Chris Shays

Chris Shays
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's 4th district
In office September 9, 1987 – January 3, 2009
Preceded by	Stewart McKinney
Succeeded by	Jim Himes
Member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from the 147th district
In office January 8, 1975 – September 8, 1987
Preceded by	James F. Bingham
Succeeded by	Christopher Burnham
Personal details
Born	Christopher Hunter Shays (1945-10-18) October 18, 1945 (age 78) Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Betsi DeRaismes
Children	1
Education	Principia College (BA) New York University (MBA, MPA)

Christopher Hunter Shays^[1] (born October 18, 1945) is an American politician. He previously served in the United States House of Representatives as representative of the 4th District of Connecticut. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Shays was the only Republican congressman from New England elected to the 110th United States Congress in the 2006 midterm elections. His loss to Jim Himes in the 2008 election made New England's House delegation entirely Democratic in the 111th Congress. He was the most senior member of the House of Representatives to be defeated in the 2008 election.

In 2009, Shays was appointed to co-chair the Commission on Wartime Contracting.^[2] The commission is an independent, bipartisan legislative commission established to study wartime contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Created in Section 841 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, this eight-member commission is mandated by Congress to study federal agency contracting for the reconstruction, logistical support of coalition forces, and the performance of security functions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He co-chaired the government watchdog commission that identified and raised alarm over $60 billion of waste, fraud, and abuse in wartime contingency contracting and presented to Congress reforms to address this wasteful spending.^[3]

Shays was a candidate for the 2012 Republican U.S. Senate nomination to replace retiring Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman.^[4] However, he lost the August 14 primary to Linda McMahon.^[5] To date, he is the last Republican to have represented Connecticut in Congress.