Edward Spencer Abraham (born June 12, 1952) is an American attorney, author, and politician who served as the 10th

United States secretary of energy The United States secretary of energy is the head of the United States Department of Energy, a member of the Cabinet of the United States and fifteenth in the United States presidential line of succession, presidential line of succession. The po ...

from 2001 to 2005, under President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

from 1995 to 2001. Abraham is one of the founders of the

Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative and Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian legal organization that advocates for a Textualism, textualist an ...

, and a co-founder of the '' Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy''. As of 2025, he is the last Republican to have served as a U.S. senator from Michigan.

Education and family

Abraham was born in

East Lansing, Michigan East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, although a small portion extends north into Clinton County. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 47,741. The city is located immediate ...

, the son of Juliette Elizabeth (Sear), a member of the Michigan Republican State Central Committee, and Eddie Joseph Abraham. He is a graduate of East Lansing High School. Of Lebanese descent, Abraham is married to Jane Abraham, chair of the

Susan B. Anthony List Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (formerly Susan B. Anthony List) is an American 501(c)(4) non-profit organization that seeks to reduce and ultimately end abortion in the US, by supporting United States anti-abortion movement, anti-abortion poli ...

. They have three children. He holds a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

(J.D.) degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, and is a 1974 Honors College graduate of

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

. In 1978, while at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

, Abraham helped found the '' Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy'', which became one of the official journals of the

, which was founded in 1982.

Political career

Before his election to the Senate, Abraham was a law professor at Thomas M. Cooley Law School.

Republican Party service

He was elected chairman of the Michigan Republican Party from 1983 to 1990. He was deputy chief of staff for Vice President

Dan Quayle James Danforth Quayle (; born February 4, 1947) is an American retired politician who served as the 44th vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993 under President George H. W. Bush. A member of the Republican Party (United States), ...

from 1990 to 1991. He later served as co-chairman of the

National Republican Congressional Committee The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is the United States Republican Party, Republican Hill committee which works to elect Republicans to the United States House of Representatives. The NRCC was formed in 1866, when the Repub ...

(NRCC) from 1991 to 1993 and ran for chairman of the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and pr ...

in 1993, coming second to Haley Barbour.

United States Senate

Abraham was elected to represent

in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, and he served until 2001 after being defeated for reelection in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

by Debbie Stabenow. He was the only

Lebanese American Lebanese Americans () are Americans of Lebanese descent. This includes both those who are native to the United States of America, as well as immigrants from Lebanon and Latin America. Lebanese Americans comprise 0.79% of the American populatio ...

in the chamber. According to the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', state Republicans attributed his loss to "scathing advertisements by a wide range of special interest groups, including advertisements that criticized Mr. Abraham's support for a relaxation of some immigration restrictions". During the campaign, the

Federation for American Immigration Reform The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a nonprofit, anti-immigration organization in the United States. The group publishes position papers, organizes events, and runs campaigns in order to advocate for changes in U.S. immigr ...

, an anti-immigration advocacy group with ties to

white nationalism White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a Race (human categorization), raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara ...

, ran ads asking: "Why is Senator Spencer Abraham trying to make it easier for terrorists like Osama bin Laden to export their war of terror to any city street in America?" The media denounced these commercials as "vengeful". In 1996, when President Bill Clinton endorsed Representative Barbara Jordan's proposed cuts to legal immigration, Abraham played a leading role in blocking the cuts. Another factor in his defeat was his vote to convict Clinton in his 1999 impeachment trial. The next year he received the "Defender of the Melting Pot" award from the National Council of La Raza for his efforts on immigration.

Committee service and legislation

Abraham served on the Budget, Commerce, Science and Transportation, Judiciary, and

Small Business Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have a small number of employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being ...

Committees. He also chaired two subcommittees: Manufacturing and Competitiveness, and Immigration. Abraham authored the H1B Visa in Global and National Commerce Act, establishing a federal framework for online contracts and signatures; the Government Paperwork Elimination Act, and the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, which protects Internet

domain name In the Internet, a domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services, and more. ...

s for businesses and persons against

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

and trademark infringements. In 1999, Abraham co-sponsored S.896, a bill to abolish the U.S. Department of Energy, which would have transferred control of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in large part to the Defense Department.

U.S. Energy Secretary

In 2001,

appointed Abraham

Secretary of Energy The United States secretary of energy is the head of the United States Department of Energy, a member of the Cabinet of the United States and fifteenth in the presidential line of succession. The position was created on October 1, 1977, when P ...

. On November 15, 2004, Abraham announced that he would resign from this position, effective with the swearing-in of his successor, Samuel W. Bodman, on February 1, 2005. In 2004, Lebanese Ambassador Farid Abboud awarded Abraham the National Order of the Cedar.

Hoover Institution

From 2005 to 2007, Abraham was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace and formerly The Hoover Institute and Library on War, Revolution, and Peace) is an American public policy think tank which promotes personal and economic ...

, a think tank based at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. After leaving office, he opened The Abraham Group, a Washington DC–based international strategic consulting firm, of which he is chairman and CEO.

Fred Thompson presidential campaign

On July 24, 2007, Abraham was announced as an "ambassador to official Washington" for

Fred Thompson Freddie Dalton Thompson (August 19, 1942 – November 1, 2015) was an American politician, attorney, lobbyist, columnist, actor, and radio personality. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as a Unite ...

's 2008 presidential campaign.

Later career

In 2006, Abraham was appointed Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of AREVA Inc., the American arm of the French nuclear company

Areva Areva S.A. was a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power, active between 2001 and 2018. It was headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through t ...

, which is planning to build EPR nuclear power plants in the United States and is building the mixed oxide fuel (MOX) manufacturing plant at the Savannah River Site to convert legacy weapons-grade plutonium into power station fuel. With William Tucker, Abraham wrote ''Lights Out!: Ten Myths About (and Real Solutions to) America's Energy Crisis'' (2010). In 2016, Abraham was elected to the board of trustees of the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

Electoral history

Book

* Abraham, Spencer (with William Tucker). (2010) ''Lights Out!: Ten Myths About (and Real Solutions to) America's Energy Crisis''. New York: St. Martin's Press.

References

External links

Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham

Presidential Profile: George W. Bush's Cabinet
* , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Abraham, Spencer 1952 births American politicians of Lebanese descent George W. Bush administration cabinet members Harvard Law School alumni Living people Michigan Republicans Michigan Republican Party chairs Michigan State University alumni Middle Eastern Christians People from East Lansing, Michigan Commanders of the National Order of the Cedar Republican Party United States senators from Michigan United States secretaries of energy Eastern Orthodox Christians from the United States Members of Congress who became lobbyists East Lansing High School alumni 21st-century United States senators 20th-century United States senators 21st-century Michigan politicians 20th-century Michigan politicians