district state_senate succeeded predecessor successor religion birth_place party term_end preceded prior_term birth_date term term_start article_title state name
6th 47th minnesota mark kennedy al kowalczyk don kramer roman catholic fergus falls , minnesota democratic party january 1 , 1995 rod grams 45th -lrb- 1977 -- 1983 -rrb- 27 june 1945 january 3 , 1995 -- january 3 , 2003 january 4 , 1977 bill luther
 minnesota bill luther
bill luther

william paul `` bill '' luther -lrb- born june 27 , 1945 -rrb- is an american politician .
luther was a democratic-farmer-labor party -lrb- dfl -rrb- member of the united states house of representatives representing minnesota 's 6th congressional district from january 3 , 1995 , to january 3 , 2003 , serving in the 104th , 105th , 106th , and 107th congresses , luther was born in fergus falls , minnesota , and was educated at the university of minnesota , receiving a bachelor of science in 1967 and a juris doctor from the law school in 1970 .
before entering politics , he worked first as an attorney and later as a prosecutor for the court of appeals .
he was a member of the minnesota house of representatives from 1975 to 1976 and the minnesota senate from 1977 to 1994 .
during his career as a state legislator and a congressman , luther gained an image as a moderate democrat .
after the 2000 census , minnesota 's congressional map was radically altered , even though the state did n't gain or lose any districts .
luther 's 6th district in the northern twin cities suburbs was pushed slightly north and made significantly more republican .
after some consideration , luther opted to run in the newly created 2nd district in the southern suburbs , which contained about 39 percent of his former territory .
he faced a rematch against republican john kline , his opponent in 1998 and 2000 .
during the campaign , luther came under fire when one of his supporters , sam garst , filed for the race under the banner of the `` no new taxes party . ''
this was done in retaliation for an ad the national republican congressional committee ran in support of kline that accused luther of being soft on crime .
luther subsequently admitted that his campaign knew about garst 's false flag campaign .
luther never really recovered and was soundly defeated , taking 42 percent of the vote .
in 2006 , luther entered the dfl party primary for the office of minnesota attorney general after endorsed candidate matt entenza withdrew from the race .
he lost the primary to lori swanson .
