John Olver

John Olver (2011)

John Walter Olver (* 3. September 1936 in Honesdale , Wayne County , Pennsylvania ) is an American politician of the Democratic Party . He represented the state of Massachusetts in the US House of Representatives from 1991 to 2013 .

Life

After graduating from school, John Olver first studied at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy , where he earned his bachelor's degree at the age of 18 . This was followed by a master’s degree from Tufts University and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He later taught chemistry at the Franklin Technical Institute in Boston , MIT, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst . Olver has lived in Amherst since 1963 with his wife Rose, a college professor .

politics

The Democrat Olver first served two terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives between 1969 and 1973 and was a member of the State Senate until 1991. On February 18 of this year, Silvio O. Conte , who had represented the 1st  Congressional constituency of Massachusetts as a Republican in Washington since 1959 , died shortly after beginning his 17th term. Olver ran for the by-election against the Republican Steven Pierce and narrowly won, making him the first Democrat since 1895 to win this seat.

He also won the next regular election in 1992 and has been re-elected since then. The 1st constituency, which was previously assigned to the Republicans and which, in addition to cities such as Pittsfield and Fitchburg , mainly includes rural areas in the west of the state, is now a stronghold of the Democrats. In 1994 , the year of the Republican Revolution , not even an opponent was put up. Only in 1996 was the election a little tighter when Jane Swift ran for the Republicans. Most recently, Olver was confirmed in 2010 with 60 percent of the vote.

In the November 2012 elections, Olver did not run for re-election, which is related to the fact that after the United States Census 2010, a congressional constituency in Massachusetts fell away. On January 3, 2013, Olver resigned from Congress.

Political positions

Olver has repeatedly expressed criticism of the United States' reluctant engagement in the Darfur conflict . He was one of five congressmen who protested against the regime of the African state in front of the Sudanese embassy on April 28, 2006 and was therefore temporarily taken into custody; they also included Tom Lantos , Sheila Jackson Lee , Jim McGovern and Jim Moran .

After the 2004 presidential election , Olver was one of 31 Democratic members of the Congress who, due to irregularities, did not recognize the election result in Ohio . Before the 2008 presidential election , he was super delegate to the Democratic National Convention and supported the future President Barack Obama .

John Olver is considered a representative of the liberal wing of the Democrats. The American Civil Liberties Union , a liberal civil rights organization, gave him 95 percent approval in their rating of his voting behavior; in contrast, the American Conservative Union has a two percent match. He is a proponent of pro-choice policies when it comes to abortions .

Web links

Commons : John Olver  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Web presence at the congress
• John Olver in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)