Carl Levin

	Carl Levin
	U.S. Senate, Michigan
	Incumbent
	In office
	January 3, 1979-Present
	Term ends
	January 3, 2015
Years in position	34
Party	Democratic
Predecessor	Robert P. Griffin (R)
	Compensation
Base salary	$174,000/year
	Elections and appointments
Last election	November 4, 2008
First elected	November 7, 1978
Next election	November 4, 2014
Campaign $	$5,276,484
Term limits	N/A
	Education
Bachelor's	Swarthmore College
J.D.	Harvard Law School
	Personal
Birthday	June 28, 1934
Place of birth	Detroit, MI
Profession	Attorney
Net worth	$1,652,205
Religion	Jewish
Websites
	Office website
	Campaign website

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Carl Milton Levin (b. June 28, 1934) is an Democratic member of the U.S. Senate from the state of Michigan. Levin was first elected to the Senate in 1978.

On March 7, 2013, Levin announced that he will retire rather than seek re-election in 2014.^[1]^[2]

Based on an analysis of bill sponsorship by GovTrack, Carl Levin is a "rank-and-file Democrat".^[3]

Biography

Levin was born in 1934 in Detroit, MI, where he also attended high school. He earned his B.A. from Swarthmore College in 1956 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1959. Levin has also worked as an attorney.^[4]

Career

Below is an abbreviated outline of Levin's professional and political career^[4]:

Assistant Attorney General and General Counsel for the Michigan Civil Rights Commission 1964-1967
Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Michigan and Chief Appellate Defender for the City of Detroit 1968-1969
Member, Detroit City Council 1969-1973
President, Detroit City Council 1974-1977
U.S. Senate, 1979-Present

Committee assignments

U.S. Senate

2013-2014

Levin serves on the following Senate committees^[5]:

Armed Services Committee Chairman
- Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
- Subcommittee on SeaPower
- Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support
- Subcommittee on Personnel
- Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
- Subcommittee on Airland
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
- Subcommittee on Emergency Management, Intergovernmental Relations, and the District of Columbia
- Subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight
- Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee

2011-2012

Levin served on the following Senate committees^[6]:

Fiscal Cliff

Levin voted for the fiscal cliff compromise bill, which made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts originally passed in 2001 and 2003 while also raising tax rates on the highest income levels. The bill was passed in the Senate by a 89/8 vote on January 1, 2013.^[7]

Elections

2014

See also: United States Senate elections in Michigan, 2014

On March 7, 2013, Levin announced his plans to retire rather than seek re-election in 2014.^[1]

To view the full congressional electoral history for Carl Levin, click [show] to expand the section.

2008
On November 4, 2008, Carl Levin won re-election to the United States Senate. He defeated Jack Hoogendyk, Jr., Scotty Boman, Harley G. Mikkelson, Michael N. Nikitin, and Doug Dern in the general election.^[8]

U.S. Senate, Michigan General Election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Carl Levin incumbent	62.7%	3,038,386
	Republican	Jack Hoogendyk, Jr.	33.8%	1,641,070
	Libertarian	Scotty Boman	1.6%	76,347
	Green	Harley G. Mikkelson	0.9%	43,440
	U.S. Taxpayers Party	Michael N. Nikitin	0.6%	30,827
	Natural Law	Doug Dern	0.4%	18,550
Total Votes				4,848,620

2002
On November 5, 2002, Carl Levin won re-election to the United States Senate. He defeated Andrew Raczkowski, Eric Borregard, John Mangopoulos, and Doug Dern in the general election.^[9]

U.S. Senate, Michigan General Election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Carl Levin incumbent	60.6%	1,896,614
	Republican	Andrew Raczkowski	37.9%	1,185,545
	Green	Eric Borregard	0.8%	23,931
	Reform	John Mangopoulos	0.4%	12,831
	Natural Law	Doug Dern	0.3%	10,366
Total Votes				3,129,287

1996
On November 5, 1996, Carl Levin won re-election to the United States Senate. He defeated Ronna Romney, Kenneth Proctor, William Roundtree, Joseph Mattingly, and Martin McLaughlin in the general election.^[10]

U.S. Senate, Michigan General Election, 1996
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Carl Levin incumbent	58.4%	2,195,738
	Republican	Ronna Romney	39.9%	1,500,106
	Libertarian	Kenneth Proctor	1%	36,911
	Workers World	William Roundtree	0.3%	12,235
	Natural Law	Joseph Mattingly	0.3%	11,306
	Socialist Equality	Martin McLaughlin	0.2%	5,975
	N/A	Write-in	0%	304
Total Votes				3,762,575

1990
On November 6, 1990, Carl Levin won re-election to the United States Senate. He defeated Bill Schuette and Susan Farquhar in the general election.^[11]

U.S. Senate, Michigan General Election, 1990
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Carl Levin incumbent	57.5%	1,471,753
	Republican	Bill Schuette	41.2%	1,055,695
	Workers World	Susan Farquhar	1.3%	32,796
	N/A	Write-in	0%	250
Total Votes				2,560,494

1984
On November 6, 1984, Carl Levin won re-election to the United States Senate. He defeated Jack Lousma, Arthur Richard Tisch, Lynn Johnston, Helen Meyers, William Roundtree, Max Dean, Samuel Webb, and Fred Mazelis in the general election.^[12]

U.S. Senate, Michigan General Election, 1984
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Carl Levin incumbent	51.8%	1,915,831
	Republican	Jack Lousma	47.2%	1,745,302
	Tisch Independent Citizens	Arthur Richard Tisch	0.6%	22,882
	Libertarian	Lynn Johnston	0.2%	7,786
	Socialist Workers	Helen Meyers	0.1%	2,686
	Workers World	William Roundtree	0.1%	2,279
	Independent	Max Dean	0.1%	2,135
	Communist	Samuel Webb	0%	1,196
	Workers League	Fred Mazelis	0%	818
	N/A	Other	0%	23
Total Votes				3,700,938

1978
On November 7, 1978, Carl Levin won election to the United States Senate. He defeated incumbent Robert Griffin in the general election.^[13]

U.S. Senate, Michigan General Election, 1978
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Carl Levin	52.1%	1,484,193
	Republican	Robert Griffin incumbent	47.9%	1,362,165
	N/A	Scattering	0%	272
Total Votes				2,846,630

Campaign donors

Comprehensive donor information for Levin is available dating back to 2000. Based on available campaign finance records, Levin raised a total of $5,276,484 during that time period. This information was last updated on April 24, 2013.^[14]

Carl Levin's Campaign Contribution History
Year	Office	Result	Contributions
2002	U.S. Senate (Michigan)		$5,276,484
Grand Total Raised			$5,276,484

2008

Breakdown of the source of Levin's campaign funds before the 2008 election.

Levin won re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2008. During that re-election cycle, Levin's campaign committee raised a total of $8,632,073 and spent $6,732,980.^[15]

U.S. Senate, Michigan, 2008 - Carl Levin Campaign Contributions
Total Raised	$8,632,073
Total Spent	$6,732,980
Total Raised by General Election Opponent	$297,747
Total Spent by General Election Opponent	$296,993
Top contributors to Carl Levin's campaign committee
Blue Cross/Blue Shield	$48,100
Ford Motor Co	$45,699
General Motors	$40,650
Cerberus Capital Management	$35,650
Guardsmark LLC	$32,500
Top 5 industries that contributed to campaign committee
Lawyers/Law Firms	$788,326
Retired	$424,990
Pro-Israel	$361,028
Real Estate	$314,847
Democratic/Liberal	$204,697

Analysis

Lifetime voting record

See also: Lifetime voting records of United States Senators and Representatives

According to the website GovTrack, Levin missed 152 of 12,209 roll call votes from Feb 1979 to Apr 2013, which is 1.2% of votes during that period. This is better than the median of 1.7% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving.^[16]

Congressional staff salaries

See also: Staff salaries of United States Senators and Representatives

The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Levin paid his congressional staff a total of $3,212,530 in 2011. He ranked 7th on the list of the highest paid Democratic Senatorial Staff Salaries and he ranked 9th overall of the highest paid Senatorial Staff Salaries in 2011. Overall, Michigan ranked 6th in average salary for senatorial staff. The average U.S. Senate congressional staff was paid $2,529,141.70 in fiscal year 2011.^[17]

Net worth

See also: Net Worth of United States Senators and Representatives

2011

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Levin's net worth as of 2011 was estimated between $1,375,210 and $1,929,200. This averages to $1,652,205, which is a -0.025% increase since 2010. This is lower than the average net worth of Democratic Senators in 2011 of $20,795,450.^[18]

2010

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Levin's net worth as of 2010 was estimated between $1,029,016 and $2,360,000. That averages to $1,694,508, which is lower than the average net worth of Democratic Senators in 2010 of $19,383,524.^[19]

National Journal vote ratings

See also: National Journal vote ratings

Each year, National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of Congress voted, as compared to other members, in the previous year. More information about the analysis process can be found on the vote ratings page.

2012

According to the data released in 2013, Levin was ranked the 49th most liberal senator during 2012.^[20]

2011

According to the data released in 2012, Carl Levin was ranked the 49th most liberal senator during 2011.^[21]

Personal

Levin has been married to his wife Barbara (nee Halpern) since 1961. They have three daughters and six grandchildren.^[22]

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a Google news search for the term Carl + Levin + Michigan + Senate

All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.

Carl Levin News Feed

Cite error: <ref> tags exist, but no <references/> tag was found

External links

Social media:
Biographies:
Political profiles:
Fact-checking:
- PolitiFact
Financial:
Interest group ratings:
- National Journal
- Project Vote Smart
Issue positions:
- On The Issues
- Project Vote Smart
Legislation:
- Congress.gov
Public statements:
- Project Vote Smart
Voting record:
- Project Vote Smart
- Washington Post
Works by or about:
- WorldCat
Media appearances:
Media coverage:

References

Political offices
Preceded by Robert P. Griffin	U.S. Senate - Michigan 1979-Present	Succeeded by -

[retire-0] 1.0 ^1.1 Washington Post.com Sen. Carl Levin "(D-Mich.) won’t seek reelection in 2014" March 8, 2013

[1] Politico.com "Michigan Sen. Carl Levin to retire" March 7, 2013

[2] Gov Track "Carl Levin," Accessed March 3, 2012

[bioguide-3] 4.0 ^4.1 Biographical Guide to Members of Congress "Carl Levin," Accessed October 29, 2011

[4] Congressional Quarterly "Senate Committee List" Accessed January 22, 2013

[5] U.S. Senate Official Website "Commmittee Assignments," Accessed October 29, 2011

[6] U.S. Senate "Roll Call Vote on the Fiscal Cliff" Accessed January 4, 2013.

[7] U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 4, 2008"

[8] U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 5, 2002"

[9] U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 5, 1996"

[10] U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 6, 1990"

[11] U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 6, 1984"

[12] U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 7, 1978"

[13] Open Secrets "Donor history for Carl Levin" April 2013

[14] Open Secrets "Carl Levin 2008 Election Cycle," Accessed October 29, 2011

[15] GovTrack, "Carl Levin" Accessed April 2013

[16] LegiStorm "Carl Levin"

[17] OpenSecrets.org, "Levin, (D-Michigan), 2010"

[18] OpenSecrets.org, "Levin, (D-Michigan), 2010"

[19] National Journal, "TABLE: House Liberal Scores by Issue Area," February 26, 2013

[20] National Journal, "Searchable Vote Ratings Tables: House," February 23, 2012

[21] Official Site "About," Accessed October 29, 2011

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Carl Levin

Contents

Biography

Career

Committee assignments

U.S. Senate

2013-2014

2011-2012

Fiscal Cliff

Elections

2014

Campaign donors

2008

Analysis

Lifetime voting record

Congressional staff salaries

Net worth

2011

2010

National Journal vote ratings

2012

2011

Personal

Recent news

Carl Levin News Feed

External links

References

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