page_title: Bob Ehrlich
section_title: Congress
hierarchical_section_title: Bob Ehrlich / Congress
caption_attribution_description: Robert Ehrlich's official photo in Congress
context_page_description: Robert Leroy Ehrlich Jr. is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 60th Governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007. A Republican, Ehrlich represented Maryland's 2nd Congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. Prior to that, he was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates.
  In 2006, Ehrlich was defeated in his bid for re-election by Democrat Martin O'Malley. In 2010, Ehrlich sought an unsuccessful rematch against O'Malley. Ehrlich then announced, via his website, that he would "return to private life." In October 2011, he was named chair of Mitt Romney's Maryland campaign for the 2012 Republican nomination for President.
context_section_description: In 1993, 2nd district Representative Helen Delich Bentley announced she would be vacating her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ehrlich announced his candidacy for the open seat and won the election in November 1994. During his term, he introduced legislation aimed at helping disabled people maintain employment and supported harsher gun violence penalties.
  While in Congress, Ehrlich served on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee. He was also a member of the subcommittees on health, telecommunications and the Internet, and environment and hazardous materials; the Congressional Biotechnology Caucus, where he served as co-chairman; and the Congressional Steel Caucus.
  Ehrlich won all his elections in Congress by margins of at least 25%. He announced he would be forgoing reelection in 2002 to run for governor. He was succeeded by Dutch Ruppersberger.
caption: Ehrlich's congressional portrait
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