Richard Shelby

Richard Shelby
Official portrait, 2011
United States Senator
from Alabama
In office
January 3, 1987 – January 3, 2023
Preceded byJeremiah Denton
Succeeded byKatie Britt
Committee chairmanships
Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee
In office
April 10, 2018 – February 3, 2021
Preceded byThad Cochran
Succeeded byPatrick Leahy
Chair of the Senate Rules Committee
In office
January 3, 2017 – April 10, 2018
Preceded byRoy Blunt
Succeeded byRoy Blunt
Chair of the Senate Banking Committee
In office
January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2017
Preceded byTim Johnson
Succeeded byMike Crapo
In office
January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2007
Preceded byPaul Sarbanes
Succeeded byChris Dodd
Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee
In office
January 20, 2001 – June 6, 2001
Preceded byBob Graham
Succeeded byBob Graham
In office
January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2001
Preceded byArlen Specter
Succeeded byBob Graham
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Alabama's 7th district
In office
January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1987
Preceded byWalter Flowers
Succeeded byClaude Harris Jr.
Member of the Alabama Senate
In office
November 4, 1970 – November 8, 1978
Preceded byE. W. Skidmore
Succeeded byJ. T. Waggoner
Constituency
Personal details
Born
Richard Craig Shelby

(1934-05-06) May 6, 1934 (age 90)
Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.
Political partyRepublican (after 1994)
Other political
affiliations
Democratic (until 1994)
Spouse
Annette Nevin
(m. 1960)
Children2
EducationUniversity of Alabama (BA, LLB)
Signature

Richard Craig Shelby (born May 6, 1934) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Alabama from 1987 to 2023. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 as a Democrat who later switched to the Republican Party in 1994, he chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee from 2018 to 2021. He previously chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Senate Banking Committee, and the Senate Rules Committee. He was the longest-serving U.S. senator from Alabama, surpassing John Sparkman's record in March 2019.[1]

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Shelby earned a law degree from the Birmingham School of Law in 1961. He went on to serve as city prosecutor from 1963 to 1971. During this period he earned an LL.B. from the University of Alabama School of Law (1963), worked as a U.S. magistrate for the Northern District of Alabama (1966–1970) and Special Assistant Attorney General of Alabama (1969–1971). He won a seat in the Alabama Senate in 1970. In 1978, he was elected from the 7th district to the United States House of Representatives, where he was among a group of conservative Democrats known as the boll weevils.

In 1986, Shelby won a tight race as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate. In 1994, the day after the Republican Revolution in which the GOP gained the majority in Congress midway through President Bill Clinton's first term, Shelby switched parties and became a Republican. He was reelected by a large margin in 1998, facing no significant electoral opposition thereafter. Apart from his narrow win as a Democrat in 1986, Shelby always won his Senate seat with more than 60% of the vote.

In February 2021, Shelby announced that he would not seek reelection in 2022.[2] Katie Britt, his former chief of staff, won the election to succeed him.[3] At the time of his retirement, he was the dean of Alabama's congressional delegation. Due to his party switch, Shelby is the last Democrat to have held or won election to Alabama's Class 3 Senate seat.

  1. ^ Thornton, William (March 3, 2019). "Richard Shelby now Alabama's longest-serving senator". AL.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2019. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  2. ^ Chandler, Kim (February 5, 2021). "AP Sources: Alabama Senator Has Indicated He Won't Run Again". The Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
  3. ^ Cason, Mike (November 9, 2022). "Katie Britt makes history as Alabama's 1st woman elected to U.S. Senate". al.com. Retrieved November 9, 2022.