Meet Chris Coons

Chair, Senate Judiciary Subcommitee on Bankruptcy and the Courts
Chair, Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs
Chair, Business Outreach, Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee

In two years as a United States Senator, Chris Coons has earned a reputation as a principled and pragmatic lawmaker, focused on some of the most important issues confronting Delaware and the nation. He has emerged as a strong voice for job creation and the innovation economy, responsible deficit reduction, progressive social justice, and a forward-looking foreign policy.

Serving on the Judiciary, Energy & Natural Resources, Foreign Relations, and Budget committees, Senator Coons is uniquely positioned to help nurture American innovation and make the United States more competitive in the global market. His legislative agenda in the 112th Congress focused on job creation, leveling the playing field for clean-energy technology, expanding the impact of the research and development tax credit, and measures focused on helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses.

Unwilling to be sidelined by an unprecedented level of partisan gridlock, Senator Coons has worked creatively to make a difference. In his first two years as a senator, he:

• Organized 10 job fairs and skills workshops to help Delawareans find work;
• Founded the Senate Law Enforcement Caucus to help strengthen local, state, and federal public safety efforts; 
• Earned a 96 percent score from the League of Conservation Voters for his advocacy for environmental, public health, and energy issues; and
• Brought together fellow senators and produced a compelling video to urge LGBT youth to remember ‘it gets better.’

Protecting Americans’ civil liberties and our right to equal justice under the law is important to Senator Coons. In his first two years as a senator, he:

• Cast principled votes against reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act and FISA Amendments Act;
• Introduced the FAST Voting Act to help states improve their elections’ administration and stop disenfranchising voters;
• Earned a 100 percent score from the Human Rights Campaign; and has
• Reliably advocated and spoken out for women’s health and the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. 

Before joining the Senate, Senator Coons spent a decade of successful service in New Castle County government. In four years as New Castle County Council President and six years as New Castle County Executive, he earned a reputation for delivering real results on behalf of Delawareans, and protected the county during the least stable national economic climate in decades. 

Prior to serving as county executive, Senator Coons worked as an attorney for Delaware-based W.L. Gore & Associates — one of the 200 largest privately held companies in the United States — where he helped the company expand. He’d previously worked for the “I Have a Dream Foundation,” helping at-risk youth stay in school, get to college and build their lives, and with the Coalition for the Homeless.

Senator Coons is a graduate of Amherst College with bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and political science, taking a semester to study abroad at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. He earned a law degree from Yale Law School while simultaneously earning a master’s degree in ethics from Yale Divinity School. 

A longtime New Castle County resident, Chris grew up in the Pike Creek and Hockessin areas and lives in Wilmington with his wife, Annie, and their three children, Michael, Jack, and Maggie.