Richard Mauze Burr (born November 30, 1955) is an American businessman and politician who served as a United States senator from North Carolina from 2005 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, Burr was previously a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2005.
Born in Charlottesville, Virginia, Burr is a graduate of Wake Forest University. Before seeking elected office, he was a sales manager for a lawn equipment company. Burr temporarily stepped down as chair of the Intelligence Committee on May 15, 2020, amid an FBI investigation into allegations of insider trading during the COVID-19 pandemic. On January 19, 2021, the Department of Justice announced that the investigation had been closed, with no charges against Burr.
Burr was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Donald Trump of incitement of insurrection in his second impeachment trial.
Early life, education, and business career
Burr was born on November 30, 1955, in Charlottesville, Virginia, the son of Martha (Gillum) and Rev. David Horace White Burr. In 1963, he moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina He graduated from Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 1974 and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Wake Forest University in 1978. In college, Burr played defensive back for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team. He is a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity.
Before running for Congress, Burr worked for 17 years as a sales manager for Carswell Distributing Company, a distributor of lawn equipment.
U.S. House of Representatives
In 1992, Burr ran against incumbent Representative Stephen L. Neal for the seat in the Winston-Salem-based 5th District and lost. He also helped create the National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, he successfully sponsored amendments to improve defenses against bioterrorism. The original Schumer amendment placed increased controls on U.S. civilian exports of weapons-grade highly enriched uranium (HEU) to encourage foreign users to switch to reactor-grade low-enriched uranium (LEU) for isotope production. HEU is attractive to terrorists because it can be used to create a simple nuclear weapon, while LEU cannot be used directly to make nuclear weapons. Burr's amendment allowed exports of HEU to five countries for creating medical isotopes.
Burr was reelected four times with no substantial opposition.
Burr faced Democratic nominee Erskine Bowles and Libertarian Tom Bailey; he won the election with 52% of the vote. Burr was sworn in to the Senate on January 4, 2005.
2010
Burr defeated the Democratic nominee, North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, 55% to 43%. Burr's win also represented the first time that North Carolina reelected a senator to this seat since Ervin's 1968 victory, leading Burr to declare "the curse has been broken" on election night; Democrats and Republicans swapped control of the seat five times between 1968 and 2010. Burr was an advisor for Donald Trump's successful 2016 presidential campaign.
2022
On July 20, 2016, while campaigning for a third Senate term, Burr announced that he would not seek a fourth term in 2022. He did not seek reelection in 2022.
Tenure and political positions
thumb|Burr with President [[George W. Bush, July 2004]]
In 2007, Burr ran for chair of the Senate Republican Conference, but lost to Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee by a vote of 31 to 16. In 2009, Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Senate Republican Whip, appointed Burr Chief Deputy Whip in the 111th Congress. In 2007, Burr was named a deputy whip. but he dropped out of the race in 2012.
As of January 2021, Burr's votes aligned with President Trump's positions about 89% of the time. He voted against the majority of his party in about 1.5% of votes. The American Conservative Union's Center for Legislative Accountability gave Burr a lifetime rating of 84.22.
Burr served as a member of the board of Brenner Children's Hospital and the West Point Board of Visitors.
Campaign finance
Burr opposed the DISCLOSE Act, which would have required political ads include information about who funded the ad. He supported the U.S. Supreme Court decision Citizens United, which allowed political action committees to spend an unlimited amount of money during elections so long as they were not in direct coordination with candidates.
Economy
During his time in office, Burr was critical of financial regulations; he strongly opposed, and voted against, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 and the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In 2018, he voted for legislation that partly repealed the Dodd–Frank reforms. In 2009, in response to press about his experience, Burr said that he would do the same thing again next time.
Burr was a signatory of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, vowing to oppose to tax increases for any reason. He opposed raising taxes on businesses or high-income people to fund public services. Burr called the approach of Cruz and allies "the height of hypocrisy" and the "dumbest idea I've ever heard." and supported the adoption of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement. He opposed raising the federal minimum wage. He supported renewal of the 1965 Land and Water Conservation Fund.
During his time in office, Burr did not accept the scientific consensus on climate change; he acknowledged that climate change is occurring, but expressed doubt that it is caused by human activity. He opposed regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions, and opposed federal grants or subsidies to encourage the productions of renewable energy. In 2013, Burr voted for a measure expressing opposition to a federal tax or fee on carbon emissions. He voted in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline.
In 2017, Burr voted to repeal the Stream Protection Rule as well as rules requiring energy companies to reduce waste, reduce emissions, and disclose payments from foreign governments.
In 2019, Burr and nine Republican colleagues founded the Roosevelt Conservation Caucus, which advocates "market-based approaches" to environmental problems; the caucus is supported by the American Conservation Coalition.
Education
In 2017, Burr voted to confirm Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary; she was confirmed by vote of 51–50, with Vice President Mike Pence casting a tie-breaking vote after the Senate deadlocked. DeVos's family donated $43,200 to Burr's 2016 reelection campaign.
Burr typically voted against any increased funding for federal education projects, and in 2016 said he opposed increasing Pell Grants and other forms of student financial aid, including new subsidies aimed at helping students refinance their loans. Burr supported President Bush's troop surge in Iraq in January 2007, saying that the effort to counter the insurgency would increase "security and stability" in Iraq.
In 2018 and 2019, Burr opposed legislation to prohibit U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and to end U.S. military assistance to the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.
Gun policy
In 2016, the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund gave Burr an "A+" grade and endorsed him for reelection for backing pro-gun legislation. The NRA extensively supported Burr's election campaigns. In the 2016 election, the NRA spent nearly $7 million to support Burr against his Democratic rival Deborah Ross; over his career, Burr received more monetary support from the NRA than almost any other member of Congress
In 2013, Burr voted against gun control measures, including extended background checks to internet and gun show weapons purchases and an assault weapons ban. He sponsored legislation to stop the Department of Veterans Affairs from adding the names of veterans to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) if the department had assigned a financial fiduciary to take care of the veteran's finances due to mental incompetence, unless a judge or magistrate deemed them a danger. People added to the NICS system are normally barred from purchasing or owning a firearm. Burr voted against Senator Dianne Feinstein's "no fly no buy" bill, but supported a Republican alternative measure written by Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) which proposed a 72-hour delay on gun sales to people whose names have been on a federal terror watch list within the past five years." He quickly apologized for the comment.
In 2022, Burr was one of ten Republican senators to support a bipartisan agreement on gun control, which involved a red flag provision, a support for state crisis intervention orders, funding for school safety resources, stronger background checks for buyers under the age of 21, and penalties for straw purchases.
Health policy
Burr voted against the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in December 2009, and against the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. In 2014, Burr and Senator Orrin Hatch sponsored the Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility and Empowerment Act, which would have repealed and replaced the ACA. In 2017, Burr voted for the Republican legislation to replace major parts of the ACA; the legislation failed in the Senate on a 50–49 vote. The proposal would have begun "a transition to a system dominated by private insurance plans."
Burr opposed legislation to allow the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate the tobacco industry, which is economically important in North Carolina, and unsuccessfully tried to filibuster the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009.
Social issues
In 2018, Burr voted in favor of legislation to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. He voted to define a pregnancy as carrying an "unborn child" from the moment of conception. He voted to prevent minors who have crossed state lines from getting an abortion, as well as to ensure parents are notified if their child does get an abortion. He voted to extend the federal prohibition on tax dollars being used for abortions by preventing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from giving grants to any organization that performs abortions at any of its locations.
Burr opposed the legalization of cannabis for both medical and recreational use. He stated that there should be greater enforcement of current anti-cannabis federal laws in all states, even when cannabis is legal as a matter of state law.
Burr voted for the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, the only Southern Republican senator to do so. The bill repealed the Defense Department's don't ask, don't tell policy of employment discrimination against openly gay individuals. Burr and John Ensign were the only senators who voted against cloture but for passage; Burr said he opposed taking up the issue of DADT repeal amid wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but voted in favor of the bill anyway, becoming one of eight Republicans who backed the final repeal bill. but in 2013 said that he believed the law on same-sex marriage should be left to the states. In 2013, he voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a bill to extend federal employment discrimination protections to LGBT persons. In 2015, Burr was one of 11 Senate Republicans to vote in favor of allowing same-sex spouses to have access to federal Social Security and veterans' benefits.
Burr supported policies to regulate bathroom access according to sex listed on birth certificates, but sought to distance himself from H.B. 2, North Carolina's controversial "bathroom legislation".
Burr voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act in 2013.
Burr voted against earmarking money for programs aimed at reducing teen pregnancy He has stated he supports giving employers the right to restrict access to birth control coverage of employees if it is for moral reasons. but ultimately voted for the law.
Judiciary
In 2016, Burr and other Republican senators opposed holding a nomination hearing for Judge Merrick Garland, whom President Obama nominated to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States; he also refused to have a customary meeting with Garland. In 2016, Burr blocked consideration of Obama's nomination of Patricia Timmons-Goodson to fill an 11-year vacancy on U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Burr voted to confirm Trump's Supreme Court nominees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Privacy and surveillance
In 2015, as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Burr proposed a five-year extension of the Patriot Act, which was set to expire in May 2015. Though he originally supported legislation which would reauthorize Patriot Act programs without any reforms, Burr was a prominent advocate of retaining language in any reauthorizing legislation to allow the National Security Agency to continue bulk collection of metadata of private telephone records. and Congress passed the USA Freedom Act, signed into law in June 2015, which instead allowed the NSA to subpoena the data from telephone companies.
In 2016, after the FBI–Apple encryption dispute, Burr and Senator Dianne Feinstein circulated a draft bill (which was subsequently leaked) that would create a "backdoor" mandate, requiring technology companies to design encryption so as to provide law enforcement with user data in an "intelligible format" when required to do so by court order.
President Trump
Burr was a national security adviser to the Trump campaign.
As chair of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Burr led that chamber's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. In March 2017, Comey briefed congressional leaders and Intelligence Committee heads on the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the election. That briefing included "an identification of the principal U.S. subjects of the investigation." The Mueller report found that Burr had then corresponded with the Trump White House a week later about the Russia probes, with the White House Counsel's office, led by Don McGahn, apparently receiving "information about the status of the FBI investigation."
In December 2019, amid an impeachment inquiry into Trump over the Trump–Ukraine scandal (Trump's request that Ukraine announce an investigation into his political rival Joe Biden), Burr pushed the debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election. Burr said, "There's no difference in the way Russia put their feet, early on, on the scale—being for one candidate and everybody called it meddling—and how the Ukrainian officials did it." During Trump's first impeachment trial, Burr said he would oppose removing Trump from office even if a quid pro quo was confirmed. He opposed calling Trump's former National Security Adviser John Bolton as a witness at the Senate trial; Bolton had written that Trump had tied U.S. security aid to Ukraine to the country's taking action against Biden. Nevertheless, on February 13, Burr was one of seven Republicans to vote to convict. On February 16, the North Carolina Republican Party censured him for the vote.
On August 13, 2024, despite having voted to impeach him, Burr said he planned to vote for Trump for president in November.
Insider trading allegations
In early February 2020, just before the COVID-19 market crash, Burr sold more than $1.6 million of stock in 33 transactions during a period when, as head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he was being briefed daily regarding potential health threats from COVID-19. He sold 95% of the holdings in his Individual Retirement Account (IRA). According to the FBI, Burr's sales six days before "a dramatic and substantial" downturn in the stock market allowed him to profit more than $164,000 and avoid $87,000 in losses. The advice contradicted his comments in a Fox News op-ed with Lamar Alexander on February 7. The organization he spoke to was Tar Heel Circle, a nonpartisan club of businesses and organizations that costs between $500 and $10,000 to join and assures members "enjoy interaction with top leaders and staff from Congress, the administration, and the private sector."
Later on March 19, the nonprofit investigative organization ProPublica broke news of Burr's stock transactions. When asked for comment, a spokesperson first "express[ed] displeasure with NPR's earlier characterizations” of the February 27 Tar Heel Circle event, and later added, "As the situation continues to evolve daily, he has been deeply concerned by the steep and sudden toll this pandemic is taking on our economy." Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson called for Burr's resignation in the face of the allegations.
The Department of Justice, in coordination with the Securities and Exchange Commission, launched a formal probe into the stock sales made during the early days of the coronavirus epidemic by several legislators, including Burr. Burr was also sued by a shareholder for alleged STOCK Act violations.
On May 13, the FBI served a search warrant on Burr at his Washington residence and seized his cellphone. He temporarily stepped down as chair of the Intelligence Committee the next day, taking effect on May 15.
On January 19, 2021, the last full day of the Trump administration,
Committee assignments
- Committee on Finance
- Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (Ranking)
- Subcommittee on Children and Families
- Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety
- Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security
- Select Committee on Intelligence
- Special Committee on Aging
Caucus membership
- Congressional Boating Caucus (Co-chair)
- International Conservation Caucus
- Sportsmen's Caucus
- Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism Caucus
- Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus
Post-Senate career
In 2025, Burr introduced Tulsi Gabbard at her confirmation hearing to be Director of National Intelligence, his first visit to the Capitol since his term ended.
Personal life
Burr's car, a 1973 Volkswagen Thing, is "something of a local celebrity" on Capitol Hill. Burr has a known aversion to reporters, once even climbing out of his office window while carrying his dry cleaning to avoid them.
Burr has been married to Brooke Fauth Burr, a real estate agent, since 1984, and they have two sons, Tyler and William. He is a distant relative of 19th century vice-president Aaron Burr, as a descendant of one of Aaron Burr's brothers.
Post-Congressional career
Upon leaving Congress, Burr took a job at law firm DLA Piper as a principal policy advisor and chair of the Health Policy Strategic Consulting Practice.
Electoral history
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em ; font-size:95%"
|+ : Results 1992–2002
!|Year
!|Democratic
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|Republican
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|3rd party
!|Party
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|3rd party
!|Party
!|Votes
!|Pct
|-
|1992
| |
| align="right" |117,835
| |53%
|
| |Richard Burr
| align="right" |102,086
| |46%
|
| |Gary Albrecht
| |Libertarian
| align="right" |3,758
| align="right" |2%
| |
|
|
|
|
|-
|1994
| |A. P. "Sandy" Sands
| align="right" |63,194
| |43%
|
| |
| align="right" |84,741
| |57%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1996
| |
| align="right" |74,320
| |35%
|
| |Richard Burr
| align="right" |130,177
| |62%
|
| |Barbara J. Howe
| |Libertarian
| align="right" |4,193
| align="right" |2%
|
| |Craig Berg
| |Natural Law
| align="right" |1,008
| align="right" |<1%
|-
|1998
| |
| align="right" |55,806
| |32%
|
| |
| align="right" |119,103
| |68%
|
| |Gene Paczelt
| |Libertarian
| align="right" |1,382
| align="right" |1%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2000
| |(no candidate)
| align="right" |
| |
|
| |
| align="right" |172,489
| |93%
|
| |Steven Francis LeBoeuf
| |Libertarian
| align="right" |13,366
| align="right" |7%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2002
| |
| align="right" |58,558
| |30%
|
| |
| align="right" |137,879
| |70%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em ; font-size:95%"
|+ North Carolina Senator (Class III): Results 2004–2016