Biography:

Eric Fingerhut was born in 1959 in the Cleveland suburb of University Heights, Ohio, and now lives in nearby Shaker Heights.

He graduated from Cleveland Heights High School in 1977 and earned his bachelor's degree in speech in 1981 from Northwestern University, where he graduated with highest honors. Fingerhut graduated from the Stanford University School of Law in 1984.

After law school, Fingerhut worked as an attorney in the Older Person's Law Office of the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, with the Cleveland firm of Hahn, Loeser & Parks, and as the associate director of the welfare-to-work program Cleveland Works, 1987-89.

In 1989, Fingerhut managed the successful campaign of Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White and served as White's special assistant. Fingerhut served in the Ohio Senate from 1991 to 1992, and was elected for one term to the U.S. House in 1992.

After losing his seat to Republican Steve LaTourette, Fingerhut served from 1995 to 2001 as a senior fellow at the Federation for Community Planning, a nonprofit organization that plans and advocates on health and human services in the Cleveland area. He was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1998 and re-elected in 2002.

Fingerhut teaches religious school at his synagogue. He and his wife, Amy, have one son.

Past Campaigns:

Eric Fingerhut was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1990. He won a nine-way primary election for the U.S. House in 1992 with 24 percent of the vote, beating Cuyahoga County Auditor Tim McCormack, who got 19 percent, and Democrat Dennis Kucinich, who got 18 percent.

Fingerhut was elected to the U.S. House in 1992, beating Lake County Commissioner Robert Gardner 53 percent to 47 percent. Fingerhut lost re-election in 1994 to Republican Steve LaTourette, who beat him 48 percent to 43 percent.

He was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1998 and re-elected in 2002. He earned 71 percent of the vote to win the March 2, 2004, primary for the U.S. Senate.

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