Alan Bruce Sanborn (born July 21, 1957) is a retired politician from the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, serving parts of three terms in both the Michigan House of Representatives and Michigan Senate.

Biography

Sanborn is the son of Lois and Kenneth Sanborn. Kenneth Sanborn is a former member of the Michigan House of Representatives, former Circuit Court judge, and one of the attorneys who undertook the successful defense of Milo Radulovich in 1953. The Radulovich case was a major factor in helping to turn public opinion in the United States against McCarthyism. Sanborn was born and raised in

Mount Clemens, Michigan Mount Clemens is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 16,314 at the 2010 census. It is the seat of government of Macomb County. History Mount Clemens was first surveyed in 1795 after the American Revolutionary War by Christi ...

. He attended Michigan State University and graduated with a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

with a minor in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

. He married Lori McQuiston on August 6, 1982. Sanborn and his ex-wife have three children.

Political career

Sanborn worked from 1978 to 1998 as a

Macomb County Macomb County ( ) is a county located in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Michigan, bordering Lake St. Clair, and is part of northern Metro Detroit. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 881,217, making it the third-most populous co ...

probation officer. In 1996, Sanborn challenged and lost to incumbent David Jaye in the Republican primary for the 32nd District of the Michigan House of Representatives. In a special election in February 1998, Sanborn was elected to the seat after Jaye resigned to run for an open

State Senate A state legislature in the United States is the legislative body of any of the 50 U.S. states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 27 states, the legislature is simply called the ''Legislature'' or the ''State Legislature'', whil ...

seat. In 2001, after Jaye became the first member of the Michigan Legislature to be expelled from office, Sanborn came out on top of a field of thirteen Republican candidates, including Jaye, in a primary special election held September 11, 2001. In the heavily Republican district, Sanborn easily won the general special election on November 6, 2001. Sanborn was re-elected in 2002, 2004 and 2006, and was named by Lansing-based political newsletter ''Inside Michigan Politics'' as "Michigan's Most Conservative Legislator" in 2003, 2004, and 2005. On January 1, 2011, Sanborn's term in the Senate officially came to an end, though his political aspirations did not. After returning to work as a juvenile probation officer for Macomb County, he put his hat in the ring for former Rep. Candice Miller's seat in Congress. After an unsuccessful run, he retired from his position with the county in 2018 to establish a property rental business in Lexington, Michigan. His more notable legislative achievements include "Lisa's Law" (which protects probation officers) and a bill allowing visitation rights to grandparents.

Congressional Campaign

In March 2015, 7-term incumbent

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

Candice Miller Candice Sue Miller ( née McDonald; born May 7, 1954) is an American politician serving as the Public Works Commissioner of Macomb County, Michigan since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Miller previously served as the U.S. representati ...

shocked political pundits by announcing her intentions to retire at the end of her current term and not seek an 8th term in 2016 in

Michigan's 10th congressional district Michigan's 10th congressional district is a United States congressional district in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, covering a region known as the Thumb. It consists of all of Huron, Lapeer, St. Clair, and Sanilac Counties; as well as most ...

. Sanborn was amongst the first candidates to be mentioned as a possible successor to Miller. He formed an exploratory committee on March 30, 2015, which gave him the ability to raise and spend money for a possible Congressional campaign and formally announced his candidacy on April 21, 2015. Sanborn finished third in a five-person field, taking 16 percent of the vote, finishing behind winner Paul Mitchell, who took 37 percent of the vote, and state Sen. Phil Pavlov, who took 28 percent.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanborn, Alan 1957 births Living people Republican Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives Republican Party Michigan state senators People from Mount Clemens, Michigan Michigan State University alumni