A recent profile in USA Today described Sen. Chris Coons ’85 as a “Republican whisperer” often caught in the middle of partisan debate, especially the fiercest one to date.
“It’s no surprise to those who know Coons that he was in the middle of the Senate’s singular bipartisan moment during the spectacle that has been Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing,” USA Today wrote. “Coons, a Delaware Democrat, is a one-time college Republican who has made a point of building relationships across the aisle, through travel, prayer meetings and work on legislation.”
“I would say it’s my mother tongue,” Coons joked, responding to the assertion that he can “speak Republican.”
“Coons once described himself, during his early years at Amherst College, as ‘sort of an Alex P. Keaton,’ the fictional, Ronald Reagan-loving teenager from the 1980s sitcom ‘Family Ties.’”
“George Will was one of my heroes when I was an undergraduate,” he said.
“His political conversion came after he grew disillusioned with U.S. policy in South Africa and was exposed to extreme poverty while studying in Kenya. Within a year of founding a college Republican group, he was arguing the Democratic side in a debate and setting a new life course,” USA Today wrote. Coons has represented Delaware as senator since 2010.