27 Facts About Ben Chandler

Albert Benjamin Chandler III was born on September 12,1959 and is an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States representative for from 2004 to 2013.

Ben Chandler served until January 2013, having been defeated for re-election by Andy Barr in the 2012 elections.

Ben Chandler graduated with distinction from the University of Kentucky with a BA in History and a JD from the University of Kentucky College of Law.

Ben Chandler became a private practice lawyer in Lexington, KY before starting his political career.

Ben Chandler started his political career as State Auditor from 1992 through 1995.

In 1995, Ben Chandler won the Attorney General of Kentucky race by a 20-point margin, making him the nation's youngest attorney general at the time.

In 1999, Ben Chandler was elected to a second term as attorney general with no opposition.

Also during his time as attorney general, Ben Chandler recovered $45 million in charitable assets from one of Kentucky's largest insurance companies when it converted from non-profit to for-profit status.

Ben Chandler represented the Sixth Congressional District of Kentucky in the United States House of Representatives since a special election in 2004 until 2013.

Ben Chandler is a moderate to conservative Democrat and in its 2010 vote rankings, National Journal rated Chandler as being the ideological center of the House of Representatives.

Ben Chandler was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a fiscally conservative Democratic caucus.

Ben Chandler served as the chair of the national Blue Dog Task Force on Oversight and Regulatory Review.

In 2010 Ben Chandler was criticized for accepting campaign contributions from embattled Congressman Rep.

In 2011, Ben Chandler voted for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 as part of a controversial provision that allows the government and the military to indefinitely detain American citizens and others without trial.

Ben Chandler is a signer of Americans for Tax Reform's Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

Ben Chandler was a Blue Dog Democrat as well as a member of the House New Democrat Coalition.

Ben Chandler's name had been rumored as a candidate for governor for the 2007 election and Senator in the 2008 election.

Ben Chandler ultimately voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Ben Chandler was the Democratic candidate for governor in the election of 2003.

Ben Chandler was defeated in that election in the landslide by his Republican opponent, Congressman Ernie Fletcher.

Ben Chandler was challenged by Republican nominee Andy Barr in the November 2010 election.

Ben Chandler was elected by a very narrow margin, as results showed him leading Barr by about 600 votes.

The results were re-canvassed due to the closeness of the outcome, but Ben Chandler was certified as the election winner on November 12,2010.

In October 2011, Barr called their forthcoming contest "a rematch of the third-closest Congressional race in America" and said that Ben Chandler was burdened with "considerable dissatisfaction" on the part of his constituents and the difficulty of running on the ticket with Obama.

Ben Chandler did not run for Governor in 2015, though he has hinted that he might run for office again in the future.

From 2013 to 2016, Ben Chandler served as executive director of the Kentucky Humanities Council.

Ben Chandler is a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One.