Bob Barr - Congressional Career

Congressional Career

Further information: Electoral history of Bob Barr

Barr sought the Republican Party nomination for U.S. Senate in 1992, but lost the primary election to Paul Coverdell. The primary was very close, with Barr losing by fewer than 1,600 votes in a runoff election. Subsequently, Coverdell came in behind incumbent Senator Wyche Fowler in the general election, but the 3% showing by a Libertarian candidate (Jim Hudson) forced a runoff, which Coverdell won.

Barr was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 as a Republican, upsetting six-term Democrat Buddy Darden, to represent Georgia's 7th congressional district in the 104th United States Congress. Barr was one of 73 Republican freshmen ushered into Congress in that election. The election became known as the "Republican Revolution" because it resulted in the first Republican House majority in 40 years—since the 1955 adjournment of the 83rd Congress.

Barr was later re-elected three times, serving from 1995 to 2003. While in Congress, Barr served as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, as Vice-Chairman of the Government Reform Committee, and as a member of the Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on Veteran's Affairs.

In Congress, Barr became famous for his "dour" image and told constituents, "You don't send me to Washington to smile." He also said in a radio interview "If it's not in the Constitution, I won't smile". He later explained "I don't consider politicians who smile to be worth a heck of a lot... all things considered, it doesn't make a dime's worth of difference if the politicians in Washington smile or not, what matters is how much of your hard-earned dollars they take to spend in pure pork". Barr said in 2010 "I can see a situation where the federal government is going to bring an entire suitcase of San Francisco values to the American family, and while I would love to explain all the things that are wrong with that, the fact is that this is a corrupting, left-leaning, influence on a section of society that so many liberal elites want to see taken out of the 'red state' column. The only solution to this kind of behavior is dour and austere social conservatism, like my own". Adding to his image, Barr has frequently protested about "cult hairstyles", saying "I cannot abide by people who adopt a cult hairstyle, or persistently dress inappropriately for meetings with me".

Georgia's congressional districts were reorganized by the Democratic-controlled Georgia legislature ahead of the 2002 elections for the 108th Congress. As part of the legislature's effort to get more Democrats elected from the state, Barr's district was dismantled even though Georgia gained two districts. He was drawn into the same district as fellow Republican John Linder. The new district was numerically Barr's district — the 7th — but contained most of the territory from Linder's old 11th District. This move profited Democrats by leading to the inevitable defeat of an incumbent Republican (i.e., either Barr or Linder). Recognizing Barr's precarious situation, the Libertarian Party seized on the opportunity to oust one of the federal drug war's most vocal proponents (Barr), and ran TV ads criticizing Barr's opposition to medical marijuana during the Republican primaries. Barr was soundly defeated by a 2-to-1 margin. The extent to which the issue of medical marijuana shaped the election is unclear. Some have argued that Barr's huge loss simply reflected the nature of the new 7th district, which was primarily redrawn from Linder's old 11th district. However, before the medical marijuana ads were aired, the Linder campaign acknowledged the race as being tight; and Pat Gartland, southeastern director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, saw the race as "too close to call".

Barr's defeat was applauded by many Democrats and Libertarians. Rob Kampia of the Marijuana Policy Project called it "glorious news". Ron Crickenberger, producer of the TV ads, was quick to warn other supporters of the War on Drugs:

With this victory, we have fired a warning shot for every drug warrior in Congress to hear. And any member of Congress—Democrat or Republican—who introduces legislation to make federal drug laws even more oppressive could be next on our list.
—Ron Crickenberger, Libertarian Party Political Director, August 2002

However, some individuals within these groups lamented Barr's defeat as a setback for privacy rights and libertarian causes in general. Libertarian J. Bradley Jansen opined:

The LP has a historic opportunity to present itself as a viable alternative to the big parties, instead of spending its money and energy trying to defeat one of libertarianism's few friends in Congress just because they disagree with him on one issue.
—J. Bradley Jansen, vice chair of the Libertarian Party in the District of Columbia, Liberty (August 2002)