Benjamin Amis

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Benjamin Amis File:Benamis.jpg
United States House Representative
In Office: 3 January 2009-Present
Preceded by	Hal Rogers (R)
Succeeded by	incumbent
Born	2 December 1978 Cincinnatti, Ohio
Political Party	Republican
Spouse	Jabel Gelera Amis
Religion	Protestant Christian

Benjamin James Amis (December 2nd 1978 - ) is a House Representative for the Fifth Congressional District of Kentucky. He also serves as the Senior Pastor of New Life Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky.

Contents 1 Childhood 2 Education 3 Political Career 4 Election Results

Childhood

Ben was born in Cincinnatti, Ohio on December 2nd, 1978. He lived for two years in the suburb of Hamilton, but due to familial hardships, and the desire to raise their child in a more rural community, he and his parents moved down to Barbourville, Kentucky, where they both had attended high school, when Ben was eighteen months old.

Ben's family first lived in an apartment on North Main Street, rented from a maternal aunt, until Ben was three, when they moved out into the county so that his father could care for his aging uncle out on the family's farm. Ben lived here until he was five, when his uncle passed away. Some of his best early memories are of sitting on his great uncle's porch and listening to stories about the days of old.

His parents moved him back into the city when he was six, and he started school at Barbourville Elementary. Here, Ben would go all the way through High School and graduate, making friends of greater than ten years, some of which he keeps close tabs on today.

Church was always an important part of Ben's life, especially when he was older. His great uncle had been a minister, and another uncle on his mother's side was also a minister, whose church they attended. Ben became involved in politics in his teenage years, and developed as a conservative Republican, a contrast to his moderate Democrat family.

Education

Ben went on to attend Asbury College in central Kentucky, where he earned a B.A. in Theology. He married the summer of his graduation, to his wife Jabel, a registered nurse and Filipina immigrant. He then went to a neighboring institution, the Asbury Theological Seminary, and earned a Master of Divinity degree. He began pastoring after this, in order to meet the requirement of three years full time ministry prior to applying for the Doctorate of Ministry degree program. This is when he began pastoring.

Political Career

After serving in ministry for around a year, in addition to all of the issues he'd encountered being an active Republican while in school, Ben decided to run for the Appalachia Legislature in 2004 at the age of 26. He won in his district, unseating an incumbent Democrat, assisting in turning over the majority to the Republicans, the first time in twenty years.

Ben made waves as a strict conservative who stuck to his campaign guns in spite of criticism from the liberal media. He gained much attention and helped to sponsor and pass a number of conservative pieces of legislation to protect religion and prayer. During this time, he began his work in a post-graduate program, earning a Doctorate in Ministry, also while still pastoring at New Life. He gained enough publicity that, after serving only one two-year term, he was named Majority Whip. After his second term, he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 and won, replacing the retiring Republican Congressman Hal Rogers.

After claiming a landslide re-election in 2012, The Congressman is gearing up for his second term in Congress.

Election Results

Appalachia 37th, 2004

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democrat	Michael Williamson	24,825	48.6%
	Republican	Benjamin Amis	26,204	51.4%
Total			51,029

Appalachia 37th, 2006

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Benjamin Amis	32,423	64.5%
	Democrat	Charles Epperson	17,869	35.5%
Total			50,292

Kentucky 5th, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Benjamin Amis	57,091	51.0%
	Democrat	Stacy Bruner-Smith	55,725	49.4%
Total			112,816

Kentucky 5th, 2010

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Benjamin Amis	57,143	57.2%
	Democrat	Kevin Burgess	42,844	42.9%
Total			99,987

Kentucky 5th, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Benjamin Amis	87,376	79.5%
	Democrat	Jonathan Gilbert	22,483	20.5%
Total			109,859