Baron Hill

Baron Hill is a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the 9th Congressional District of Indiana. He was first elected in 1998 for three terms, then reelected in 2006 and 2008. A businessman, he was first elected to the Indiana House of Representatives in 1982 and served there for eight years, leaving in 1990 to attempt a bid for the U.S. Senate. In 1992, he was appointed Executive Director of the Indiana State Student Assistance Commission by then-governor Evan Bayh.

Rep.. Hill has a B.A. degree in History from Furman University, 1975.

Committee assignments

• House Energy and Commerce Committee
• House Science and Technology Committee
• Joint Economic Committee

Caucuses and groups

• Congressional Rural Healthcare Coalition
• Blue Dog Coalition, Co-Chair for Policy

Issues

He was a participant in the 2009 White House Forum on Health Reform and voted for both the November 2009 and final March 2010 House healthcare bills.

Voting ratings

Organization	Rating	Date
AFL-CIO
American Civil Liberties Union	64%
American Conservative Union
Americans for Democratic Action
Cato Institute	39%
Christian Coalition	53%
Human Rights Campaign
League of Conservation Voters
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
NARAL	30%
National Rifle Association	A
National Right to Life Committee
National Taxpayers Union	29%
U.S. Chamber of Commerce	53%

Sources: Links to the voting ratings guides of the above organizations together with brief descriptive information on the organizations themselves, may be found at: http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Interest_group/Catalogs

2008 Election

Candidate	Party	Vote total	Percentage
Baron Hill	Democrat	181,281	57.77%
Mike Sodrell	Republican	120,529	38.41%
D. Eric Schansberg	Libertarian	11,994	3.82%

Source: Federal Election Results - final official tally

2010 Elections

While it had been speculated that Rep. Hill would run for the retiring Bayh's Senate seat, he announced he would stand for reelection, and endorsed Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-Indiana) for Senate. Commenting on Bayh's explanation that he retired in frustration, Hill said,

Evan has been a devoted public servant to Hoosiers and a fellow companion in pushing for Congress to curb its reckless spending. And while I agree with him that the partisanship in Washington is alarming, to reference my athletic past, I opt to stay in the game and continue to serve as an independent voice for my southern Indiana constituents.