in 1996. Elected to the Senate in 2002, he was narrowly defeated in his 2008 reelection bid. To date, he is the last Republican to have represented Minnesota in the U.S. Senate.

Born in New York City, Coleman was elected mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota's capital and second-largest city, in 1993 as a member of the Democratic Party. A liberal Democrat in his youth, Coleman shifted to conservatism as an adult. After conflicts with the Democratic Party over his conservative views, Coleman joined the Republican