Portman, Rob, 1955-
Robert Jones Portman (born December 19, 1955) is an American attorney and politician serving as the junior United States senator for Ohio. A Republican, Portman has served as a U.S. representative, the 14th United States trade representative, and the 35th director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
In 1993, Portman won a special election to represent Ohio's 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He was reelected six times before resigning upon his appointment by President George W. Bush as the U.S. trade representative in May 2005. As trade representative, Portman initiated trade agreements with other countries and pursued claims at the World Trade Organization. In May 2006, Bush appointed Portman the director of the Office of Management and Budget.
In 2010, Portman announced his candidacy for the United States Senate seat being vacated by George Voinovich. He easily defeated then-Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher and was reelected in 2016. On January 25, 2021, he announced that he would not seek a third term in 2022.
Portman was born in 1955, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Joan (née Jones) and William C. "Bill" Portman II. His family was Presbyterian. His great-grandfather on his father's side, surnamed "Portmann", immigrated from Switzerland; Portman also has Scots-Irish, English, and German ancestry.
When Portman was young, his father started the Portman Equipment Company, a forklift dealership where he and his siblings worked growing up.[citation needed] From his mother Joan, a liberal Republican, Portman inherited his sympathy for the Republican Party.
Portman graduated from Cincinnati Country Day School in 1974 and attended Dartmouth College, where he started leaning to the right, and majored in anthropology and earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1978. In Cincinnati, Portman worked on Bill Gradison's Congressional campaign, and Gradison soon became a mentor to Portman.[9] Portman next entered the University of Michigan Law School, earning his Juris Doctor degree in 1984 and serving as vice president of the student senate. During law school, he embarked on a kayaking and hiking trip across China and met Jane Dudley, whom he married in 1986. After graduating from law school, Portman moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked for the law firm Patton Boggs. Some describe his role there as a lobbyist; others say that such a description is inaccurate. Portman next became an associate at Graydon Head & Ritchey LLP, a law firm in Cincinnati.
In 1989, Portman began his career in government as an associate White House Counsel under President George H. W. Bush. From 1989 to 1991, he served as Bush's deputy assistant and director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs.[10] While serving as White House counsel, Portman visited China, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
