Sam Brownback

He represented Kansas's 2nd congressional district for a single term before running in a 1996 special election for the U.S. Senate seat previously held by Bob Dole.

[11] In the run-up to the 2014 gubernatorial election, over 100 former and current Kansas Republican officials criticized Brownback's leadership and endorsed his Democratic opponent, Paul Davis.

[25] After graduating from Prairie View High School, Brownback attended Kansas State University,[26] where was elected student body president and became a member of the Alpha Gamma Rho agricultural fraternity.

After graduating from college in 1978 with a degree in Agricultural Economics in 1978,[27] he spent about a year working as a radio broadcaster for the now-defunct KSAC farm department, hosting a weekly half-hour show.

He objected to her joining the bench solely because she attended a same-sex commitment ceremony in Massachusetts in 2002 that involved a next-door neighbor who was a close childhood friend of Neff's daughters.

[49] The letter had targeted five senators for being both Catholic and pro-choice: Maria Cantwell, John Kerry, Robert Menendez, Barbara Mikulski, and Patty Murray.

[63] Fundraising and visits to his website declined dramatically after this event, as many supporters had predicted Brownback would do much better,[64] and speculation began that the candidate was considering withdrawing from the campaign.

Governor Jeff Colyer, unearthed and publicized a 1998 police report showing that Davis, 26 and unmarried at the time, had been briefly detained during the raid of a strip club.

Media law experts expressed amazement when they learned that the Montgomery County's sheriff released non-public investigative files from 1998 in response to a mere request.

Consistent with those objectives, he also proposed structural reforms to the state's largest budget items, school finance,[101] Medicaid,[102] and Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS), which have unfunded liabilities of $8.3 billion.

Critics of the tax cuts included Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times, the editorial board of The Washington Post, The New Republic, and Bloomberg Businessweek.

[16]—Heidi Holliday, executive director of the Kansas Center for Economic Growth 2017 In April 2014, Brownback signed a controversial school finance bill that eliminated mandatory due process hearings, which were previously required to fire experienced teachers.

[148] In May 2011, Brownback approved a bill prohibiting insurance companies from offering abortion coverage as part of general health plans unless the procedure is necessary to save a woman's life.

The law also prohibits any health-insurance exchange in Kansas established under the federal Affordable Care Act from offering coverage for abortions other than to save a woman's life.

[153] In May 2012, Brownback signed the Health Care Rights of Conscience Act, which "will allow pharmacists to refuse to provide drugs they believe might cause an abortion".

[159] Brownback's participation in the rally resulted in some controversy, and editorials published in The Winfield Daily Courier and The Kansas City Star expressed disappointment.

[174] Arizona Republican representative Paul Gosar and five other congressmen invited Robinson to speak to United States Congress on November 14, 2018, on a trip sponsored by the U.S.-based, Middle East Forum.

[180] On July 13, 2020, Brownback, along with three other U.S. politicians, was sanctioned by the Chinese government for "interfering in China’s internal affairs" through their condemnation of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

[183] In the 2017 International Religious Freedom Report, the State Department described the violence against the Rohingya that forced an estimated 688,000 people to flee Myanmar as "ethnic cleansing.

"[194] In a speech on the Senate Judiciary Committee, he questioned the current use of the death penalty as potentially incongruent with the notion of a "culture of life", and suggested it be employed in a more limited fashion.

[195] Brownback visited refugee camps in Sudan in 2004 and returned to write a resolution labeling the Darfur conflict as genocide, and has been active on attempting to increase U.S. efforts to resolve the situation short of military intervention.

[201]Brownback spoke out against the denial of tenure at Iowa State University to astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez, a proponent of intelligent design, saying "such an assault on academic freedom does not bode well for the advancement of true science.

Brownback was cosponsor of a 2005 bill of Ted Kennedy and John McCain's which would have created a legal path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants already present.

Representative Jim Ward from Wichita called Brownback's announcement "a distraction", intended solely for political purposes, as Kansas faced a $290 million budget deficit.

[220] In October 2007, Brownback announced his support for a plan designed by Benny Elon, then-chairman of Israel's far-right-wing National Union/National Religious Party (NU/NRP) alliance.

The plan calls for the complete annexation of the West Bank by Israel, and the deportation of its massive majority Arab population to a new Palestinian state to be created within present-day Jordan, against that latter country's historic opposition.

[46] In April 2011, Brownback began work on a Kansas government program to promote marriage, in part through grants to faith-based and secular social service organizations.

[251][252][253][254][255] In February 2012, the Brownback administration supported a religious freedom bill that would have stopped cities, school districts, universities, and executive agencies from having nondiscrimination laws or policies that covered sexual orientation or gender identity.

[262][263][264] On February 10, 2015, Brownback issued an executive order rescinding protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender state workers that was put into place by then-Gov.

[277] On April 24, 2024, Brownback called for sanctions against Azerbaijan and that the United States "can’t let a repeat of 1915 happen again on our watch" at an Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day rally in front of the White House.

Senators Brownback and Feinstein in 2003, shown with Angelina Jolie , the Goodwill Ambassador for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , call for bipartisan legislation to reform the treatment of unaccompanied alien minors.
Senator Brownback officially opening his Iowa campaign headquarters in West Des Moines, IA
Brownback discusses science and religion in American politics in October 2007, during his presidential run. [ 62 ]
Brownback and 1st Infantry Division Commanding General present a medallion to a child whose father died serving in Iraq .
Sam Brownback speaking at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland on February 27, 2015
Brownback speaks at the Holocaust Museum in 2018
Brownback speaks at the State Department in 2019
Ambassador Brownback with President Donald Trump and several 'survivors of religious persecution' including Nadia Murad on July 17, 2019
Brownback at the Kansas Soybean Expo 2014
Brownback posing with U.S. Marines in Iraq
Brownback at the December 2007 AIPAC Policy Conference
Governor Sam Brownback makes remarks at a ground breaking ceremony at McConnell Air Force Base .
Brownback with his wife, Mary, during his tenure in the US Senate