Phillip Crawford

NS Nation Name: Jovuistan
Character Name: Phillip Crawford
Character Gender: Boy
Character Age: 54
Character Height: 5'8"
Character Weight: 187 lbs
Character Position/Role/Job: U.S. Representative from KY-3 (2007-present), Kentucky State Senator (2001-2007)
Appearance:
Character State of Origin: Ohio
Character State of Residence: Kentucky
Character Party Affiliation: Democratic
Main Strengths: Bipartisan, calm, optimistic, moderate appeal
Main Weaknesses: Quiet, tendency to hedge on issues, bland, difficulty appealing to the left.
Biography: Phillip Crawford was born on July 1st, 1964 in Cleveland, Ohio, as the youngest of 5 children. His family lived as decently as they could get being an African-American family in the early 60s, with his father working a decent job as a construction worker, and his mother choosing to stay at home to take care of her kids. Crawford was raised a big fan of many jazz and soul music artists and initially aspired to become a singer himself, however, he became influence by his much more politically active eldest brother Earl. Earl's youth had been impacted greatly by the Civil Rights Movement and it was this that inspired him to get involved in criminal justice. As Phillip had a closer relationship with Earl than any of his other siblings, his conversations with his altered his world view, and he too became interested in civil rights.

Phillip enrolled in Cleveland State University just two years after Earl had graduated from the college. He obtained his Juris Doctor from the Cleveland–Marshall College of Law in 1989, and joined his brother at his recently founded firm Crawford & Austin Law which he founded with his college girlfriend, based in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. After passing the bar exam, Crawford got to work as an attorney specializing in civil rights. The firm developed a reputation over just a few years, but not because of Phillip. Earl's passionate and sharp style earned him a great deal of praise and even got him the attention of the local Democratic Party after they discovered his political positions. Phillip, meanwhile, was completely overshadowed, he didn't have quite the amount of prowess in courtrooms as his brother, and he even started to dislike being a lawyer. He almost quit entirely by 1997 but persisted as he didn't want to leave Earl disappointed. Things shifted suddenly when Earl made the decision to run for Mayor. His strong speaking style and prolific campaigning allowed him to win the election in 1998, leaving Phillip even more in his shadow to his dismay.

Earl started trying to convince Phillip to follow a similar path as him and run for political office. Phillip originally hated the idea of running but was convinced after his brother claimed he would be able to do more good in government than in court. Phillip Crawford ran for State Senate in 2000, aided greatly by his brother's support, but the Democratic Party was skeptical, doubting if Phillip's heart was fully in it. It was a difficult path to the nomination, but he was able to triumph thanks to Earl's campaigning and cruised to victory in the general.

Phillip still didn't totally want to be there when he arrived in the State Senate, but things changed when he recognized his ability to heavily change the state if he tried. He prioritized civil rights and infrastructure in his first term in office, only some of his plans actually passing by the narrow Republican majority. He won re-election in 2004 and gained notoriety after passing a bipartisan education reform bill. The Democrats, now feeling much more confident in Crawford's abilities, came knocking on his door in 2006 in need of a challenger to the incumbent Republican in KY-3. Crawford hesitantly accepted their request and launched a campaign to unseat the Republican. He first had to get through the primary, where he faced off against a popular State House member for the nomination. His name recognition was enough to push him to victory by about 5 perecent. Now in the general election, things were looking to be very close. His Republican opponent was considered to be a better campaigner, but Crawford was balancing it with better appeal to moderates. Thanks to the momentum of the Democratic wave that year Crawford was able to win the race by just under 2 points.

In his early time in Congress, Crawford supported the Iraq troop surge and was viewed as a more moderate member of the House Democrats, albeit a quiet one. While he has been wheeled out to the negotiating table often throughout his tenure, he was never a headline maker, and really, he didn't feel the need to be. He endorsed Baharia in the 2008 election and campaigned for him as the Kentucky primary approached. He gained his first taste of media attention in 2010 after delivering a passionate speech calling out multiple vocal opponents of Bahariacare by name and accusing them of being in the pockets of insurance companies in a rare act of partisanship from the sophomore Representative.

Crawford had been generally skeptically of gun control for most of his career, but switched to being in favor of it following the Sandy Hook shooting, though wouldn't go as far as an assault weapons ban. He supported the Keystone XL Pipeline initially but later stated in 2016 that he made a mistake in supporting it. He favored the Iran nuclear deal and the USA Freedom Act and opposed the Wolf tax cuts. Crawford was one of the writers of the First Step Act and helped add the sentencing reform provisions to the bill. He has most recently supported the DOVE Act and has called for more strict gun control after the Roanoke Shooting.
Other Info: Married to Paula Freeman in 1993. Has three sons. 2Pac fan. On the Judiciary, Rules, and Education and Labor committees.