Richard Joseph Durbin is an American politician serving as the senior United States Senator from Illinois since 1997. He has been the Assistant Democratic Leader, the second-highest position in the Democratic Party leadership in the Senate, since 2005, serving as Minority Whip from 2005 to 2007, Majority Whip from 2007 to 2015, and Minority Whip again since 2015.
Durbin was born in East St. Louis, Illinois. He graduated from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and Georgetown University Law Center. Working in state legal counsel throughout the 1970s, he made an unsuccessful run for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois in 1978. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, representing the Springfield-based 20th congressional district. In 1996, he won election to the U.S. Senate by an unexpected 15-point margin. He has served as Senate Democratic Whip since 2005, and for a period of eight years served as the Senate Majority Whip. He is currently dean of the Illinois congressional delegation, as he has served in Congress since 1983 as a U.S. Representative from Illinois 20th Congressional District, and from 1997 as a U.S. Senator from Illinois.
Durbin now serves as the Senate Minority Whip following the 2014 midterm election, where the Republicans gained a majority in the U.S. Senate and when he won reelection, beating his Republican opponent, Jim Oberweis, by a margin of 53.55% to 42.69%.
Interview by Bill Moyers, Bill Moyers Journal, PBS, May 8, 2009. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05082009/transcript1.html
Interview by Bill Moyers, Bill Moyers Journal, PBS, May 8, 2009. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05082009/transcript1.html
