Rick Lazio
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew York's2nd district
In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2001
Preceded by	Thomas Downey
Succeeded by	Steve Israel
Member of theSuffolk County Legislature from the 11th district
In office January 1990 – December 1992
Preceded by	Patrick Mahoney
Succeeded by	Angie Carpenter
Personal details
Born	Enrico Anthony Lazio (1958-03-13)March 13, 1958 (age 67) Amityville,New York, U.S.
Party	Republican
Spouse	Patricia Moriarty ​ (m. 1989)​
Children	2
Education	Vassar College (AB) American University (JD)
Signature

Enrico Anthony Lazio (/ˈlæzi.oʊ/; born March 13, 1958)^[1] is an American attorney and former four-termU.S. representative from theState of New York. A Long Island native, Lazio became well-known during his bid forU.S. Senate inNew York's 2000 Senate election; he was defeated byHillary Rodham Clinton. Lazio also ran unsuccessfully for the 2010New York StateRepublican Party gubernatorial nomination.

Lazio was born inAmityville, New York, inSuffolk County, on Long Island. He is the son of Olive (née Christensen) and Anthony Lazio, who owned an automotive parts store. His father was of Italian descent and his maternal grandparents were Danish immigrants.^[2][3] He graduated fromWest Islip High School in 1976. He received his A.B. fromVassar College and received hisJuris Doctor from theWashington College of Law atAmerican University.^[4]

Prior to being elected to Congress, Lazio was appointed executive assistant district attorney for Suffolk County in 1987^[5] and served in the Suffolk County Legislature from 1990 to 1993.^[6][7][8][9]

Lazio representedNew York's 2nd congressional district as a Republican. He was first elected in 1992, defeating the incumbent,Thomas Downey, who had served for eighteen years.^[10] Lazio served four terms from 1993 to 2001.^[6]

In Congress, Lazio served as Deputy MajorityWhip, Assistant Majority Leader, and Chairman of theHouse Banking Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity. He was "widely viewed as the most influential moderate in a leadership dominated by conservatives."^[11] From his earliest days in Congress, Lazio made housing one of his primary issues.^[12]

During his time in Congress, Lazio championed the case to award a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor to President Theodore Roosevelt for his charge up San Juan Hill in the Spanish–American War.^[13] Congress eventually passed legislation asking the president to grant the honor, and President Clinton awarded the medal in January 2001.^[14]

In 2000, Lazio ran for the U.S. Senate fromNew York againstHillary Clinton in the race to succeedDaniel Patrick Moynihan. His comparatively late entry into the race (five months beforeElection Day) followed New York CityMayorRudolph Giuliani's decision to withdraw from the Senate race. Lazio announced his candidacy for Senate on all five majorSunday morning talk shows on the same day, making him the second person ever to complete aFull Ginsburg.^[15]

At the time, the race between Lazio and Hillary Clinton was the most expensive Senate campaign ever conducted.^[16]

During a September 13, 2000 debate in Buffalo, Lazio walked across the stage to Clinton and placed a campaign pledge in front of her. That action was "perceived as bullying and chauvinistic", and it made Lazio into "an example of what not to do during a debate with a female opponent". In 2008, Lazio commented: "'At the time, I was making a point about a campaign finance pledge that Mrs. Clinton had made and I didn't feel that it was being honored. I thought that was the opportunity to make the point. On substance, it was right - and on style and perception, it was a mistake, which I regret'".^[17]

On November 7, 2000, Lazio lost the Senate race to Clinton by a margin of 55%-43%.^[18]

Lazio announced his candidacy for governor of New York on September 22, 2009 inAlbany.^[19]

On June 2, 2010, Lazio received the New York State Republican Party's designation to run for governor. However,Carl Paladino, a candidate backed by the Tea Party movement,^[20] soundly defeated Lazio in the Republican gubernatorial primary on September 14, 2010.^[21][22] On September 27, Lazio, who had won the Conservative Party primary, confirmed that he would drop his bid for Governor by accepting apaper candidate nomination for a judicial position in the Bronx he did not expect to win.^[23]

Following his loss in the 2000 U.S. Senate election, Lazio became CEO of theFinancial Services Forum. Later, he became the managing director of global real assets forJPMorgan.^[24]

As of 2017, Lazio led the housing finance practice group of Jones Walker LLP.^[25]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRick Lazio.

• Ignite with Rick Lazio
• Biography at theBiographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at theFederal Election Commission
• Appearances onC-SPAN

• 1958 births
• 20th-century New York (state) politicians
• 20th-century United States representatives
• 21st-century New York (state) politicians
• American people of Italian descent
• American prosecutors
• American University Washington College of Law alumni
• Conservative Party of New York State politicians
• County legislators in New York (state)
• JPMorgan Chase people
• Living people
• Members of the United States Congress who became lobbyists
• People from Amityville, New York
• Republican Party United States representatives from New York (state)
• Vassar College alumni

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