Kent Conrad

Gaylord Kent Conrad (born March 12, 1948) is a former American politician who was a United States senator from North Dakota. He is a member of the Democratic Party. First elected to the Senate in 1986, he served as chairman or ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee for 12 years. On January 18, 2011, Conrad announced that he was retiring from politics and would not run for reelection in 2012. He said in a statement that it was more important that "I spend my time and energy trying to focus on solving the nation's budget woes than be distracted by another campaign." Fellow Democrat Heidi Heitkamp was elected to replace him. Conrad currently co-chairs the Bipartisan Policy Center's Commission on Retirement Security and Personal Savings. He is also a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One. In addition, he serves on the board of directors of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.