US Senate career of Barack Obama

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Barack Obama served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from January 3, 2005, to November 16, 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama had previously served three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2005. He resigned his seat in the U.S. Senate upon being elected president of the United States. Obama won the seat in an election against Alan Keyes who replaced Republican primary election winner Jack Ryan. Obama rose to national prominence by delivering the 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address. Upon his election, he became the fifth African-American senator in U.S. history, as well as the third to have been popularly elected. As a senator, Obama served on a variety of committees and chaired the United States Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs. His bill sponsorship and voting records indicates that he was a Democratic Party loyalist. He was considered to be among the most liberal by various analyses. In his first session (109th Congress...

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