Senator Chris Coons has built a reputation for himself as a pragmatic legislator who strives to provide credible and effective representation to his constituents to justify the trust his people place in him. Although he is a Democrat, Senator Coons is trying to find bipartisan ways to legislate and find common ground in a US Senate. Indeed, the House is divided into two ideologies (Democrat and Republican) which are still deadlocked on some key political issues such as taxes, health care, immigration, foreign policy, etc.
Since joining the US Senate in 2010, he has positioned himself as an advocate for jobs, social justice and a progressive foreign policy, among other things. This allowed him to serve on Senate committees such as the Budget, Foreign Relations, Appropriations, and Judiciary Committees.
Senator Chris Coons – Who is he?
Senator Chris Coons is a junior United States of America senator representing the good people of Delaware. The two-term senator is a Democrat and was elected on the Democratic Party platform in 2010. He was re-elected in 2014 and currently serves in the United States Senate. Coons is a lawyer and foreign policy expert as well as a religious scholar. He is married to Annie Lingenfelter and they have three adorable children, Michael, Jack and Maggie.
Chris Coons hails from Greenwich, Connecticut, where he was born, however, he was raised in Hockessin, Delaware. Born on September 9, 1963, Christopher Andrew Coons was called Coons, and his parents were Kenelm Winslow Coons, a food industry worker and Sarah Louise Ives, an educator. He is American in regards to his nationality and his ancestry is mixed – Irish and English.
For her education, Coons attended Tower Hill School in Wilmington, Delaware, after graduating from HB DuPont Middle School (and Yorklyn Elementary School before). He would go on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and Political Science from Amherst College. In college, he ran a program in Africa at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. Additionally, Coons enrolled in Yale Divinity School and Yale Law School where he earned a master’s degree in ethics and a law degree in 1992 respectively.
Career – Before Politics
Although best known as a U.S. Senator, ChrisCoons clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for Judge Jane Richards Roth. He also worked as a member of the legal staff of the Delaware-based manufacturing company WL Gore & Associates, Inc. between 1996 and 2004. Coons has also worked for several foundations, including the South African Council of Churches , the National Coalition for the Homeless, the “I Have a Dream” Foundation, among others.
Politics
Senator Chris Coons’ first streak in politics was as a Republican. This was evident when, in 1980, at the age of 17, the young Coons volunteered to participate in Ronald Reagan’s election campaign for President of the United States and in place of Bill Roth in 1982. , when he ran for the U.S. Senate. However, in Kenya he became a Democrat.
He ran for his first elective office in 2000 when he sought election to New Castle County Council. He won the seat and after his first term in 2004 was elected to the county executive. After Senator Joe Biden resigned as Vice President (Delaware) in 2009 after winning the 2008 US presidential election with Senator Barack Obama, Senator Chris Coons won a special election held in 2010 to fill the seat filled by Ted Kaufman).
He won with more than 16% of the votes castThe Republican challenger, Christine O’Donnell. He was also re-elected in 2014 after the end of his first term (which had passed two years before he took office). He again defeated Republican Party candidate, businessman Kevin Wade, to retain his seat.
Family
Senator Chris Coons is a family man. He has a wife named Annie Lingenfelter who he married in 1996. Details of their relationship or marriage are not known. However, their marriage was blessed with three children: Mike and Jack who are twins and a daughter, Maggie. There is no record of his divorce at any time, and from what we can find, his marriage to Annie is his first time down the aisle.
Legacies of Senator Chris Coons
Since coming to the Senate, he has touted the Senate Caucus Caucus as a platform through which chicken farmers in the country could connect with the US Senate; and the Victims of Child Abuse Bill, which would protect and assist abused children.
In 2018, Senator Chris Coons worked with Senators Lindsey Graham, Thom Tillis and Cory Booker to sponsor the Special Advocates Independence and Integrity Act bill. It was born out of fear that President Donald Trump could fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who was charged with investigating Russian-American collusion in the 2016 US election.
The bill states that if a special counsel is appointed and fired by the president, a judicial committee must review the dismissal within 10 days to determine whether it is justifiable or not. And if he was deemed unworthy of the axe, the special counsel would be reinstated.