Mark Udall


Mark Emery Udall is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Colorado from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States House of Representatives, representing. Before being elected to Congress, he represented parts of Boulder, Colorado, in the Colorado House of Representatives.
Throughout his career, he has proposed legislation to support renewable energy, expand national parks, and protect natural resources. Born in Tucson, Arizona, he is the son of former U.S. Representative Mo Udall and the nephew of former U.S. Representative Stewart Udall. A member of the Udall family, a western American political family, his relatives include New Mexico's Tom Udall and Utah's Mike Lee. Udall ran for reelection in 2014 to a second term in the U.S. Senate, but was narrowly defeated by Republican challenger Cory Gardner.

Early life and education

Mark Udall was born in Tucson, Arizona, to Patricia J. and Morris "Mo" Udall, the U.S. representative for from 1961 to 1991, and candidate for the 1976 Democratic nomination for President. Udall attended and graduated from Canyon del Oro High School in 1968, where he was elected student body president. Udall won the Arizona State Golf Championship Boy's division in 1968.
Udall later graduated from Williams College in 1972 with a Bachelor of Arts in American civilization. In 1976 Udall worked as a field coordinator for his father's campaign to win the Democratic nomination against Jimmy Carter.
After college, Udall moved to Colorado and began his career with Outward Bound, a non-profit outdoor education organization. For ten years Udall worked as a course instructor, in which he would bring patrons on outdoor expeditions. During his career in Outdoor Adventure Education he also was an instructor at DoDDS's Project Bold, located at the Hinterbrand Lodge in Berchtesgaden, Germany. Afterward, Udall served as Outward Bound's Executive Director for ten years, after which Udall decided to retire, completing his twenty-year career with Outward Bound.

Colorado House of Representatives

In 1996, Udall was encouraged to run for the Colorado House of Representatives by Peggy Lamm of the 13th district, who had decided to retire. After running a grassroots campaign in the swing district, Udall narrowly defeated Republican Drew Bolin to represent the Longmont and Boulder district. During his two years in office, Udall served on the Judiciary and Agriculture Livestock & Natural Resources Committees.
While in the Colorado House, Udall proposed legislation titled "Renewable Electricity Standard." It would have required at least 10% of energy consumed in Colorado to be provided by renewable sources rather than fossil fuels. The bill died in committee. Udall chose not to run for re-election, instead decided to run for the United States Congress. He was succeeded by fellow Democrat, Tom Plant.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

After one term in the Colorado House of Representatives, Udall opted to run for Colorado's 2nd congressional district, which was being vacated by incumbent David Skaggs. In the primary, Udall had three opponents: Gene Nichol, Paul Weissmann, and Dave Thomas. He won with 44% of the vote, defeating his closest opponent Nichol by 7 percentage points. He faced the Republican nominee, Boulder, Colorado Mayor Bob Greenlee in the general election. The race was unexpectedly close, with Udall narrowly winning, 49% to 47%. Udall was consecutively elected to five terms in the House, without major opposition. He was eventually succeeded by Jared Polis, after he decided to run for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Wayne Allard.

U.S. Senate

Elections

;2004
In 2004, Udall announced his candidacy for the Senate seat which was being vacated by Ben Nighthorse Campbell. However, the following day, Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar announced his candidacy as well. Udall bowed out of the race and endorsed Salazar.
;2008
On January 15, 2007, incumbent Senator Wayne Allard announced he would not run for a third term. In April 2007, Udall announced his campaign for the Senate. Udall became the Democratic nominee for the race after running unopposed in the primary. In the general election, Udall faced former U.S. Representative Republican Bob Schaffer. By August 28, 2008, over $10 million had been spent on attack ads against Udall by political parties and political action committees, an amount higher than in any other Senate race that year.
The race was especially competitive, with Democrats wanting to expand their majority as much as possible due to that year's presidential election. While both CQ Politics and The Rothenberg Political Report estimated Udall would win, and The Cook Political Report considered it a 'Toss Up,' Udall maintained a steady lead in the polls, but with neither candidate usually topping 50%. Udall described the race as "the toughest climb I've ever taken." On November 4, Udall won the election by 240,265 votes.
;2014
On January 7, 2013, Udall announced he was running for re-election. Udall was unopposed in the Democratic primary, and faced Republican U.S. Representative Cory Gardner in the general election. Although Udall was heavily favored in early polls, around September, Gardner gained and held a steady lead thereafter.
Udall's re-election campaign focused on reproductive and women's rights. Throughout, Udall attacked Gardner for his former support of a fetal personhood initiative, and claimed in ads that Gardner "championed an eight-year crusade to outlaw birth control here in Colorado." PolitiFact.com rated his claim "half-true," saying that it "leaves out important details." On MSNBC's The Last Word, Alex Wagner attributed Udall's trailing poll numbers to his "focus on reproductive rights." Due to his campaign's emphasis on these issues, Udall was ridiculed as "Mark Uterus." In an October 2014 Denver Post endorsement of his opponent, the editorial board stated that "Udall's campaign has devoted a shocking amount of energy and money trying to convince voters that Gardner seeks to outlaw birth control despite the congressman's call for over-the-counter sales of contraceptives. Udall is trying to frighten voters rather than inspire them with a hopeful vision."
Towards the end of his campaign, Udall was accompanied by Second Lady of the United States Jill Biden, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In July 2014, President Barack Obama headlined a fundraiser for Udall's campaign. Udall lost the election.

Senate tenure

Less than one month after Udall took office in the Senate, newly elected President Obama nominated senior Colorado Senator Ken Salazar to serve as his Secretary of the Interior. After his confirmation, Udall became the Senate's most junior senior Senator.

Committee assignments

Abortion

The National Right to Life Committee gave Udall a 0% rating for abortion rights, while his opponent in 2014, Cory Gardner, received a 100% rating.

Agriculture

In February 2014, Udall voted for the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013, a $1 trillion bill that ended direct payments to farmers but expanded crop insurance by $7 billion over the next decade, created new subsidies for rice and peanut growers that will kick in if or when prices drop, and cut food stamp subsidies for 1.7 million people in 15 states.
In 2011, Udall and Senator Susan Collins successfully introduced an amendment to the Senate's agriculture appropriations bill. The amendment to the appropriations bill removed a limit placed on potatoes in the Department of Agriculture's new school nutrition guidelines.

Campaign finance reform

Udall is a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One, a bipartisan organization dedicated to reducing the influence of money in politics.

Cannabis

Although Senator to the first state to legalize the recreational sale of marijuana, Udall took no official stance on Colorado Amendment 64 during its campaign. After Amendment 64 and Washington state's similar initiative passed in 2012, Udall and the Senate delegations from Washington addressed a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, imploring them to "let this experiment unfold," as Udall characterized it.

Domestic security

Udall has opposed the National Security Agency's mass surveillance programs. Following the revelation of the NSA's mass surveillance of Americans, Udall has been an advocate for reform. Udall, along with Senators Ron Wyden and Rand Paul, published an Op-ed in the Los Angeles Times expressing their collective desire to "end the dragnet — and to affirm that we can keep our nation secure without trampling on and abandoning Americans' constitutional rights." Udall expressed his support for Edward Snowden to return to America to "make his case." After reports that the Central Intelligence Agency improperly spied on U.S. Senators, Udall called for the resignation of Agency Director John O. Brennan.
After the September 11 attacks, the one-term Representative Udall was one of 66 House members to vote against the Patriot Act. In 2011, Udall voted against reauthorizing the Patriot Act. In July 2014, Udall voted against the CISPA bill, a proposed law that would allow for the sharing of Internet traffic information between the U.S. government and technology and manufacturing companies, voicing his concerns that it "lacks adequate protections for the privacy rights."
During the 2011 debate over the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, Udall introduced an amendment to end the practice of military detention of American citizens indefinitely and without trial. In response to the amendment's introduction, the Barack Obama administration threatened to veto the bill. The amendment was rejected by a vote of 60–38. Udall subsequently voted for the Act in the joint session of Congress that passed it, and though he remained "extremely troubled" by the detainee provisions, he promised to "push Congress to conduct the maximum amount of oversight possible."
Udall has supported PRISM, a clandestine anti-terrorism mass electronic surveillance data mining program launched in 2007 by the National Security Agency ; however, he has also expressed support for introduction of measures to reform and limit the scope of the Patriot Act; 'The Patriot Act should be reformed so Americans' phone records do not get indiscriminately swept up in a federal government database.'