Path to Power
Bayh III was born on Dec. 26, 1955, near his family’s home in Shirkiesville, Ind. Bayh’s father and namesake, Birch Evans Bayh II (“Birch”), worked as a hog farmer, lawyer and member of the Indiana House of Representatives before serving three terms in the U.S. Senate. His mother,Marvella Hern Bayh, served as a key adviser throughout her husband’s political career, often sitting in on campaign staff meetings, editing speeches and advising him on policy.
After the elder Bayh was elected to the Senate in 1962, the family moved to Washington. There, Evan attended the prestigious St. Albans School, graduating in 1974. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business economics and public policy from Indiana University in 1978. A year later, his mother died from a recurrence of breast cancer, an event that Bayh said left him determined to make the most of his life.
While Bayh was enrolled at the University of Virginia School of Law, he helped run his father’s 1980 bid for a fourth Senate term,in which Birch lost to future Vice President Dan Quayle.
After earning his J.D. in 1981, Bayh clerked for a federal judge and went into private practice in Indianapolis. In 1985, he was married to Susan Breshears Bayh, also an attorney. He was elected Indiana’s secretary of state the next year, and in 1988, at just 30 years old, he entered the race for governor of Indiana.
Governorship
Bayh defeated former Kokomo Mayor Steve Daily in the Democratic primary, setting himself up for a general election contest against Lieutenant Governor John Mutz (R). Early in the race, Republicans launched an eligibility challenge against Bayh, arguing that a 13-month period he spent working in Washington had violated a requirement of Indiana’s constitution that the governor be “a resident of” the state for five years prior to election. The Indiana Supreme Court declared him eligible to serve in April 1988, however, and Bayh went onto win 53% to 47%, becoming the first Democratic governor of the Hoosier State in 20 years and the youngest governor in the country at the time.
Bayh proved to be a fiscally-conservative Democratic governor, cutting state taxes and building up a $1.6 billion budget surplus by the end of his eight years in office. He reduced Medicaid spending, trimmed back a deficit in the state’s pension plans, and presided over the creation of 350,000 jobs across Indiana. In 1992, Bayh won re-election by a 62% to 37% margin against Indiana Attorney General Linley Pearson (R). Though consistently popular—polls showed his approval rating as high as 80% at the end of his second term—Bayh was sometimes criticized for being overly cautious and unwilling to expend political capital on more ambitious policy goals.
In 1995, Bayh’s wife, Susan, gave birth to twin boys.
U.S. Senate
When Bayh left the governor’s residence in 1997, it was widely believed he would make a run in 1998 for the Senate seat being vacated by then-incumbent Dan Coats (R). After a brief stint as a lecturer at the University of Indiana School of Business and an attorney at Indianapolis law firm Baker & Daniels, Bayh threw his hat into the open Senate race. He faced competition from Fort Wayne mayor Paul Helmke (R), a moderate who had supported tax increases in his hometown and narrowly escaped a Republican primary against two more conservative opponents. Helmke sought to portray Bayh as a lightweight, quipping that he “still comes across a little the empty suit.” But Bayh’s centrist platform of balancing the budget, saving Social Security, and flattening the tax code lifted him to a resounding 64% to 35% victory.
During his time in the Senate, Bayh has established himself—to the consternation of many fellow Democrats—as a centrist who seeks common ground with Republicans. He was a founding member of the Senate New Democrat Coalition in 2000, a member of the Senate Centrist Coalition, and chairman of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council from 2001 to 2005.
But Bayh is not without progressive credentials. He was among just 13 senators to vote against the confirmation of Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State during the George W. Bush administration, and has voted against the confirmations of various Bush appointees, including: Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former Attorney General John Ashcroft and former Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton.
In 2004, Bayh won easy re-election over Republican challenger and sociology Professor Marvin Scott by a 62% to 37% margin. Bayh has also demonstrated fundraising prowess: from 2003 to 2008, he raised $11.3 million.
In March 2009, Bayh, along with Delaware Sen. Tom Carper (D) and Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D), announced the formation of the 16-member Moderate Dems Working Group, advertised as a tool to “to put ideology aside, to find common ground on legislation, and to deliver results for the American people.”The announcement provoked criticism from many on the left, who viewed the group—dubbed by Bayh as the “Practical Caucus”— as a possible barrier to passage of a full-throated progressive agenda.
Currently, Bayh serves on the Committee on Armed Services; the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship; the Select Committee on Intelligence; and the Special Committee on Aging. He chairs the Armed Service’s Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support and the Banking Subcommittee on Security and International Trade and Finance.
Higher Office
Bayh has flirted on several occasions with running for national office. He has the rare distinction of being rumored as a vice presidential contender in three election cycles: for Al Gore’s 2000 campaign, for John F. Kerry’s (D-Mass.) 2004 campaign, and for Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign.
In December 2006, Bayh announced the formation of an exploratory committee for a possible 2008 presidential run, but he abandoned the race two weeks later, citing long odds. He endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primary and campaigned for Obama in the general election.
