Alfonse Marcello "Al" D'Amato (born 1 August 1937) was a member of the US Senate from New York (R) from 3 January 1981 to 3 January 1999, succeeding Jacob K. Javits and preceding Chuck Schumer.
Biography[]
Alfonse Marcello D'Amato was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York on 1 August 1937 to a family of Italian descent, and he was raised in Island Park, Long Island. He graduated from Syracuse University, and he became involved in Nassau County politics as a Republican Party member. In 1980, he won election to the US Senate after defeating the dying Jacob K. Javits in the Republican primary, and he was known for his comical filibusters, including reading the Washington DC phonebook. He served on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and on the Senate Finance Committee, and he was a leading critic of President Bill Clinton's economic irregularities. D'Amato soon became the "state boss" of the New York Republican State Committee, and he supported conservative law and order policies such as capital punishment and harsh penalties for drug offenses; however, he supported gay rights in the military and in employment, and he held liberal views on labor laws. The moderate D'Amato was popular among his peers, but he was defeated for re-election in 1999 by Democratic Party challenger Chuck Schumer. In 2015, he endorsed the moderate John Kasich for the Republican presidential nomination.