• Democratic Member of Congress
• Member of Progressive Caucus
• Anti-war candidate for President in 2004

Dennis Kucinich is a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Ohio’s Tenth District.

Born in Cleveland in October 1946, Kucinich attended Cleveland State University from 1967 to 1970. In 1973 he graduated from Case Western Reserve University with degrees in speech and communication.

From 1969 to 1973, and again briefly in 1983, Kucinich served on the Cleveland City Council. In 1977 he was elected mayor of Cleveland. Under his stewardship the city fell into financial bankruptcy, a development that doomed his re-election bid in 1979.

In 1979 Kucinich became a consultant for a publicly owned electric company, a position he has maintained to this day. From 1985 to 1995, he served as president of a marketing and communications firm. From 1982 to 1992, he was a professor of political science at Case Western Reserve University. He taught communications and political science at Cleveland State University from 1991 to 1994. He was a member of the Ohio State Senate from 1995 to 1996, and has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1996.

Kucinich is a staunch supporter of an organization called SOA Watch, whose mission is to close down the School Of the Americas (SOA), which in 2001 was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC). Located at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia, SOA is the U.S. Army's principal Spanish-language training facility for Latin American military personnel. During the Cold War, SOA trained many Latin Americans in guerrilla tactics designed to help put down Communist insurgencies in the region. Critics complain that some of the people who were trained at SOA later went on to commit atrocities against their foes. SOA supporters, meanwhile, note that the School trains its cadets in human rights and cannot be held responsible for the excesses of a small minority of its graduates. Kucinich has co-sponsored legislation calling for SOA's closure, and has made numerous statements from the House floor toward that end.

In March 2002 Kucinich authored a "Prayer for America" expressing his hope that the U.S. might somehow cease its allegedly misguided, overly aggressive anti-terrorism efforts. "The trappings of a state of siege," said Kucinich, "trap us in a state of fear, ill-equipped to deal with the Patriot Games, the Mind Games, the War Games of an unelected President and his unelected Vice President."

In June 2002 Kucinich was the leading plaintiff when 31 House members (30 Democrats and one Independent) filed a lawsuit against George W. Bush in an effort to block the President from withdrawing the United States from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. In addition, the suit named Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell as defendants. Among Kucinich's fellow plaintiffs were Representatives John Conyers, Jesse Jackson Jr., Barbara Lee, Cynthia McKinney, and Maxine Waters.

Also in 2002, Kucinich said, “We must challenge those who would make of any nation a nuclear target; challenge those who would threaten to use nuclear weapons against civilian populations; challenge those who would break nuclear treaties.” He was referring specifically to the United States.

In February 2003 Kucinich and five other House Democrats again sued President Bush, this time in an attempt to block a U.S. invasion of Iraq. "Iraq is not an imminent threat to this nation," said Kucinich. "Forty million Americans suffering from inadequate health care is an imminent threat. The high cost of prescription drugs is an imminent threat. The ravages of unemployment is an imminent threat. The slowdown of the economy is an imminent threat, and so, too, the devastating effects of corporate fraud."

Kucinich was a guest speaker at numerous anti-war demonstrations during the months preceding Operation Iraqi Freedom. At a massive February 2003 rally in New York, he called for American "leadership in global disarmament." Kucinich also opposed the U.N. sanctions that had been imposed against Iraq in response to Saddam Hussein's non-compliance with weapons-inspection efforts.

Kucinich advocates the creation of a new federal agency called the Department of Peace (DOP), whose purpose, he explains, "will be to support disarmament, treaties, peaceful coexistence, and peaceful consensus building." "Domestically," adds Kucinich, "the Department of Peace would address violence in the home, spousal abuse, child abuse, gangs, police-community relations conflicts and work with individuals and groups to achieve changes in attitudes that examine the mythologies of cherished world views, such as 'violence is inevitable' or 'war is inevitable.' Thus it will help with the discovery of new selves and new paths toward peaceful consensus."

Kucinich believes that clearly enunciated good intentions can win the hearts of America's enemies around the world. “In the finest example of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.,” he says, “we can learn to confront our enemies with ahimsa, unconditional love.” “We must overcome our fear of each other,” he elaborates, “by seeking out the humanity within each of us. The human heart contains every possibility of race, creed, language, religion, and politics.... We need to create a new, clear vision of a world as one ... where people can live in harmony within their families, their communities, and within themselves.”

Kucinich advocates drastic reductions in spending for America's national defense, particularly the research and development of new weapons. He calls for further, though less draconian, cuts in funding for the modernization of existing weapons and military hardware. He favors the total elimination of research and testing for the Strategic Defense Initiative missile defense system. The money Kucinich would siphon away from defense spending, he would direct instead toward the Department of Peace and toward increased spending on the arts, education, transportation, welfare, and environmental protection.

Among the measures Kucinich opposes are these: the establishment of English as the official national language; the temporary detention of asylum seekers from countries known to sponsor terrorism; the adoption of stricter rules for student visa applicants from nations known to sponsor terrorism; the granting of greater surveillance powers to law-enforcement agencies for the purpose of preventing future terrorist attacks; an increase in border security to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S.; and mandatory jail sentences for those who sell illegal drugs.

Nor does Kucinich believe that the U.S. should hold foreign states accountable for the actions of terrorists who operate within their borders. In this view, the 9/11 hijackers and their co-conspirators were an independent band of criminals who should have been prosecuted through legal, not military, channels. Says Kucinich: “When terrorists threaten our security, we must enforce the law and bring [them] to justice within our system of constitutional justice, without undermining the very civil liberties which permits our democracy to breathe.”

In Kucinich’s view, the U.S. is almost always to blame in matters of international conflict. He contends, for instance, that American anti-terrorism troops deployed in the Philippines, Yemen, Soviet Georgia, Columbia, and Indonesia only “create new possibilities for expanded war.” With regard to the military action that brought down the Taliban in 2001, he decried America's “bombing of civilians in Afghanistan,” and lamented that “the blood of innocent people who perished on September 11 [was] avenged with the blood of innocent villagers in Afghanistan.”

In September 2007 Kucinich went on Syrian television to condemn President Bush's "illegal war" in Iraq. During the course of the interview, Kucinich said that Syrian "President Assad showed a real desire to play a role in helping to create a peaceful settlement of the conditions in Iraq, as well as a grander approach towards creating peace"; that he "felt honored to have had the chance to speak with [Assad]," who "should be respected and appreciated for the role he has played" in allowing Iraqi refugees into Syria; that "Americans have an increased understanding today of how wrong the war was and is"; that "we are all being weakened by continuing a war that's based on a lie"; that "[t]he effort against Iraq was dishonest, or crooked, from the beginning"; that the U.S. must initiate a "political [peace] process that reaches out to the international community with the help of Syria and Iran"; and that "not only must we stabilize Iraq, but we also must pay reparations to the people of Iraq for the great human tragedy that has been caused." To view a video of Kucinich’s comments in their entirety, click here.

Kucinich later told the Associated Press in Lebanon that he had chosen not to visit Iraq during his Mideast tour because he preferred not to “bless” the “illegal occupation.”

In 2004 and 2008, Kucinich sought, unsuccessfully, his party’s nomination for President of the United States. In his 2004 run, he won the endorsement of the Communist party USA.

Following is an overview of Kucinich’s policy positions and his voting record on key pieces of legislation during his years in Congress:

Abortion and the Rights of the Unborn: As a Roman Catholic, Kucinich was a longtime abortion foe -- a stance that distinguished him from his fellow Progressive Caucus members and most Democrats. During his first six years in Congress, he consistently voted for anti-abortion legislation sponsored by conservative Republicans. In February 2003, however, he announced that he was changing his position to pro-choice. When some analysts speculated that this shift was motivated by political expediency -- a desire to make himself more electable in the eyes of Democrats -- Kucinich explained his new position as a mere "expansion" of his earlier one. He attributed the shift to his fear that the Bush administration and the Republican Congress were moving toward overturning the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling.

In  March 1997, July 1998,  and April 2000, Kucinich voted in favor of legislation to ban (except where the mother’s safety might require it) the late-term abortion procedure commonly known as partial-birth abortion. In June 2003 and October 2003, he voted against such bans.

In September 1999 he voted in favor of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which proposed to make it an added criminal offense for someone to injure or kill a fetus while carrying out a crime against a pregnant woman. In February 2004 he abstained from voting on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.

In April 2005 he voted against a bill prohibiting the transportation of a minor across state lines to obtain an abortion without the consent of a parent or legal guardian. In December 2006 he voted NO on the Abortion Pain Bill, which sought to ensure that women seeking an abortion are fully informed regarding the pain experienced by their unborn child.

Marriage: In July 2006 Kucinich voted against a bill defining marriage strictly as a legal union between one man and one woman.

Education: In April 1998, Kucinich voted NO to the implementation of a voucher program designed to help low-income families send their children to private schools if they wished.

Illegal Immigration: In May 2004 Kucinich voted against a bill that would require hospitals to provide information on illegal aliens seeking emergency medical care. In February 2005 he voted against funding for “Real ID” legislation mandating higher standards for State drivers’ licenses and identification documents. In September 2006 he voted against a bill authorizing the construction of 700 miles of double-layered fencing between the U.S. and Mexico.

Kucinich is rated 0% by the U.S. Border Control, Americans for Immigration Control, and the Federation for American Immigration Reform, signifying that his voting record reflects an open-borders stance.

Fossil Fuels: In February 2001, August 2001, November 2007, and July 2008 Kucinich voted to keep Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) closed to oil drilling. In October 2005 and June 2006, he voted against the construction of new oil refineries in the U.S.

Taxes: In March 2000 Kucinich voted NO on $46 billion in tax cuts for small businesses. In April 2001 he voted NO on eliminating the “death tax.” The following month, he voted against a tax-cut package of $958 billion over 10 years. In October 2001 he voted NO on a $99 billion economic stimulus package. In April 2002 he voted against making President Bush’s 2001 tax cuts permanent. In May 2004 he voted against making permanent an increase in the child tax credit. In December 2005 he voted against retaining reduced tax rates on capital gains and dividends.

Patriot Act: In October 2001 Kucinich voted to pass the Patriot Act anti-terrorism legislation. However, in July 2005, December 2005, and March 2006, he voted against bills reauthorizing and extending the Act.

Medical Care: In September 2003 Kucinich said: “The pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies control our health care system. I've introduced legislation that provides for a totally new change; that has health care for people, not for profit. It's called Medicare For All. It's a single-payer program. And it's financed by a 7.7% tax paid by employers.”

Military Affairs: Consistent with his view that military actions are virtually never appropriate, Kucinich advocates deep cuts in defense spending. “The defense budget,” he says, “grows with more money for weapons systems to fight a cold war which ended, weapon systems in search of new enemies to create new wars. This has nothing to do with fighting terror. This has everything to do with fueling a military industrial machine with the treasure of our nation.”

Kucinich accused the Bush administration of seeking, through deployment of a space-based missile-defense system, “hegemony in space,... almost some kind of a 21st-century parody of the Spanish Armada, of yesteryear, seeking to rule the seas. Now it’s the United States trying to seize the highest ground in the universe, space. It is not our business to do so, [to use] space as the next junkyard for military contractors.” In 2002 Kucinich introduced a bill to ban all space-based defensive systems “capable of damaging or destroying an object [like a ballistic missile], whether in outer space, in the atmosphere, or on earth.”

In October 2002 Kucinich voted against the joint congressional resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq.

In 2005 Kucinich joined the newly formed Out of Iraq Congressional Caucus (OICC), an entity dedicated to agitating for a swift withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Iraqi theater of war -- alleging that the American invasion in 2003 had been launched on a pretext of lies and deliberately manipulated intelligence.

In November 2006 he formally introduced articles of impeachment against Vice-President Dick Cheney that narrowly missed receiving a full House vote. Kucinich’s 18-page resolution charged that Cheney had “purposefully manipulated [pre-Iraq War] intelligence” and had “fabricated a threat of weapons of mass destruction.” The resolution attracted 21 Democratic cosponsors, including: Tammy Baldwin, Robert Brady, Yvette Clarke, William Lacy Clay, Steve Cohen, Keith Ellison, Sam Farr, Bob Filner, Sheila Jackson Lee, Henry Johnson, Carolyn Kilpatrick, Barbara Lee, Jim McDermott, James Moran, Donald Payne, Jan Schakowsky, Edolphus Towns, Maxine Waters, Diane Watson, Lynn Woolsey, and Albert Wynn.

On September 13, 2007, Kucinich spoke at the University of Hawaii, where he called for immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq and their replacement by "peacekeepers" from Syria and Iran.

Military Commissions: In September 2006 Kucinich voted against a bill authorizing the President to establish military commissions to try detained enemy combatants in the war on terror.