Raymond H. LaHood (/ləˈhʊd/ lə-HOOD; born December 6, 1945) is an American politician who served as the 16th United States Secretary of Transportation from 2009 to 2013 under President Barack Obama.

In 2015, Seeking Bipartisanship: My Life in Politics, a book by Ray LaHood, coauthored with Frank H. Mackaman of The Dirksen Congressional Center, was published by Cambria Press.

[5] LaHood was director of the Rock Island County Youth Services Bureau and then district administrative assistant for U.S. representative Tom Railsback, a Moline, Illinois Republican, from 1977 to 1982.

[6] When Michel announced his retirement in 1994, LaHood ran for and won his seat in the House, representing Illinois's 18th congressional district.

[6] During his service in Congress, he became well known among C-SPAN viewers for frequently serving as Speaker Pro Tempore of the House, presiding over more debates than any other member.

[6] LaHood was said to be considering a challenge to Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich's re-election bid in 2006, but chose to run for another term in Congress instead.

[10] As a member of the House Appropriations Committee he won praise for his "skills as an arbiter" in being able to bridge sometimes bitter partisan divides in the Congress, something the position would require.

LaHood qualified his statement within an hour and a half of his testimony, spelling out that he meant "owners of any recalled Toyota models (should) contact their local dealer and get their vehicles fixed as soon as possible.

"[26] On December 6, 2011, LaHood accepted the resignation of FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, who was charged with drunk driving near his Washington home.

"America is one big pothole right now," LaHood said in an interview on The Diane Rehm Show on National Public Radio.

[27] He went on to mention that Congress passed a $105 billion surface transportation bill last year, but he lamented the fact that the measure only provided appropriations for road and transit projects until 2014.

President Obama nominated Anthony Foxx, the incumbent Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, to succeed LaHood.

[30] LaHood did not support Donald Trump in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 presidential elections, and endorsed the Democratic nominee Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024.

That section corresponds to much of what was contained in the major multi-year revision that was the Upgrade 74 project in the last decade (the 2000s) that LaHood had backed in the later years of his tenure in the U.S.

Merchant Marines, Shaun Donovan (Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development), and Janet Napolitano (Secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security), as well as his predecessor in Congress for Illinois's 18th congressional district, former U.S. House Minority Leader Robert Michel.

[41] On February 5, 2012, Egyptian authorities charged LaHood's son and 42 other individuals with "spending money from organizations that were operating in Egypt without a license."

[44] Sam LaHood was tried in absentia by an Egyptian criminal court, and convicted of operating without a license and receiving foreign funding.

LaHood failed to disclose this on two government ethics forms, and he also made misleading statements to the FBI when asked about the source of the check.