- Nick Lampson
-
Nick Lampson 
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas's 22nd districtIn office
January 4, 2007 – January 3, 2009Preceded by Shelley Sekula-Gibbs Succeeded by Pete Olson Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas's 9th districtIn office
January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2005Preceded by Steve Stockman Succeeded by Al Green Personal details Born February 14, 1945
Beaumont, TexasPolitical party Democratic Spouse(s) Susan Floyd Children Hillary Lampson
Stephanie LampsonResidence Beaumont, Texas (1945-2006)
Stafford, Texas (2006-2009)
Fremont, California (2009-present)Alma mater Lamar University Occupation high school teacher Religion Roman Catholic Nicholas Valentino 'Nick' Lampson (born February 14, 1945) is an American politician from the state of Texas and was a Congressman representing the 22nd Congressional District of Texas. He was defeated by Pete Olson on November 4, 2008 in his re-election bid.[1]
Lampson was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 9th congressional district from 1997 to 2005. After an extremely controversial mid-decade redistricting, he lost his congressional seat in 2004. In 2006 he was elected to Congress to represent the 22nd district, once represented by the former Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
Contents
Early life and education
Lampson is a lifelong resident of southeast Texas and a second-generation Italian-American. His grandparents came to America from Italy and settled in Stafford, nearly 100 years ago, where they had farms and were founding members of their church. His parents grew up, met, and married in Fort Bend County, and the Lampson children spent a great deal of time on their grandparents' farms working the fields. Lampson's mother and father eventually moved a few miles away to Beaumont, where Lampson was born.
Lampson was one of six children born to a welder and a homemaker. His father died when he was 12 years old, and Lampson took his first job at that young age sweeping floors to supplement the family's income. Lampson's mother received $19 dollars per month from Social Security to supplement their income as long as he stayed in school. This money helped his family stay together in those difficult years, and he has been a steadfast voice for protecting Social Security throughout his time in government.
Though Lampson's mother received only a fifth grade education, all six of her children graduated from college with at least one degree. His mother later received her GED on her 80th birthday. Lampson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and a master's degree in education from Lamar University. He taught high school science before entering politics.
Lampson has been married to wife, Susan Floyd Lampson, for 35 years. They have two grown daughters, Hillary and Stephanie, and five grandchildren. His youngest daughter, Stephanie, is a teacher, as is his wife, Susan, who teaches special education. He currently lives in Stafford with his wife.
Political career
Property tax assessor
In 1976, Lampson was elected Jefferson County property tax assessor. He served in that post for 19 years, giving up the post to run for Congress.
First tenure in Congress
An earlier photo of Lampson
In the 1996 election, Lampson won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives representing Texas's 9th congressional district. The district included Lampson's home in Beaumont as well as Galveston and parts of Houston. The district had been represented by Democrat Jack Brooks for 42 years, but Brooks had been one of the most prominent Democratic incumbents to lose reelection in the "Republican Revolution" of 1994, which brought the House under the control of Republicans for the first time since 83rd United States Congress following the 1952 elections.
The November 1996 election for the 9th district was an open primary due to judicially-mandated redistricting. The 29th district had been struck down as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, forcing the redrawing of several other seats in the Houston area, including the 9th.
In that election, Steve Stockman received 46 percent to Lampson's 44 percent of the vote. However, Lampson defeated Stockman in the December runoff with over 52 percent.[2]
Just months into his first term, a family in Lampson's district suffered a widely-publicized tragedy. A 12-year-old girl from Friendswood was abducted and found murdered two weeks later. Lampson then established the first-ever Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, which now numbers more than 120 members from both parties. Coincidentally, Bob Smither, the father of the murdered girl, was Lampson's Libertarian opponent in the 2006 election. The Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus was directly responsible for nationalizing the successful AMBER Alert system. In addition, Lampson sponsored legislation to fund law enforcement efforts to stop child pornography and exploitation on the Internet.
In addition to the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, Lampson was also active in other issue-oriented Congressional caucuses, including Manufactured Housing, Correctional Officers, I-69 Highway, Coast Guard, Coastal, Human Rights, Spina Bifida, Cancer, Asian and Pacific American and Arts. He also served as the chairman of the Congressional Study Group on Germany.
Lampson was a typical moderate Texas Democrat. He opposed abortion, gun control and same-sex marriage. However, on most economic and environmental matters, he usually voted with his party.
2004 election
Lampson was reelected three times without serious opposition. However, he was one of the targets of a controversial mid-decade redistricting in 2003.[3] His district was renumbered as the 2nd district. Galveston, which along with Beaumont had anchored the district and its previous incarnations for over a century, was moved into the neighboring 14th District, while much of Galveston County and the portion of Houston including NASA's Johnson Space Center (which had been part of the 9th since 1967) were drawn into DeLay's 22nd District. They were replaced by several heavily Republican areas north and east of Houston.
In the 2004 election, Lampson faced Republican opponent Ted Poe, a longtime felony court judge in Harris County, home to most of Houston. On November 2, 2004, Lampson lost to Poe, with 43 percent to Poe's 55 percent. Though Jefferson County, home to Beaumont, gave Lampson a majority, he was swamped in the Harris County portion of the district, which supported Poe with 70 percent of the vote.
2006 election
Main article: Texas's 22nd congressional district election, 2006On May 4, 2005, Lampson announced his candidacy in Texas's 22nd congressional district, which had been held by DeLay for 20 years. In the 2003 redistricting, DeLay drew much of Lampson's former territory into his own 22nd district, including part of Galveston County (but not Galveston itself) and the Johnson Space Center. In fact, Lampson had briefly considered a so-called "kamikaze" run against DeLay as a result. Lampson sold his home in Beaumont and moved to Stafford, a city halfway between Houston and Sugar Land, where he had family connections (see above).
Conservative media pundits criticized Lampson's decision to run in the 22nd. Fred Barnes of Fox News Channel called him "a carpetbagger" who "moved into" DeLay's district. However, Lampson had represented all of the 22nd's portion of Galveston County, as well as part of its share of Houston, during his first stint in Congress. Also, as mentioned above he had family connections in the district.
The 22nd had long been considered a solidly Republican district, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+15. A Democratic presidential candidate had not carried the district since Texan Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater in the 1964 election. Democrats had not held the congressional seat since after the 1978 election. 2008 presidential candidate Ron Paul had held the seat as a Republican before DeLay took over in 1985. Historically, among districts in the Houston area, only the 7th District has been considered more Republican.
However, DeLay, who was then the House Majority Leader, was seen as vulnerable. He had only won reelection by 14 points in 2004 against a relatively unknown Democrat who spent virtually no money—an unusually close margin for a party leader. Many experts believed that as a result of DeLay's attempts to make the other Houston-area districts more Republican, his own district was more competitive than the one he'd represented for his first 10 terms in Congress. Most importantly, DeLay had been investigated for corruption and was indicted on conspiracy and money laundering charges. DeLay denies all allegations and a Texas judge dismissed the former charge in late 2006; still, this damaged DeLay's credibility in the campaign.[4]
On April 4, 2006, DeLay withdrew his candidacy for the upcoming November midterm elections in the face of questions about his ethics,[5] though he cited troubling poll numbers.[6] Lampson announced on August 17, 2006, that three major police associations had endorsed him: the National Association of Police Officers, the International Union of Police Associations, and the Texas State Police Coalition.
Texas Governor Rick Perry announced on August 29, 2006, that a special election would take place for the balance of DeLay's 11th term, coinciding with the general election on November 7, 2006. This meant that voters voted once in the special election for a candidate to fill DeLay's seat during the lame-duck session of the 109th Congress, and voted a second time for a candidate to represent the district in the 109th Congress. Lampson ran only for the full term, facing Republican Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs.
On September 22, 2006, The Hotline ranked Texas' 22nd Congressional District House race as third (up from a previous ranking of fifth) in a list of the top 30 House races in the country.[7] Additionally, other traditionally conservative organizations backed Lampson's candidacy. The National Rifle Association and the Veterans of Foreign Wars both supported Lampson in the 2006 election.
Three national political journals—the Cook Political Report, Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball, and Congressional Quarterly—rated the race as Leans Democratic. On October 30, 2006, a Zogby poll commissioned by the Houston Chronicle-KHOU-TV was released, showing the write-in candidate, Sekula-Gibbs, at 27.9 percent and Lampson at 36 percent, with nearly 25 percent still undecided.[8]
Lampson defeated Sekula-Gibbs in the November 7, 52 to 42 percent, with the remaining 6 percent going to Libertarian Bob Smither. He officially returned to Congress on January 4, 2007. However, Delay was still on the ballot as the official Republican candidate (Democrats successfully sued to prevent Sekula-Gibbs' from replacing Delay on the ballot, forcing her to run a write-in campaign). Meanwhile, Sekula-Gibbs ran unopposed in the special election. This caused confusion in many people, who were told repeatedly "write in Sekula-Gibbs" but then found her name on the ballot. This resulted in a large (but unreleased) number of excluded votes for Tom Delay in the general election. a large portion of ballots were discarded, including all straight-party votes and direct votes for Delay. This caused a small outcry of resentment from supporters of Sekula-Gibbs, who felt the election was stolen and their votes disenfranchised.
The two elections held on the same day resulted in Sekula-Gibbs winning the right to serve the last two months of DeLay's term, while Lampson won the right to go to Washington for a full term starting in January 2007.
Second tenure in congress
Upon returning to Congress in 2007, Lampson re-formed the bipartisan Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus with Republican Steve Chabot of Ohio. As per normal practice for returning members of Congress, the Democrats gave Lampson back his committee seniority. As a result, he became Chairman of the House Science Subcommittee on Energy and Environment.
Lampson petitioned Congress to approve more funding for NASA.[9] The U.S. Chamber of Commerce awarded him the "Spirit of Enterprise" award in April 2008.[10]
2008 election
Lampson faced reelection in 2008 against Pete Olson, an attorney and a former aide to Senators Phil Gramm and John Cornyn. Despite the perception that the district was more competitive than the one DeLay represented for his first 10 terms, the 22nd was still considered a heavily Republican district. It gave Bush a staggering 64 percent of the vote in 2004. By most accounts, it was one of the few realistic chances for a Republican challenger to unseat a Democrat in what was forecast to be a bleak year for Republicans.
Olson and Lampson agreed to a debate on the issues on October 20, 2008, in Rosenberg, Texas.[11]
An October 22, 2008, poll by John Zogby and the Houston Chronicle stated that Olson had a 17 point lead over Lampson.[12][13][14]
On October 30, 2008, Larry Sabato predicted Lampson's Congressional race to be a "Republican Pick Up" with Olson defeating Lampson.[15]
On November 4, 2008, Olson defeated Lampson with 52.5% of the vote to Lampson's 45.3%. Lampson carried the Galveston County portion of the district, but could not overcome a 15,900-vote deficit in Harris County.
2012 election
After 14th District Congressman Ron Paul decided to retire in order to focus on his presidential campaign, Lampson was reportedly considering a run for Congress in the reconfigured 14th District.[16] According to Roll Call/CQ Politics, the redrawn 14th contains much of the territory Lampson represented during his first stint in Congress, including Beaumont and Galveston.[17]
Outside of politics
Lampson has worked on seniors' issues at the local and national levels as a director of the Area Agency on Aging. He served as a delegate to the 1995 White House Conference on Aging.
Lampson has also been active in local groups such as the American Heart Association, Land Manor (a rehabilitation facility), and the Young Men's Business League. He chaired the 1995 Bishop's Faith Appeal and was recognized as the Outstanding Young Man of Beaumont in 1978 by the Texas Jaycees. He is also a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.
Lampson underwent a successful quadruple bypass surgery on March 25, 2007 at the Texas Heart Institute.
Electoral history
Texas's 9th congressional district: Results 1996–2002[18] Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct 1996 Nick Lampson * 83,782 44% Steve Stockman * 88,171 46% Geraldine Sam Democratic 17,887 9% 1996 Nick Lampson 59,225 53% Steve Stockman 52,870 47% 1998 Nick Lampson 86,055 64% Tom Cottar 49,107 36% 2000 Nick Lampson 130,143 59% Paul Williams 87,165 40% F. Charles Knipp Libertarian 2,508 1% 2002 Nick Lampson 86,710 59% Paul Williams 59,635 40% Dean L. Tucker Libertarian 1,613 1% * The 1996 election took place in two parts: an open special primary election on November 5, 1996, concurrent with the general election, followed by a runoff between the two highest vote-getters that took place on December 10, 1996 (as neither Lampson nor Stockman gained 50% of the vote). This was because a three-judge court of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas redrew the boundaries of districts 18, 29, and 30, and redrew portions of districts 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 22, 24, 25, and 26. The District Court further ordered that the candidates in these districts who have filed by August 30, 1996 and been certified by September 5, 1996 would compete in the open primary special election due to the lack of time for a normal primary. See Bush v. Vera.Texas's 2nd congressional district: 2004 results[18] Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct 2004 Nick Lampson 108,156 43% Ted Poe 139,951 56% Sandra Leigh Saulsbury Libertarian 3,931 2% Texas's 22nd congressional district: Results 2006–2008[18][19] Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct 2006 (no candidate) Shelley Sekula-Gibbs 76,924 62% Bob Smither Libertarian 23,425 19% Steve Stockman Republican 13,600 11% * 2006 Nick Lampson 76,775 52% (no candidate) Shelley Sekula-Gibbs Write-in 61,938 42% Bob Smither Libertarian 9,009 6% * 2008 Nick Lampson 139,879 45% Pete Olson 161,600 52% John Wieder Libertarian 6,823 2% *Write-in and minor candidate notes: In the 2006 special election for the remaining two months of DeLay's term, Republican Don Richardson received 7,405 votes and Republican Giannibicego Hoa Tran received 2,568 votes. In the 2006 general election, Don Richardson received 428 votes and Joe Reasbeck received 89 votes.References
- ^ Gamboa, Suzanne (November 5, 2008). "Olson upends Lampson in closely watched race". Dallas Morning News (Associated Press). http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D948JSCG0.html. Retrieved 5 November 2008.[dead link]
- ^ http://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist.exe
- ^ CBS News article
- ^ Toronto Global and Mail article
- ^ MSNBC
- ^ Galveston Daily News
- ^ National Journal article
- ^ "Write-in for DeLay spot has a shot" by Kristen Mack, Houston Chronicle, October 30, 2006
- ^ Houston Chronicle article
- ^ Congressman Nick Lampson's Office
- ^ "Lampson, Olson Scheduled To Debate In Rosenberg At Chamber Event". FortBendNow.com. June 6, 2008. http://www.fortbendnow.com/pages/full_story?article-Lampson--Olson-Scheduled-To-Debate-In-Rosenberg-At-Chamber-Event%20=&page_label=home&id=84237&widget=push&instance=home_news_bullets&open=&. Retrieved 2008-06-08.[dead link]
- ^ Anand, Easha (October 28, 2008). "Down the Homestretch: Texas’s 22nd District (Democratic Incumbent)". Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/10/27/down-the-homestretch-texass-22nd-district-democratic-incumbent/. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
- ^ Thurlkill, Jason (October 27, 2008). "Houston Chronicle/Zogby: Olson has 17 point lead over Lampson, Culberson holding off Skelly". PolitickerTX.com. http://www.politickertx.com/node/373. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
- ^ "Houston Politics" (PDF). Zogby International (Houston Chronicle). October 22, 2008. http://blogs.chron.com/houstonpolitics/zogby_mon_results_22nd_tabs.pdf. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
- ^ Sabato, Larry (October 30, 2008). "The Last Word--Almost". Rassamussen Reports. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_larry_j_sabato/the_last_word_almost. Retrieved 2008-10-30.
- ^ http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7650682.html
- ^ http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/house-races/171271-lampson-eyeing-a-run-for-congress-from-ron-pauls-seat
- ^ a b c "Election Statistics". Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/index.html. Retrieved 2008-01-10.
- ^ "2008 General Election Results". Secretary of State (State of Texas). November 4, 2008. http://team1.sos.state.tx.us/enr/results/nov04_141_race22.htm?x=0&y=268&id=429. Retrieved November 6, 2008.[dead link]
External links
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
- Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
- Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
- Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
- Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
- Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
- Biography and issue positions at Votimus.com
- Nick Lampson at the Open Directory Project
United States House of Representatives Preceded by
Steve StockmanMember of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas's 9th congressional district
1997–2005Succeeded by
Al GreenPreceded by
Shelley Sekula-GibbsMember of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas's 22nd congressional district
2007-2009Succeeded by
Pete OlsonCategories:- 1945 births
- Living people
- Lamar University alumni
- American people of Italian descent
- Members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas
- Texas Democrats
- People from Beaumont, Texas
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