Rick A. Lazio (born March 13, 1958) is a former U.S. Representative from the state of New York. A pro-choice Republican, he ran unsuccessfully against Hillary Clinton for the U.S. Senate in 2000. Lazio was born in Amityville, New York in Suffolk County, New York. He is a graduate of West Islip High School, Vassar College and American University's Washington College of Law. Prior to being elected to Congress, he was the executive assistant district attorney for Suffolk County and served in the Suffolk County Legislature.
He represented the New York 2nd Congressional District as a Republican and was first elected in 1992, defeating the incumbent, Tom Downey, who had served for eighteen years but was one of the most prominent figures in the 1992 Rubbergate scandal.
Lazio served four terms from 1993 to 2001, becoming Deputy Majority Whip and Assistant Majority Leader. In 2000, he ran for the Senate but was defeated by Hillary Clinton in the race to succeed Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
His comparatively late entry into the race (five months before Election Day) followed New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's decision not to run for the Senate.
After the defeat, he became the President and CEO of Financial Services Forum.
As of December 2005, Lazio was an executive vice-president at JPMorgan Chase & Co. After considering a run for New York State Attorney General in 2006, he stated that for both family and political reasons, he would not be running for any office in that year.
