Bartholomew Thomas Stupak (; born February 29, 1952) is an American politician and lobbyist. A member of the Democratic Party, Stupak served as the U.S. representative from Michigan's 1st congressional district from 1993 to 2011.
Stupak chose not to seek re-election in 2010. He departed Congress in January 2011, and was succeeded by Dan Benishek, a Republican from the Upper Peninsula. Stupak is now a lobbyist with Venable LLP.
Early life, education and career
Stupak was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and graduated from Gladstone High School in Gladstone, Michigan in 1970. He is an Eagle Scout. He earned his Associate's degree from Northwestern Michigan College, a community college in Traverse City in 1972. He earned his bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Saginaw Valley State University in 1977, graduating magna cum laude, and he earned a J.D. degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan in 1981. He worked as an Escanaba police officer in 1972. Stupak later served as a Michigan State Police Trooper from 1973 to 1984 and as a member of C-Street while in Congress. He also practiced law.
In 1988, Stupak was elected a Michigan State Representative, representing Menominee, Delta, and Dickinson counties, defeating two-term Republican Jim Connors. In 1990, Stupak ran for state senator but lost a hotly contested primary to eventual general election winner Don Koivisto.
In 1992, Stupak ran for the House of Representatives in the 1st District, covering the Upper Peninsula and the northernmost swath of the Lower Peninsula. The district had previously been the 11th, represented by retiring seven-term incumbent Republican Robert William Davis. Stupak won the heavily contested Democratic primary, and defeated Republican Philip Ruppe, Davis' predecessor, in the general election. He was the first Democrat to represent this district since 1967, and only the third Democrat to win it in the 20th century. He 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.
Stupak defeated Republican Don Hooper of Iron River in the 2002, 2004 and 2006 elections, and Republican Tom Casperson in 2008 elections.
On April 9, 2010, Stupak announced that he would not run for re-election, and that he would retire from Congress at the end of his then-current term.
Electric utilities and health care professionals were among the top four industries contributing to his campaigns in 2006, 2008 and 2010. Of his top 20 largest contributors throughout his political career, 16 were unions and associations, two were energy companies, one was an insurance company and one was a telecommunications firm.
Committee on Energy and Commerce
Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection
Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation (Chair)
Founder and co-chair of the Law Enforcement Caucus
Co-chair of the Congressional Northern Border Caucus
Member, Congressional Motorcycle Safety Caucus
During his service in Congress, Stupak sponsored 36 bills, but none became law. He cosponsored 157 bills, 5 of which were enacted into law. He voted with the members of his party 96% of the time, and abstained from 5% of the votes. Because of the 1st District's extensive length of Great Lakes shoreline (over 1,600 miles), Stupak was very active on issues related to the protection of the Great Lakes, including opposing sale or diversion of Great Lakes water and drilling for oil and gas under the lakes.
In 2009, Stupak voted against the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which expanded Federal regulation and oversight of the U.S. financial system in the aftermath of the U.S. financial and banking crisis of that year.