Pat Roberts

Pat Roberts (born April 20, 1936, Topeka, Kansas, U.S.) is an American politician who was elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 1996 and began his first term representing Kansas in that body the following year. He previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1981–97).

Roberts’s family was involved in journalism and politics; his father served as chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1953, and his great-grandfather founded a newspaper in the territorial era. Roberts attended Kansas State University in Manhattan, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1958. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps that year, leaving in 1962 with the rank of captain. He subsequently moved to Arizona and worked as a reporter and editor for several newspapers. He returned to Kansas in 1967 to become an aide to U.S. Sen. Frank Carlson, and the following year he began working for U.S. Rep. Keith Sebelius (who would later become father-in-law to Kathleen Sebelius, governor of Kansas in 2003–09 and U.S. secretary of health and human services in 2009–14). In 1969 Roberts married, and he and his wife, Franki, had three children.

When Sebelius announced his retirement in 1980, Roberts ran for his seat, easily winning in the predominantly Republican 1st congressional district. After taking office the following year, he generally pursued conservative policies, especially in social issues; he was a vocal opponent of abortion and same-sex marriage. Roberts was reelected seven times. In 1996 he successfully ran for the Senate seat vacated by Nancy Kassebaum. As a senator, Roberts notably voted (2002) for the use of military force against Iraq and typically backed military spending. From 2003 to 2007 he served as chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He later opposed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010) and a number of other Democratic initiatives during the administration of Pres. Barack Obama. In 2014 Roberts faced the toughest reelection bid of his career, overcoming a surprisingly strong challenge in the primary before winning his closest general election.

In 2017 Republican Donald Trump became president, and Roberts helped advance a number of his policies. He notably played a key role in the passage of a massive tax-reform bill in December. In 2019 Roberts announced that he would not run for a fifth term the following year.