Warren Rudman, one of two Jewish Republican Senators elected in November, was sworn in today as New Hampshire’s junior U.S. Senator after Sen. John Durkin, a Democrat, resigned a week before the new Congress convenes Jan. 6. Rudman’s early induction into the Senate will probably put him 10 or 12 places higher on the Senate seniority list. He defeated Durkin with 52 percent of the vote in November.
The 50-year-old Rudman was born in New Hampshire and lived in Nashua most of his life. From 1970-76 he was Attorney General of New Hampshire. While serving in that capacity Rudman brought about the state’s first consumer protection act, one of the nation’s earliest. He supported the revisions in New Hampshire’s criminal laws and anti-trust statutes to protect New Hampshire’s environment.
Rudman refused campaign contributions from out-of-state political action committees to stress his commitment to give New Hampshire “a Senator we can call our own,” according to “First Monday,” the Republican National Committee’s publication.
The other new Jewish Senator elected in November was Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. There are four incumbent Jewish Senators, one Republican and three Democrats. Specter is the first Jewish Senator to be elected from Pennsylvania.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
