In 1976, he ran for the United States Senate, defeating Republican incumbent John Glenn Beall Jr. with 59% of the vote. Sarbanes was re-elected four times, each time receiving no less than 59% of the vote. He did not seek re-election in 2006, when he was succeeded by fellow Democrat Ben Cardin. Sarbanes was known for his low-key style,[1] often shunning the limelight over his thirty-year Senate career. He was a coauthor of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which is generally noted as his most noteworthy piece of legislation.[2][3]
Early life
Sarbanes was born on Maryland's Eastern Shore in the city of Salisbury to Greek immigrant parents, Matina (née Tsigounis) and Spyros P. Sarbanes, who had emigrated from Laconia, Greece and owned a Salisbury restaurant.[4][5]
By 1981, Sarbanes was noted as a frequent critic of military budgets.[16] In spite of this, in May of that year, he voted in favor of approving a Reagan administration-backed $136.5 billion military authorization bill.[16] In December, he voted in favor[17] of an amendment to President Ronald Reagan's MX missiles proposal that would divert the silo system by $334 million as well as earmark further research for other methods that would allow giant missiles to be based.[18] While the military authorization bill was seen as supporting the administration,[16] the December vote was viewed as a rebuff of Reagan.[18][19]
On March 11, 2005, Sarbanes, the longest-serving senator in Maryland history, announced at a news conference his decision not to seek re-election in 2006.[20] Colleagues of Sarbanes said that the reason for his retirement from the Senate was due to his annoyance with not having any leadership roles on committees.[21]
Sarbanes received the Foreign Language Advocacy Award in 2007 from the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in recognition of his lifelong commitment to the values, languages, and cultures of the ancient world in service to the modern world.[22]
^Both Sarbanes and Mikulski served five terms (thirty years) in the Senate. However, due to a differing number of leap days over their tenures, Mikulski finished with 10,958 days of Senate service, to Sarbanes's 10,957 days.
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