Throughout my public life— whether representing my hometown in the state legislature, fighting for the people of my state as Attorney General, serving 14 years in the United States Senate, or running for Vice President in 2000 alongside Al Gore—I am proud to have earned a reputation as an independent, principled, and effective leader.

I am blessed to come from a loving family. My father was an orphan who lived the American Dream. He worked his way up from the back of a bakery truck to own his own small business. My mom is the daughter of immigrants.  Together, they worked days and nights to send me to college—the first in my family. From there, I went on to law school, and began serving the people of my state, in the State Senate, in 1970.

I’m proud of my record. As Connecticut’s Attorney General from 1982 to 1988, I stood with single moms against deadbeat dads, fought corporations who broke the law to prey on consumers, and prosecuted polluters to make them pay.  And in the Senate over the last 14 years, I’ve continued to lead—guided not by partisan politics, but by my principles.

I was the Senate’s leading champion of creating a Department of Homeland Security to better protect the nation from terrorist attack. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I’ve led the fight to increase our investment in defense and transform our armed forces to better meet the threats of the 21st Century.

I am proud of my pro-business record—because being pro-business means being pro-jobs. I was a key partner in the high-growth, low-deficit economic policies that produced record economic growth in the 1990s. I have worked hard to hold our schools to higher standards—and to get them the resources they need to meet them. And I have fought, sometimes alone, against those who peddle violent and sexually explicit material to our children.  As the father of a teenage girl, I don’t think parents should have to compete with the culture to bring their kids up right.

People often ask me about my faith—and, after my family, it’s the most important thing in my life. I am proud of who I am. I was proud to break a barrier as the Democratic nominee for Vice-President in 2000. I believe we Americans must work hard to honor and promote our common values of responsibility, opportunity, and community—values which come from our faith. It is those values that made us a nation in the first place—and that will ultimately help us live up to the American Promise to all Americans. 

I live in New Haven and Washington with my wife Hadassah. We are the parents of four children, Matthew, Rebecca, Ethan, and Hana, and the grandparents of two beautiful kids named Tennessee and Willie.