James Hubert Bilbray (May 19, 1938 – September 19, 2021) was an American politician, lawyer, and postal executive who served four terms as the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

for

Nevada's 1st congressional district Nevada's 1st congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in the U.S. state of Nevada. The district covers a portion of Clark County, Nevada, Clark County east of Interstate 15 in Nevada, Int ...

from 1987 to 1995. He was a member of the Democratic Party.

Early life and education

Born in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

in 1938, Bilbray graduated from

Las Vegas High School Las Vegas High School is a Public school (government funded), public high school in Sunrise Manor, Nevada, part of the Clark County School District. It is the oldest high school in Las Vegas and originally opened in 1905 on what was then the out ...

and attended the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the ...

, from 1959 to 1960. He received a Bachelor of Arts in government and public administration from

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, in 1962 and 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 ...

from the

Washington College of Law The American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL or WCL) is the law school of American University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It is located on the western side of Tenley Circle in the Tenleytown section of northw ...

in 1964. He served in the

Nevada Army National Guard The Nevada National Guard is the component of the United States National Guard in Nevada. The governor of Nevada may call individuals or units of the Nevada National Guard into state service. The Constitution of the United States charges the Nati ...

from 1955 to 1956 and in the United States Army Reserve from 1957 to 1963.

Career

Bilbray practiced law and was deputy

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

Clark County Clark County may refer to: *Clark County, Arkansas *Clark County, Idaho *Clark County, Illinois *Clark County, Indiana *Clark County, Kansas *Clark County, Kentucky *Clark County, Missouri *Clark County, Nevada, containing Las Vegas *Clark County, ...

from 1965 to 1967. He was then chief legal counsel in the Clark County

juvenile court Juvenile court, also known as young offender's court or children's court, is a tribunal having special authority to pass judgements for crimes committed by children who have not attained the age of majority. In most modern legal systems, chi ...

from 1967 to 1968 and was an alternate municipal judge in Las Vegas from 1978 to 1980. He became licensed to practice law before the

Nevada Gaming Commission The Nevada Gaming Commission is a Nevada state governmental agency involved in the regulation of casinos throughout the state, along with the Nevada Gaming Control Board. In 1959, the Nevada Gaming Commission ("Commission") was created by the ...

and the

Nevada Gaming Control Board The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB or SGCB), also known as the State Gaming Control Board, is a Nevada state governmental agency involved in the regulation of gaming and law enforcement of Nevada gaming laws throughout the state, along with th ...

in 1970. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, he ran for the

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

in 1972 against conservative incumbent Walter Baring, a fellow Democrat who was disliked by his party's establishment. Bilbray won the primary and was expected to win the general election, but Baring surprised him by endorsing the Republican nominee,

David Towell David Gilmer Towell (June 9, 1937 – June 10, 2003) was an American politician who served a single term as a U.S. Representative from Nevada, representing the state's at-large district. He was a Republican. Born in Bronxville, New York, Towel ...

, who upset Bilbray in a close race. Bilbray made a comeback in 1980 when he was elected to the

Nevada State Senate The Nevada Senate is the upper house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of U.S. state of Nevada, the lower house being the Nevada Assembly. It currently (2012–2021) consists of 21 members from sin ...

, where he served from 1981 to 1987, and also became chairman of the Taxation Committee and a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Congress

He successfully ran for the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

in 1986 for the seat being vacated by

Harry Reid Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2 ...

, who made a successful run for the

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

in the same election. He served as chairman of the

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 ...

Subcommittee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

on Taxation, Tourism and Procurement and was also a member of the

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...

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and

Intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

committees. Singer Cher with Representative James Bilbray and his wife

Bilbray lost his re-election campaign in the 1994

Republican Revolution The "Republican Revolution", "Revolution of '94", or "Gingrich Revolution" are political slogans that refer to the Republican Party's (GOP) success in the 1994 U.S. midterm elections, which resulted in a net gain of 54 seats in the House o ...

, losing to Republican opponent

John Ensign John Eric Ensign (born March 25, 1958) is an American veterinarian and former politician who served as a United States Senator from Nevada from 2001 until his resignation in 2011 amid a Senate Ethics Committee investigation into his attempts to ...

by less than 1,400 votes. Bilbray appeared to be well on his way to reelection until news surfaced that reports surfaced that one of his aides stood to make a huge profit from lands legislation sponsored by Bilbray.

Later career

After leaving Congress, Bilbray joined the law firm of Kummer, Kaempfer, Bonner and Renshaw as

Of Counsel Of counsel is the title of an attorney in the legal profession of the United States who often has a relationship with a law firm or an organization but is neither an associate nor partner. Some firms use titles such as "counsel", "special couns ...

in 1996 where he has specialized in dealing with local, state and federal issues. In 2001, he received an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for his work in state and federal government. He was appointed a commissioner on the 2005

Base Realignment and Closure Commission Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) was a process by a Federal government of the United States, United States federal government commission to increase the efficiency of the United States Department of Defense by coordinating the realignment and ...

and in 2006 was appointed a member of the

Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service The Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service is the governing body of the United States Postal Service (USPS). The board oversees the activities of the Postal Service, while the postmaster general actively manages its day-to-day ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

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 ...

for a term ending in 2015. He resided in Las Vegas until his death in 2021.

Death and legacy

He died on September 19, 2021. James H. Bilbray Elementary School in Las Vegas is named in his honor.

Personal life

Bilbray and his wife Michaelene had three daughters: Bridget Bilbray Phillips who was the first principal of James H. Bilbray Elementary School, Erin Bilbray-Kohn who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. House in Nevada's 3rd district in 2014, and

Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod Shannon Mary Bilbray-Axelrod (born 1973) is an American politician. She was a Democratic member of the Nevada Assembly representing the 34th district, which covers parts of the western Las Vegas Valley, from 2016 to 2024. Biography Bilbray-Axelr ...

, a member of the

Nevada Assembly The Nevada Assembly is the lower house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Nevada, the upper house being the Nevada Senate. The body consists of 42 members, elected to two-year terms from single-member distri ...

since 2017. They also had one son, Kevin. He was a cousin to

Brian Bilbray Brian Phillip Bilbray (born January 28, 1951) is an American politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001 and again from 2006 to 2013. He is a member of the Republican Party. Bilbray was Chairman of the House I ...

, a two-time Republican congressman from

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. Bilbray died on September 19, 2021, at the age of 83.

Electoral history

References

External links

Biography at the United States Postal Service

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20061007145513/http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/article.php?id=DNW2006100501 Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ballbr>James H. Bilbray Elementary School
*
Nevada Senate Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilbray, James Hubert 1938 births 2021 deaths American University School of Public Affairs alumni Nevada lawyers Lawyers from Las Vegas Nevada National Guard personnel Democratic Party Nevada state senators Politicians from Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas alumni Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Nevada Washington College of Law alumni Military personnel from Nevada 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century United States government officials 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 20th-century members of the Nevada Legislature