Chris Van Hollen | |
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United States Senator from Maryland |
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Assumed office January 3, 2017 Serving with Ben Cardin |
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Preceded by | Barbara Mikulski |
Chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee | |
Assumed office January 3, 2017 |
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Leader | Chuck Schumer |
Preceded by | Jon Tester |
Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee | |
In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2011 |
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Leader | Nancy Pelosi |
Preceded by | Rahm Emanuel |
Succeeded by | Steve Israel |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 8th district |
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In office January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2017 |
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Preceded by | Connie Morella |
Succeeded by | Jamie Raskin |
Personal details | |
Born |
Christopher Van Hollen, Jr. January 10, 1959 Karachi, Pakistan |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Katherine Van Hollen |
Children | 3 |
Education |
Swarthmore College (BA) Harvard University (MPP) Georgetown University (JD) |
Signature | |
Website | Senate website |
Christopher "Chris" Van Hollen, Jr. (born January 10, 1959) is the junior United States Senator from Maryland, serving since January 3, 2017. From 2003-17, he served as the U.S. Representative for Maryland's 8th congressional district. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
In 2006 Van Hollen became the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). In this post, Van Hollen was responsible for leading efforts to defend vulnerable Democrats and get more Democrats elected to Congress in 2008, which he did.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi created a new leadership post, Assistant to the Speaker, in 2006 so that Van Hollen could be present at all leadership meetings.
Van Hollen was elected ranking member on the Budget Committee on November 17, 2010.
Pelosi appointed him to the 12-member bipartisan Committee on Deficit Reduction with a mandate for finding major budget reductions by late 2011. On October 17, 2013 Pelosi appointed Van Hollen to serve on the bicameral conference committee.
Van Hollen ran for the United States Senate in 2016 to replace retiring Senator Barbara Mikulski and won the general election 60 to 36 percent.
Van Hollen serves as Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) for the 2018 cycle.
Van Hollen was born in Karachi, Pakistan, the eldest of three children of American parents, Edith Eliza (née Farnsworth) and Christopher Van Hollen. His father was a Foreign Service officer who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (1969–72) and U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives (1972–76); and his mother worked in the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department, where she served as chief of the intelligence bureau for South Asia. He spent parts of his early life in Pakistan, Turkey, India, and Sri Lanka. He returned to the United States for his junior year of high school, and attended Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, where his grandfather once taught.