Pat Roberts

Pat Roberts
Roberts in 2015
United States Senator
from Kansas
In office
January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2021
Preceded byNancy Kassebaum
Succeeded byRoger Marshall
Chair of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee
In office
January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2021
Preceded byDebbie Stabenow
Succeeded byDebbie Stabenow
Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee
In office
January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2007
Preceded byBob Graham
Succeeded byJay Rockefeller
Chair of the Senate Ethics Committee
In office
January 20, 2001 – June 6, 2001
Preceded byHarry Reid
Succeeded byHarry Reid
In office
November 19, 1999 – January 3, 2001
Preceded byBob Smith
Succeeded byHarry Reid
Chair of the House Agriculture Committee
In office
January 3, 1995 – January 3, 1997
Preceded byKika de la Garza
Succeeded byRobert Smith
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Kansas's 1st district
In office
January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1997
Preceded byKeith Sebelius
Succeeded byJerry Moran
Personal details
Born
Charles Patrick Roberts

(1936-04-20) April 20, 1936 (age 88)
Topeka, Kansas, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Franki Fann
(m. 1969)
Children3
EducationKansas State University (BA)
WebsiteSenate website
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Marine Corps
Years of service1958–1962
Rank First Lieutenant

Charles Patrick Roberts (born April 20, 1936) is a retired American politician and journalist who served as a United States senator from Kansas from 1997 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Roberts served 8 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1981 to 1997, before his election to the Senate.

Born in Topeka, Kansas, Roberts is a graduate of Kansas State University. He served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps and worked as a newspaper reporter before entering politics in the late 1960s. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1980 to succeed 1st District Congressman Keith Sebelius, for whom he had worked. He served eight terms in the House, including one as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.

Roberts was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996. On the Intelligence Committee, he was responsible for an investigation into the intelligence failures prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He was the dean of Kansas's congressional delegation and Chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee (ANF). He is the first person to chair both the House and the Senate agriculture committees.[1]

On January 4, 2019, Roberts announced that he would not seek reelection in 2020.[2] He was succeeded by Representative Roger Marshall of Great Bend on January 3, 2021.

  1. ^ Berman, Russell (March 12, 2015). "The Senate: Trumping the House for Over 200 Years". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  2. ^ "Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts not to seek reelection". WashingtonPost.com. January 4, 2019.