Rush Holt is a different kind of congressman.

Every day, Rush gets to work so that we all have the opportunity to participate in the richness, freedom, and opportunity of the American Dream.

Rush Holt has a well-earned reputation for effectiveness, thoroughly studying the issues based on merit not partisanship, standing up for principle, and listening to his constituents.

Rush is a different kind of congressman because he brings a very different experience to serving as our representative. Prior to his election to Congress in one of the biggest upsets of 1998, Rush worked as an educator, scientist, and arms control expert.

At the U.S. State Department, Rush monitored the nuclear programs of countries such as Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and the former Soviet Union. From 1980 to 1988, he served on the faculty at Swarthmore College, where he taught courses in physics, public policy, and religion. From 1989 until his 1998 congressional campaign, Rush was Assistant Director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University’s largest research facility and the largest center for alternative energy research in New Jersey.

Rush is currently the only physicist serving in the United States Congress. He serves on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Natural Resources, where he has been named the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. This Subcommittee aims to find long-term solutions to the climate crisis by reducing the United States' dependence on fossil fuels.

Rep. Holt served as Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from its start in 2007 until it was disbanded in 2010. The Panel was charged with strengthening oversight of the intelligence community by ensuring that policymakers receive accurate assessments, civil liberties are safeguarded, and the intelligence community is protecting Americans at home and abroad.

Rush has consistently devoted his work to making sure the American Dream belongs to all of us. He is currently working to-

Help small businesses create jobs by supporting a small business investment tax credit;

Support community banks so they can make loans to local small businesses and entrepreneurs;

Encourage the creation of jobs of the new economy through the creation of the New Jersey Technology Center;

Hold big banks accountable by demanding those that took government bailout funds make more loans available to small businesses and individuals;

Fight for middle-class tax relief to help families make ends meet in these tough economic times;

Ensure equal pay for women and raising the minimum wage;

Put a college education within reach of more middle class families by increasing access to student loans and Pell Grants

Protect our seniors by strengthening Medicare – including providing coverage for preventive care such as mammograms and annual physicals – protecting Social Security, and closing the Medicare prescription drug “donut hole”;

Honor the service of America’s veterans by requiring the Department of Defense to monitor new veterans’ adjustment to civilian life and enacting the largest veterans’ health care funding increase in the 77-year history of the Veterans’ Administration;

Keep America safe by successfully advocating for the implementation of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations, including 100 percent cargo screening; and

Protect our environment by preserving open space in our communities, guarding our beaches from reckless off-shore drilling, and encouraging renewable energies that free us from our dependence on foreign oil.

Rush has consistently worked to find common ground with his colleagues on the other side of the aisle. He joined with Republicans to support common-sense proposals for pay raises for our National Guard reservists and tax credits for teachers with backgrounds in critical subject areas like math, science, and foreign language.

In Congress, Rush has fought on behalf of Central New Jersey and has developed a reputation as a Representative who gets real results for the people and businesses of his district. He worked with his colleagues in the Senate to secure $800 million over two years for transit security improvements. To preserve our precious open space, Rush fought to restore $150 million in funding to the Land Water Conservation Fund. Rush also secured $1.6 million in federal funding to repair Route 1 in Middlesex County.

Rush’s common-sense approach has earned him numerous accolades and commendations, including being named one of Scientific American magazine’s “50 national visionaries contributing to a brighter technological future.” He is one of only two representatives to receive a lifetime 100% rating from the League of Conservation Voters and has received perfect scores from the Children’s Defense Fund, the American Public Health Association, the Council for a Liveable World, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Human Rights Campaign. Rush was also recently recognized for his outspoken support of LGBT rights when he was selected as an ElectEquality candidate by the National Stonewall Democrats, a leading national grassroots LGBT advocacy network.

Rush Holt, 63, holds a B.A. in physics from Carleton College, as well as M.A. and Ph.D. degrees, also in physics, from New York University. He resides in Hopewell Township with his wife, Margaret Lancefield, a physician and the medical director of the outpatient clinic at the University Medical Center at Princeton. They have three grown children – Michael, Dejan, and Rachel – and seven grandchildren – Niala, Noah, Boaz, Varun, Rohan, Cecile, and Joshua.