis defeated retired U.S. Army Colonel Mike Weaver, a former member of the Kentucky House of Representatives. Weaver gave Lewis his first credible challenge in a decade, holding him to only 55 percent of the vote.

Committee Assignments

*Ways and Means Committee
**Subcommittee on Social Security
**Subcommittee on Trade
*Republican Policy Committee

Retirement

On January 29, 2008, Lewis announced he will not run for reelection in 2008. The decision shocked and angered many prominent Kentucky Republicans,cite news|title=Veteran Democrat state senator to take on Lewis|publisher="Associated Press"|date=2008-01-04|url=http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/276005.html] [cite news|url=http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080129/NEWS01/80129042|title=Lewis drops re-election bid|author=Gerth, Joseph|publisher="Courier-Journal"|date=2008-01-29] Lewis said he was tired of splitting his time between Washington and Kentucky, and that serving in congress hadn't been as much fun since Democrats took over control in 2006.cite news|publisher="Courier-Journal"|date=2008-01-30|title=Lunsford to challenge McConnell; Lewis is out|url=http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080130/NEWS0106/801300833|author=Gerth, Joseph]

On the same day Lewis pulled out, his chief of staff, Daniel London, filed for the seat, as did State Senator Brett Guthrie. On the Democratic side, State Senator David Boswell and Daviess County Judge-Executive Reid Haire have both filed.

References

External links

* [http://www.house.gov/ronlewis/ U.S. Congressman Ron Lewis] official House site
* [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ron_Lewis Profile] at SourceWatch Congresspedia
* [http://asp.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/CandidateProfile.aspx?ci=203&oi=H Campaign 2004 Profile of Lewis] USA Today
* [http://socialsecurityincometax.home.insightbb.com Stand on taxing social security income]

Persondata
NAME=Lewis, Ron
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Kentucky politician
DATE OF BIRTH=September 14 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH=South Shore, Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH=living
PLACE OF DEATH=