22 Facts About Bart Stupak

Bartholomew Thomas Stupak is an American politician and lobbyist.

Bart Stupak departed Congress in January 2011, and was succeeded by Dan Benishek, a Republican from the Upper Peninsula.

Bart Stupak was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and graduated from Gladstone High School in Gladstone, Michigan in 1970.

Bart Stupak earned his Associate's degree from Northwestern Michigan College, a community college in Traverse City in 1972.

Bart Stupak worked as an Escanaba police officer in 1972.

Bart Stupak later served as a Michigan State Police Trooper from 1973 to 1984 and as a member of C-Street while in Congress.

In 1988, Bart Stupak was elected a Michigan State Representative, representing Menominee, Delta, and Dickinson counties, defeating two-term Republican Jim Connors.

In 1990, Bart Stupak ran for state senator but lost a hotly contested primary to eventual general election winner Don Koivisto.

In 1992, Bart Stupak ran for the House of Representatives in the 1st District, covering the Upper Peninsula and the northernmost swath of the Lower Peninsula.

Bart Stupak won the heavily contested Democratic primary, and defeated Republican Philip Ruppe, Davis' predecessor, in the general election.

Bart Stupak was the first Democrat to represent this district since 1967, and only the third Democrat to win it in the 20th century.

Bart Stupak was easily reelected in 1994 during a bad year for Democrats, becoming the first Democrat in 56 years to be elected to more than one term in the Northern Michigan district.

Bart Stupak defeated Republican Don Hooper of Iron River in the 2002,2004 and 2006 elections, and Republican Tom Casperson In 2008.

Bart Stupak cosponsored 157 bills, 5 of which were enacted into law.

Bart Stupak expressed a desire to support the 2009 health care reform bill put forth by President Obama, but wanted restrictions on coverage for abortion.

Bart Stupak announced that he and several other Democratic representatives who supported health reform legislation but opposed abortion would not vote for the final version of the legislation unless the Bart Stupak-Pitts Amendment was included.

In March 2010, President Obama and Bart Stupak reached an understanding whereby the President promised to sign an Executive Order barring federal funding of abortion through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and Bart Stupak and several of his allies promised to withdraw their opposition to the bill.

Anti-abortion advocates accused Stupak of betraying their movement, with the Susan B Anthony List revoking an award it had planned to give to him and instead running $150,000 worth of radio advertisements against him.

Bart Stupak was targeted by the Tea Party movement in the wake of his compromise.

However, Bart Stupak himself attributed his retirement to the exertion of constant travel back and forth from Washington, DC.

Bart Stupak rented a room at the C Street Center, a Washington, DC facility of The Fellowship, a Christian fraternal organization.

Congressman Bart Stupak testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee during a 2002 hearing on the safety of Accutane, an acne medication, which he believes contributed to his son's death.