Mike Blouin | |
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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 2nd district |
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In office January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1979 |
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Preceded by | John C. Culver |
Succeeded by | Tom Tauke |
Member of the Iowa State Senate | |
In office 1973–1974 |
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Member of the Iowa House of Representatives | |
In office 1969–1973 |
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Personal details | |
Born |
Michael Thomas Blouin November 7, 1945 Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Suzanne Blouin |
Alma mater | Loras College |
Michael Thomas "Mike" Blouin (born November 7, 1945), American politician, was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1979, representing Iowa's 2nd congressional district. He was a candidate in the 2006 race for Governor of Iowa but lost in the primary to Chet Culver. He married Suzanne Diers Bouin in 1967. She died March 14, 2016.
Blouin was born on a Naval Air Base in Jacksonville, Florida and attended school in Miami Shores, Florida and Chicago, Illinois. In 1966 he received a B.A. in political science from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. He remained in Dubuque to teach elementary school. Two years later, he won a seat in the Iowa House of Representatives, where he served from 1969 to 1973. Blouin then won election to the Iowa Senate, serving from 1973 to 1974.
In 1974 Blouin ran for the U.S. House seat in the Second District being vacated by fellow Democrat John C. Culver, who was running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Harold Hughes. Blouin defeated Republican Tom Riley, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa attorney, in the general election. Blouin became one of many freshman Democrats in the largest Democratic majority in the House since 1965-67, providing a mathematical two-thirds majority in that chamber. For the only time since 1857, Iowa's congressional delegation included only one Republican.