Mike Gravel was an American politician who served as a us Senator from Alaska from 1969 to 1981 know all about him in this article as like his Family, Net Worth, Parents, Wife, Children , Cause of Death and Biography
| Bio | |
| Name | Mike Gravel |
| Birthdate ( Age) | 13 May 1930 |
| Place of Birth | Springfield, Massachusetts, United States |
| Died | 26 June 2021 |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Wife/Partner | Whitney Stewart Gravel (m. 1984), Rita Martin (m. 1959–1981) |
| Children | Martin Anthony Gravel, Lynne Denise Gravel |
| Parents | NA |
| Profession | Former United States Senator |
| Net Worth | $2 Million – $5 Million |
Mike Gravel with Wife
Maurice Robert “Mike” Gravel was an American politician who served as a us Senator from Alaska from 1969 to 1981 as a member of the Democratic Party and who ran for presidential nomination of that party in 2008 and 2020.
Born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, by French-Canadian immigrant parents, Gravel moved to Alaska within the late 1950s, becoming a true estate developer and entering politics. He served within the Alaska House of Representatives from 1963 to 1967 and also became Speaker of the Alaska House. Gravel was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1968.He ran for president as a Democrat again within the 2020 election during a campaign that ended four months after it began. His campaign staff then founded the progressive think factory The Gravel Institute.
Early Life and Family
Gravel was born on May 13, 1930, in Springfield, Massachusetts, one among five children of French-Canadian immigrant parents, Alphonse and Marie (née Bourassa) Gravel. His parents were a part of the Quebec diaspora,and he was raised during a working-class neighborhoodduring the good Depression,speaking only French until he was seven years old.Calling him “Mike” from an early age,his father valued work in particular else, while his mother stressed the importance of education.
His sister, Marguerite, became a Holy Cross nun,but Gravel himself struggled with the Catholic faith.He studied for one year at Assumption College, a Catholic school in Worcester, then transferred for his sophomore year to American International College in Springfield.Journalist I. F. Stone and philosopher Russell strongly influenced Gravel in their willingness to challenge assumptions and oppose social convention and political authority.
Mike Gravel Wife
On April 29, 1959, Gravel married Rita Jeannette Martin. Their son Martin Anthony Gravel and daughter Lynne Denise Gravel were born in 1960 and 1962 respectively. The couple separated in December 1980 and filed for divorce in September 1981.
Gravel later married Whitney Stewart Gravel in 1984. the 2 shifted from Arlington County, Virginia to Burlingame, California in 2010.Since 1998, income of Whitney has sustained the couple. Gravel declared personal bankruptcy in 2004 and “zero net worth” in 2007.Grandchildren of Gravel include Madison and Macenzie through Lynne; and Renée and Alex through Martin.
Mike Gravel Net Worth
Mike Gravel was an American politician who served as a us Senator from Alaska from 1969 to 1981 who has an estimated Net Worth of $2 Million – $5 Million in 2021.
Professional Career
With the support of Alaska wholesale grocer Barney Gottstein and supermarket builder Larry Carr, Gravel ran for the Alaska House of Representatives representing Anchorage in 1962, initially assigned the 10th then 8th districts.[nb 1] Alaska had very crowded primaries that year: Gravel was one among 33 Democrats, along side 21 Republicans, who were running for the prospect to compete for the 14 House seats allocated to the 8th district.
Gravel made it through the first , and in November eight Republicans and 6 Democrats were elected to the House from the district, with Gravel finishing eighth overall and third among with Democrats, with 8,174 votes.Gottstein became Gravel’s main financial backer during most of his subsequent campaigns.
Gravel served within the Alaska House of Representatives from January 28, 1963 to January 22, 1967, winning reelection in 1964. In his first term, he served as a minority member on two House committees: Commerce, and Labor and Management.In 1968 Gravel ran against the 81-year-old incumbent Democratic Senator Ernest Gruening, a well-liked former governor of the Alaska Territory who was considered one among the fathers of Alaska’s statehood,for his party’s nomination to the U.S. Senate. Gravel’s campaign was based on his youth and telegenic appearance instead of issue differences.
He hired Joseph Napolitan, the primary self-described political consultant, in late 1966.They spent over a year and a half planning a brief , nine-day primary campaign that featured the slogans “Alaska first” and “Let’s do something about the state we’re in”, the distribution of a set of essays titled Jobs and More Jobs, and therefore the creation of a half-hour, well-produced, glamorized biographical film of Gravel, Man for Alaska.
Gravel beat Gruening within the primary by about 2,000 votes.Gruening found “the unexpected defeat hard to take” and thought that some aspects of his opponent’s biographical film had misled viewers.In the election , Gravel faced Republican Elmer E. Rasmuson, a banker and former mayor of Anchorage.College students within the state implored Gruening to run a write-in campaign as an Independent, but legal battles prevented him from getting approval for it until only fortnight were left.
A late appearance by anti-war presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy didn’t offset Gruening’s lack of funds and endorsements; meanwhile, Gravel and Rasmuson both saturated local media with their filmed biographies.On November 5 , 1968, Gravel won the overall election with 45 percent of the vote to Rasmuson’s 37 percent and Gruening’s 18 percent.
He was re-elected to the Senate in 1974, however campaign for the re-election left Gravel $65,000-$75,000 in debt. Reportedly Gravel undertook a fundraising strategy to tackle things . He slowly alienated his Alaskan constituents and although he ran for a 3rd term in 1980, he lost within the Democratic primary .
After leaving the Senate, Gravel returned to business ventures, however suffered both corporate and private bankruptcies amidst poor health.He advocates direct democracy and National Initiative and founded and led ‘The Democracy Foundation’ and found out Philadelphia II corporation after re-entering politics in 1989.
He declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the 2008 US presidential election during a speech to the National Press Club on April 17, 2006, and commenced his campaign. Although his aggressive, humorous, politically unorthodox and outspoken debate appearances during 2007 gained Gravel an online following and national attention, he did not win any delegates within the 2008 Democratic caucuses and primaries.
On Saint Joseph , 2019, the 2020 presidential campaign of Gravel began with formation of an exploratory committee. a press release of organization was filed with the Federal Elections Commission on April 2, 2019, for Gravel to officially run the presidency. Initially Gravel’s intention wasn’t to win the nomination but to qualify for debates. Although the donor threshold required to qualify for the second of the Democratic Party debates was attained by Gravel, he did not meet the polling threshold and was thus not invited. His campaign officially ended on Transfiguration , 2019.He founded ‘The Gravel Institute’, the eponymous progressive think, with the funds remaining from his 2020 presidential campaign.
