Pat Toomey
Patrick Joseph Toomey Jr. is an American businessman and politician who served as a United States senator from Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he served three terms as the U.S. representative for, from 1999 to 2005.
Of mixed Irish Catholic and Azorean descent, Toomey graduated from Harvard College. A former Wall Street banker, Toomey narrowly lost the Republican primary for United States Senate in 2004. From 2005 to 2009, he served as president of the Club for Growth. Toomey won the Republican primary for the 2010 U.S. Senate election in Pennsylvania, and was elected to the seat after defeating the Democratic nominee, former U.S. Navy three-star admiral and congressman Joe Sestak, in the general election. He was reelected to the Senate in 2016, defeating Democratic nominee Katie McGinty.
On October 5, 2020, Toomey announced that he would not run for reelection to a third Senate term in 2022. On February 13, 2021, Toomey was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Donald Trump of incitement of insurrection in his second impeachment trial. After leaving office, Toomey joined the board of Apollo Global Management.
Early life and education
Toomey was born on November 17, 1961, in Providence, Rhode Island, the third of six children of Catholic parents, Mary Ann of East Providence and Patrick Joseph Toomey of Providence. His father was of Irish descent and his mother of Portuguese ancestry. His mother's grandparents were all born in the Azores. His father was a union worker who laid cable for the Narragansett Electric Company, and his mother worked as a part-time secretary at St. Martha's Catholic Church.Toomey was a member of the Boy Scouts of America and attained the organization's highest rank, Eagle Scout. He attended La Salle Academy on a scholarship, where he participated in the Close Up Washington civic education program and graduated as valedictorian. He then attended Harvard College, where he graduated with a B.A. in government in 1984.
Early career
After graduation, Toomey was hired by Chemical Bank, where he was involved in currency swap transactions. In 1986, he was hired by Morgan, Grenfell & Co., where he dealt in multiple foreign currencies, interest rates, and currency-related derivatives.In 1991, Toomey resigned from Morgan, Grenfell after it was acquired by Deutsche Bank. He later said he resigned out of concern that Deutsche Bank would impose a less flexible and entrepreneurial work environment. The same year, Toomey and two younger brothers, Steven and Michael opened Rookie's Restaurant in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
In 1994, Toomey was elected to Allentown's newly established Government Study Commission. During his term, he drafted a new charter for the commission requiring a supermajority for any tax increase and established a split-roll tax system that levied taxes on land at higher rate than taxes on buildings. Allentown voters approved the charter on April 23, 1996.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
;1998In 1998, Toomey ran for the Pennsylvania's 15th congressional district, based in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, after Democratic incumbent U.S. Representative Paul McHale decided to retire. Toomey won the six-candidate Republican primary with 27% of the vote.
In the general election, Toomey faced state Senator Roy Afflerbach, a former Pennsylvania State Representative. During the campaign, Toomey criticized the agenda of the Clinton-Gore administration, especially its plans to modify the Internal Revenue Service. He said the plan did not "address the real fundamental problems plaguing American taxpayers" and said the IRS should be abolished.
Later in the campaign, Toomey and Afflerbach debated the effectiveness of a flat tax-based system, an issue on which they sharply disagreed. Toomey promised to serve no more than three terms if elected. He defeated Afflerbach, 55%–45%.
;2000
Toomey was reelected to a second term, defeating Ed O'Brien, president of the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based United Steelworkers Local 2598, 53%–47%. He won Lehigh County with 54% and Northampton County with 51%.
;2002
Toomey was reelected to a third term, defeating O'Brien again, 57%–43%. He won Lehigh County with 58% and Northampton County, with 54%.
;2004
In accordance with his 1998 pledge not to serve more than three terms in the House, Toomey did not run for reelection in 2004. He decided to challenge incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Arlen Specter in the primary instead. He lost the primary by a narrow margin.
Tenure
Toomey served as the U.S. Representative for from 1999 to 2005. In the House, he distinguished himself as a fiscal expert. He pushed to decrease government spending and to set aside money for debt reduction.In 2001, Toomey proposed a budget that would cut taxes worth $2.2 trillion over ten years, exceeding Bush's $1.6 trillion plan.
In 2002, Toomey voted in favor of the Iraq Resolution which authorized military action against Iraq.
Toomey strongly opposed Bush's plan for comprehensive immigration reform, saying "I think it's a slap in the face for the millions of people throughout the world who decide to take the effort to legally enter our country." He was a longtime supporter of creating Medicare Part D, but said he would not vote for it unless it lowered costs and guaranteed competition between government and private insurers.
In January 1999, Toomey was named to the House Budget Committee.
U.S. Senate
Elections
2004
In 2004, Toomey challenged longtime incumbent Senator Arlen Specter in the Republican primary election. His campaign was aided by $2 million of advertising from the Club for Growth. Toomey's election campaign theme was that Specter was not a conservative, especially on fiscal issues. Most of the state's Republican establishment including Pennsylvania's other U.S. Senator, Rick Santorum, and President George W. Bush supported Specter. Specter won by 1.6 percentage points, about 17,000 votes out of over one million cast.2010
On April 15, 2009, Toomey announced his intention to again challenge Specter in the 2010 Republican primary.On April 28, 2009, Specter announced he would switch parties and run as a Democrat, after polls showed him losing to Toomey in the primary. Specter's withdrawal left Toomey as the front-runner for the 2010 Republican nomination. Both primaries were held on May 18, 2010.
Toomey defeated Peg Luksik in the Republican primary, 81%–19%, and Specter lost the Democratic primary, 54%–46% to U.S. Representative Joe Sestak of Delaware County. The general election was spiteful and cost over $50 million including spending by the candidates, political parties, and outside groups. Toomey won 51%–49%, carrying most of the state's counties.
2016
Toomey ran for reelection to the Senate in 2016. He was endorsed by the Club for Growth. He was unopposed in the Republican primary and won the general election with 48.9% of the vote, to Democratic nominee Katie McGinty's 47.2% and Libertarian challenger Ed Clifford's 3.85%.Tenure
Toomey was the first Lehigh Valley resident to serve as Senator from Pennsylvania since Richard Brodhead in the mid-19th century. He was elected to the United States Senate on November 2, 2010, and his term began on January 3, 2011. He joined the Congressional Hispanic Conference, a caucus of which he was an original member in his days in the House.On August 11, 2011, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell named Toomey to the United States Congress Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. The committee's duties included composing a package of spending cuts for submission to both Houses of Congress.
On April 26, 2012, Toomey was selected to chair the United States Senate Steering Committee, a caucus of several Republican senators who collaborate on legislation. He succeeded Senator Jim DeMint, who had previously expressed his intention to transfer the committee's chairmanship to a member of the Republican 2010 Senate class.
On October 6, 2018, Toomey was one of 50 senators to vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Toomey and Senator Bob Casey disagreed on how evidence of sexual assault against Kavanaugh should be handled.
Some activists have criticized Toomey for not meeting frequently enough with his constituents, including never having held an in-person town hall in Philadelphia despite having held at least 47 "teleconference town-hall meetings" with his constituents. These "teleconference town-hall meetings" could have as many as 10,000 people on a single call, and when he has held in-person town-hall meetings Toomey has been accused of having selected the audience.
In February 2019, Toomey was one of 16 senators to vote against legislation preventing a partial government shutdown and containing $1.375 billion for barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border which included 55 miles of fencing.
In March 2019, Toomey was one of 12 Republican senators to cosponsor a resolution that would impose a constitutional amendment limiting the Supreme Court to nine justices. The resolution was introduced after multiple Democratic presidential candidates expressed openness to the idea of expanding the Supreme Court.
On June 5, 2019, Toomey recognized the 20th Anniversary of the SMART Congressional Initiative.
On April 17, 2020, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appointed Toomey to the COVID-19 Congressional Oversight Commission to oversee the implementation of the CARES Act.
On October 4, 2020, Toomey was reported to be retiring at the conclusion of his term, forgoing a reelection campaign or a run for governor in 2022. He confirmed the report the next day.
Committee assignments
- Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
- *Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection
- *Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
- *Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment
- Committee on the Budget
- Committee on Finance
- Joint Economic Committee
- Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction