Hugh Rodham Hugh Edwin Rodham ( born 26 May 1950 ) is an American lawyer , businessman and Democratic Party politician who is the brother of former New York Senator , First Lady , and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton . Rodham made one run for political office , winning the 1994 Democratic nomination for the United States Senate seat from Florida , but losing the general election to incumbent Senator Connie Mack III . Early life and education . Rodham is the son of Hugh Ellsworth Rodham , a Chicago textile wholesaler , and Dorothy Emma Howell . He has one younger brother , Tony Rodham . Like Hillary , he was born in Chicago but grew up in suburban Park Ridge , Illinois . He graduated from Maine South High School in 1968 , playing on the football , wrestling , and baseball teams . Like his father , Rodham attended Pennsylvania State University , graduating in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of Health and Human Development . While attending Penn State he was backup quarterback on the Penn State Nittany Lions football team . Rodham was also an active member of the Sigma Triton charge of Theta Delta Chi fraternity at Penn State . He served in the Peace Corps in Colombia for over a year , training teacher s ; he later called it the most rewarding experience of his life . He then gained advanced degrees in education and law at the University of Arkansas , the latter occurring while Bill Clinton was governor of the state . Run for U . S . Senate . Rodham left the public defenders office to run for the United States Senate in Florida in 1994 . He won the Democratic Party nomination by defeating Mike Wiley , a talk radio personality and advocate of UFO conspiracy theories , by a margin of 58 to 42 percent in a runoff election , after earlier finishing first in a four - person primary field with 34 percent . After the first primary , the third - place finisher , flamboyant Miami lawyer and perennial losing candidate Ellis Rubin , joined forces with Rodham as an " senior executive consultant " and hatchet man . In the presence of Rodham at a press conference , Rubin levelled the accusation that Wiley was hiding his Jewish faith by changing his name from his birth name , Michael Schreiber , and that Wiley " changed his name before the campaign to deceive voters about his Jewish religion . " Wiley accordingly refused to endorse Rodham after the runoff . Rodham then lost by a 70 % - 30 % margin to incumbent Senator Republican Connie Mack III in the general election . Although Bill and Hillary Clinton both campaigned for him , his organization was unable to take advantage of their help , he had few funds , only one television commercial , and little support from the Florida Democratic party establishment in a year that saw Republican gains everywhere . After the election , Rubin switched allegiance again and charged Rodham with election law violations in the first primary ; the Federal Elections Commission eventually dismissed the allegations . Rodham subsequently tried to unseat the Dade County Democratic Party Chairman ; after badly losing that race , he disappeared from the Florida political scene . Return to law . After losing the election , Rodham returned to law , while also trying his hand at hosting a syndicated talk radio show around 1996 . During 1995 through 1997 Rodham started working on a very large tobacco lawsuit with other attorneys ; observers were puzzled as to Rodham ' s involvement , given his limited experience in the area , and speculated that influence peddling might be the reason . The massive case eventually failed to gain Congressional approval . In 1999 , Hugh and brother Tony Rodham entered into a $ 118 million venture to grow and export hazelnuts from the Republic of Georgia . The U . S . State Department and National Security Advisor Sandy Berger became upset , however , when the Rodhams ' local business connection in Batumi turned out to be Aslan Abashidze , a major political opponent of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze , then a key U . S . ally in the region . After initial resistance , Berger and the Clintons prevailed upon the Rodham brothers to drop the deal . Hugh Rodham stated that he was only acting as a lawyer for the venture and did not have money invested in it . Episodes such as these led Hillary Clinton ' s White House staff to refer to Hugh and Tony as " the Brothers Rodham " , extending the American tradition of troublesome presidential siblings to the brother - in - law category ; one senior White House official would be quoted as saying , " You never wanted to hear their name come up in any context other than playing golf . " Role in pardons . As the Clinton administration came to a close in early 2001 , it was discovered that Hugh Rodham received around $ 400 , 000 for legal services regarding gaining the Presidential pardon of fraudulent businessman Glenn Braswell and the sentence commutation of drug trafficker Carlos Vignali . While legal experts said that Rodham may well not have done anything wrong , the appearance of possible impropriety certainly existed . Moreoever , coming while the Bill Clinton pardons controversy was already in full force , this was a further embarrassment for the former administration and even got the attention of the Congressional House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform . Hillary Clinton , now a newly - sworn - in Senator , said , " He ' s my brother . I love my brother . . . I ' m just extremely disappointed in this terrible misjudgment that he made . . . I knew nothing about my brother ' s involvement in these pardons . I knew nothing about his taking money for his involvement . " Both Clintons pressured Rodham to return the $ 400 , 000 , which he promptly did . During this time , Rodham additionally collected media criticism for being overweight and a poor dresser . Subsequently , Rodham stayed out of the public eye . When his sister ' s 2008 presidential campaign came to the family summer home of Scranton , Pennsylvania , for the state primary , he hosted a reception for campaign workers .