Lawmaker Profile

Rep. Sanford Bishop

[D, GA-2]
Bishop was first elected to Congress in 1992 after serving in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1977 to 1990 and in the Georgia Senate from 1991-1992.

Bishop holds a number of leadership positions. He was a Senior Democratic Whip in the 112th and 113th Congresses. He earlier served as Chairman of a Democratic House Task Force on Homeland Security and the Working Group on Defense of Physical Infrastructure and Natural Resources.

In addition, Congressman Bishop serves as a member of the Blue Dog Coalition of fiscally-conservative House Democrats. He is the Co-Chairman and Co-Founder of the Congressional Military Family Caucus. He serves as Co-Chair of the Congressional Peanut Caucus and the Congressional Working Forests Caucus. He is a member of the No Labels Problem Solvers group, "a grassroots movement of conservative, liberal, and everything in between dedicated to promoting the politics of problem solvers." He is also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Caucus on Coal, Congressional Caucus on Community Health Centers, Congressional Caucus on Intellectual Property Promotion and Piracy Prevention, Congressional Caucus on Taiwan, Congressional Diabetes Caucus, Congressional Fire Services Caucus, Congressional Fraternal Caucus, Congressional Glaucoma Caucus, Congressional Heart and Stroke Coalition, Congressional HUBZone Coalition, Congressional Humanities Caucus, Congressional JOBS NOW! Caucus, Congressional Pro-Sports Caucus, Congressional Real Estate Caucus, Congressional Robotics Caucus, Congressional Rural Caucus, Congressional Scouting Caucus, Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus, Congressional Steel Caucus, Congressional Sudan Caucus, Congressional Vision Caucus, Congressional Zoo and Aquarium Caucus, Friends of Job Corps Congressional caucus, House Agriculture Energy Users Caucus, House Army Caucus, House Biotechnology Caucus, House Military Industrial Facilities caucus, Impact Aid Coalition, International Conservation Caucus, Law Enforcement Caucus, National Guard and Reserve Components Caucus, Out of Poverty Caucus, Rural Housing Caucus, Rural Working Group, Textile Caucus, USO Congressional Caucus, Water Caucus, Heart and Stroke Caucus, Congressional Glaucoma Caucus, Co-Chair of the Congressional Automotive Performance and Motor-Sports Caucus, Expand Social Security Caucus, Military Families Caucus and the U.S. - Japan Caucus.

Congressman Bishop has held leadership positions at the community, state and national levels, including serving as Georgia's representative on the Southern Growth Policies Board and on the Governor's Advisory Council on Drug Abuse. For the last several years, he has been named by Georgia Trend magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Georgians.

Bishop was born February 4, 1947, in Mobile, Alabama, and is the son of the late Dr. Sanford D. Bishop, Sr., the first president of Bishop State Community College in Mobile, Alabama, and Mrs. Minnie S. Bishop, a librarian. He is married to the Honorable Vivian Creighton Bishop, who serves as the elected Clerk of the Municipal Court of Columbus, Georgia (court administrator). They have a daughter, Aayesha J. Reese, and a granddaughter, Londyn.

Bishop graduated with his bachelors from Morehouse College in 1968 and with his law degree from Emory University Law School in 1971. In addition to these degrees, Morehouse awarded Bishop an honorary doctor of laws in 2010.  

He enlisted into the U.S. Army in 1969 and successfully completed basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He then enrolled in Advanced Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) training and later received an Honorable Discharge in 1971. He resided in Columbus, Georgia from 1972 to 1996, where he was the primary partner in the law firm of Bishop and Buckner, P.C. He is an Eagle Scout, a 33rd Degree Mason (PHA), a member of the Order of St. John, and a Shriner. He is a resident of Albany, Georgia, where he is a Deacon and Trustee of the Mount Zion Baptist Church.