Vincent K. "Vince" Snowbarger (born September 16, 1949) was a Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 member of the United States House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 from Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

.

Snowbarger was born in Kankakee, Illinois

Kankakee, Illinois

Kankakee is a city in Kankakee County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 25,561, and 26,840 as of a 2009 estimate. It is the county seat of Kankakee County...

. He graduated from Southern Nazarene University

Southern Nazarene University

Southern Nazarene University is a Christian liberal arts college located in Bethany, Oklahoma, United States.-History:The history of the institution is one of various mergers and, therefore, one of differing institutions. While SNU claims its founding date as 1899, that founding date refers to an...

 in 1971 with a B.A., the University of Illinois in 1974 with an M.A., and he received a law degree from the University of Kansas

University of Kansas

The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...

 in 1977. In 1974, he was hired as a professor at MidAmerica Nazarene College. From 1978 to 1984, he worked as a consultant for the Republican Party, and from 1982 to 1984 he worked as the city planner of Olathe, Kansas

Olathe, Kansas

Olathe is a city in and the county seat of Johnson County, Kansas, United States. Located in northeastern Kansas, it is also the fifth most populous city in the state, with a population of 125,872 at the 2010 census. As a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, Olathe is the fourth-largest city in the...

.

From 1985 until 1996 he served in the Kansas House of Representatives

Kansas House of Representatives

The Kansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kansas Legislature, the legislative body of the U.S. State of Kansas. Composed of 125 state representatives from districts with roughly equal populations of at least 19,000, its members are responsible for crafting and voting on...

. He was elected to Congress in 1996 from , succeeding 12-year incumbent Jan Meyers

Jan Meyers

Jan Meyers is an American politician and a former member of the United States House of Representatives from Kansas....

.

Although the 3rd has historically been a moderate district, Snowbarger had an unshakably conservative voting record, especially on social issues. In 1998, his Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 challenger, former Johnson County

Johnson County, Kansas

Johnson County is a county located in northeast Kansas, in the central United States. The county is largely suburban, being part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, and containing many of its affluent southwestern suburbs. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 544,179. Its county...

 District Attorney Dennis Moore

Dennis Moore

Dennis Moore is a former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1999 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party...

, branded Snowbarger as too conservative for the district. Some of the district's moderate Republicans backed Moore, and he was able to defeat Snowbarger by four points.

During the Bush administration

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

, Snowbarger served as Deputy Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is an independent agency of the United States government that was created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to encourage the continuation and maintenance of voluntary private defined benefit pension plans, provide timely and...

and was acting director from 2006 to 2007.