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Rep. Jack Kemp Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and 1996 Republican Party vice presidential candidate

Jack Kemp is Co-Director of Empower America, a public policy and advocacy organization he co-founded in 1993 with William Bennett and Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick. Empower America is dedicated to three founding principles: expanding freedom and democratic capitalism here and abroad; promoting policies to expand economic growth and entrepreneurship for our nation and our urban areas; and advancing social polices of reform that empower people, not government bureaucracies.

Prior to founding Empower America, Kemp served for four years as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. He was the author of the Enterprise Zones legislation to encourage entrepreneurship and job creation in urban America, and continues to advocate the expansion of home ownership among the poor through resident management and ownership of public and subsidized housing.

Kemp received the Republican Party's nomination for Vice President in August of 1996 and since then has campaigned nationally for reform of taxation, Social Security and education.

In 1995, Jack Kemp served as chairman of the National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform, which promoted major reform and simplification on our tax code in order to unleash the American entrepreneurial spirit, grow the economy and expand access to capital for all people.

Before his appointment to the Cabinet, Kemp represented the Buffalo and western New York areas in the United States House of Representatives from 1971-1989. He served for seven years in the Republican Leadership as Chairman of the House of Republican Conference.

Before his election to Congress in 1970, Kemp played 13 years as a professional football quarterback. He was captain of the San Diego Chargers from 1960-1962. He was also the captain of the Buffalo Bills, the team he quarterbacked to the American Football League Championship in 1964 and 1965, when he was named the league's most valuable player. He co-founded the American Football League Players Association and was five times elected president of that Association.

In February 2000, Kemp launched a syndicated column for the Copley News Service Nationwide, and was selected by CBS and Larry King Live, to provide political commentary on the 2000 Presidential Election. He has guest hosted both Larry King Live and Chris Mathew's Hardball.

Kemp, born and raised in Los Angeles and educated in the LA public schools, he is married to the former Joanne Main of Fillmore, CA. Both Jack and Joanne are graduates of Occidental College. They have four children: Jeffrey, Jennifer, Judith and Jimmy and thirteen grandchildren. The Kemps reside in Bethesda, Maryland and have a home in Vail, Colorado, and will be building a home in Big Sky, Montana at the Yellowstone private ski & golf club.

— Courtesy Brownback for Senate