Bayh, << by, >> Evan (1955-…), a Democrat from Indiana, served as a United States senator from 1999 to 2011. Bayh served as governor of Indiana from 1989 to 1997.
Under Bayh’s governorship, Indiana avoided tax increases and still had the largest budget surplus in the state’s history up to that time. The state increased funding for education and created many new jobs. Bayh also led state efforts to improve environmental quality and the welfare system.
Bayh was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, on Dec. 26, 1955. His full name is Birch Evans Bayh. His father, Birch E. Bayh, was a U.S. senator from Indiana from 1963 to 1981. Evan Bayh earned a bachelor’s degree in business economics from Indiana University in 1978 and a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1982. He then went to work at a law firm.
Bayh served as Indiana secretary of state from 1986 to 1989. He was elected governor in 1988. He became the nation’s youngest governor at the age of 33. Bayh was reelected in 1992. State law prohibits Indiana governors from serving more than two terms, so Bayh could not run for reelection in 1996. He returned to his law practice in 1997 and then ran for the U.S. Senate in 1998 and won. He was reelected in 2004. In February 2010, Bayh announced that he would not seek a third term as senator in elections that fall.
