Republican Senator from New Mexico

Senator Domenici was born May 7, 1932 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was one of five children, and the only son, of Italian immigrants. His father owned a wholesale grocer’s business.

Domenici graduated in 1950 from St. Mary's High School, Albuquerque and earned an education degree from University of New Mexico in 1954.

After college he pitched for the Albuquerque Dukes, a farm club for the old Brooklyn Dodgers for a year then left baseball to become math teacher at Garfield Junior High in Albuquerque.

He earned a law degree from the University of Denver in 1958 then returned to Albuquerque, and entered private practice. That same year he married Nancy Burk, together the Domenici's have eight children - two sons and six daughters.

Domenici’s political career started in 1966 when he was elected to Albuquerque City Commission. The next year he was elected Commission Chairman (equivalent then to Mayor). In 1972 he became the first Republican in 38 years in New Mexico to be elected to U.S. Senate. With re-election in 1996, Domenici became the first New Mexican elected to serve five full six-year terms in the Senate.

Domenici, a Science and Technology Caucus member, has been called the "father of the human genome project in the United States Congress” and is a strong supporter of science and technology research.

His Committees:

  • Senate Budget Committee
  • Senate Appropriations Committee
  • Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
  • Senate Governmental Affairs Committee
  • Senate Indian Affairs Committee
  • His website and contact info is at www.senate.gov/~domenici