Ben Erdreich

Benjamin (Ben) Erdreich (born December 9, 1938) is a former United States congressman from Alabama. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama to an upper-middle class family. Erdreich attended Yale University, graduating in 1960, and then earned his law degree at the University of Alabama in 1963, where he was editor of the Alabama Law Review. After graduating from law school, he spent two years in the United States Army, before setting up a private law practice.

Between 1970 and 1974, Erdreich served one term as a Democrat in the Alabama House of Representatives. He then was elected as a Jefferson County Commissioner, serving until 1982. That year, he was elected to Congress from the Birmingham-based 6th District, defeating one-term Republican incumbent Albert Smith, Jr.--to date, the last time a Democratic challenger has defeated a Republican congressman in Alabama. Erdreich was the first Democrat to represent the 6th since 1965; it had been one of five districts to fall to the Republicans during Barry Goldwater's sweep of the state in that year's presidential election. Erdreich was re-elected four times, rarely facing serious opposition.

In 1992, however, Erdreich's district was significantly redrawn as a result of a United States Department of Justice directive to create a majority-black district. The state legislature failed to act and a federal court entered an order that shifted most of Birmingham's black residents to the 7th District. They were replaced with some of the whiter and wealthier areas of Shelby and Tuscaloosa counties--areas that Erdreich had never represented. Erdreich now found himself in one of the most Repubulican districts in the nation, with a population that was almost 97% white. Despite outspending his opponent, state Republican Party chairman Spencer Bachus, almost 2 to 1, Erdreich could not overcome the new partisan lean of the district and lost by seven points. In the same election, George H. W. Bush prevailed over challenger Bill Clinton in the district by about 74% to 26%, proving just how Republican this newly created district was.

Erdreich is one of only a small number of Jewish politicians to ever be elected to federal office in the Deep South. He was known for his bipartisan work in Congress. Erderich is currently involved with property development in Birmingham, concentrating on central city projects.

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