Jim Himes

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Jim Himes
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's 4th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 6, 2009
Preceded by	Chris Shays
Born	July 5, 1966 (1966-07-05) (age 42) Lima, Peru
Nationality	United States
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse	Mary Himes
Residence	Greenwich, Connecticut
Alma mater	Harvard University, Oxford University
Profession	financial executive
Religion	Presbyterian
Website	www.himesforcongress.com

James A. "Jim" Himes (born July 5, 1966) is an American businessman and politician. He is currently a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Connecticut's 4th congressional district since 2009. The district incorporates portions of Fairfield and New Haven counties in southwestern Connecticut, including the cities of Bridgeport and Stamford. He is the first Democrat to represent the district since Donald J. Irwin left office in 1969.

Himes defeated ten-term Republican incumbent Christopher Shays in the 2008 congressional election, winning by a margin of 51%-47%.^[1][2][3] His win made New England's House delegation entirely Democratic in the 111th Congress.

[edit] Early life, education, and family

Himes was born in Lima, Peru in 1966, and spent the first decade of his life in Latin America (Peru and Colombia). At the age of 10, he, his mother, and his two sisters returned to the United States, where Himes attended and graduated from Hopewell Valley Central High School in Pennington, New Jersey.

From 1984 to 1988, Himes attended Harvard University. He won a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University where he continued his studies of Latin America.

Himes currently lives in the Cos Cob section of Greenwich with his wife, Mary, and their two daughters. He is fluent in Spanish.^[4]

[edit] Career and community activism

In 1990, Himes began working at Goldman Sachs as a banker in Latin America and New York. He was eventually promoted to vice president. In 2003, Himes began working for the non-profit Enterprise Foundation (currently Enterprise Community Partners), and later began running their metropolitan New York operations. In 2007, he was named vice president of Enterprise.

Himes was appointed a Commissioner of the Greenwich Housing Authority in 2002, and served for two years as chairman of the board. He has also served as a board member of Aspira of Connecticut in Bridgeport, a board member of the Fairfield County Community Foundation, and as an advisory board member of Family Assets, LLC of Bridgeport. He is also a Member of Session of the First Presbyterian Church of Greenwich.^[4]

He is also an elected member of the Greenwich Board of Estimate and Taxation and serves as the Chairman of the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee.^[5]

[edit] 2008 U.S. Representative campaign

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Himes debates Shays at Fairfield University.

Himes declares victory after Shays concedes November 4, 2008 as Attorney General Rich Blumenthal looks on.

On April 19, 2007, Jim Himes officially announced his candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in Connecticut's 4th congressional district.^[6]

He received endorsements from the Fairfield Mirror,^[7] Working Families Party,^[8] DAPAC,^[9] Students for a New American Politics PAC,^[10] and Blue America PAC.^[11] As of the end of 2007, his campaign reportedly had the most cash on hand of any House challenger running against an incumbent nationwide.^[12] On May 4, 2008 Himes was endorsed by Diane Farrell, the 2004 and 2006 Democratic challenger to Christopher Shays.^[13]

On March 12, 2008, Himes was named to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "Red-to-Blue" program of targeted House challengers.^[14]

On the summer of 2008 the Himes campaign had an unexpected challenger. Lisa Lee Whitnum a very unknown Democrat from Greenwich, Connecticut who is a substitute teacher who billed herself on her Web site as the "average American woman." The former banker was also vice president of a community affordable housing organization. It was on June 19 when Lee Whitnum gained enough signatures to force a primary on August 12 2008. It was the first primary in the Connecticut's 4th congressional district since 1987. Political pundits and observers had written Lee Whitnum off because she did not have any organization or cash like Jim Himes. During the primary campaign Whitnum called Jim Himes a "cardboard" candidate who was well privileged. Himes also had the Democratic Party behind him and key endorsements early from people like Stamford, Connecticut mayor Dan Malloy, who expressed anger to Whitnum's views and comments on immigration and other issues. Himes said on August 11 a day before the primary “We’re taking this very seriously even though Whitnum has taken positions which can charitably be described as out of the mainstream.” The primary picked up some local media attention but on Election Day on August 12, 2008 a very low turnout of 4th district democrats showed up at the polls. Himes easily defeated Whitnum with about 90% of the vote. After the easy primary for the Himes camp, Jim Himes moved swiftly to build his general election campaign and focused on Christopher Shays.

The General Election between Jim Himes and Christopher Shays was followed by the national news media and it was a called a tossup because of the unpopularity of George W. Bush in the urban New England district. Despite this early polls showed it a dead heat or Shays ahead. Having been the Congressmen of the 4th district since 1987, Shays had very high name recognition and he had a longtime reputation as a moderate.

Himes was not well known at the beginning of the race, being a new face, unlike Shays who people were accustomed and knew well. As the summer progressed Shays started to pull away from Himes in the polls, however as Himes campaign kicked off this trend reversed. Himes painted Shays as George Bush and sent out mailers that placed them together in pictures. Unlike the 2006 campaign where war was the primary issue, this time it was the economy. It started immediately gained traction and Jim Himes made a campaign catch phrase out of it, quoting Shays saying "Our economy is fundamentally strong no one can disagree with that."^[15] Himes also linked himself with Barack Obama who was popular in the district, and his coattails in the district were very strong; he ended up winning it 60-40.[1] He sent mailers with them together in a picture and Obama even cut a radio ad for Himes. In the final weeks his campaign even released joint lawn signs with an Barack Obama logo and a Himes logo in a final push for Obama voters. It was predicted to be a very close election, with polling all tied with the margin of error.

On November 4, 2008, Himes defeated Shays by about 2500 votes. Although Himes only won three townships in the district, he swamped Shays in Bridgeport, winning a staggering 83 percent of the vote there.^[16] He was also helped by Barack Obama's massive win in that district.

Himes took office in the 111th United States Congress on January 6, 2009. He is the first Democrat to represent the district since 1969. With his win, New England's delegation in the House will be entirely Democratic for the first time in almost 150 years.

[edit] Congressional Career

[edit] See also

• Enterprise Community Partners

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Congressman Jim Himes official U.S. House website
• Jim Himes for U.S. Congress official campaign website

• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Congressional profile at GovTrack.us
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Jim Himes at the Open Directory Project