In 1996, Obama won an Illinois state Senate seat. During his time in the Illinois Senate, Obama was instrumental in his work with both Democrats and Republicans toward the passage of legislation on ethics and health care reform. In addition, he was also responsible for legislation aimed at death penalty reform and the obligatory videotaping of homicide interrogations.
After four years in the State Senate, Obama ran an unsuccessful campaign in the primary election for a U.S. House of Representatives seat against incumbent Bobby Rush.
On July 27, 2004, Obama, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, was the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention. While his speech urged the nation to elect John Kerry for President, it was Obama’s story about his family, his political views, and his hope for a better future for America that spurred him into national prominence. With the momentum behind him, Obama won the Illinois U.S. Senate seat by a landslide over his Republican rival Alan Keyes.

The couple met while they were studying at the East-West Center of the University of Hawaii at Manca. They later married. Their marriage was short; when Obama was two years old, his parents divorced. His father left Hawaii to pursue his Ph.D. at Harvard, and later returned to Kenya. Obama did see his father again when he was ten years old.
His mother’s second marriage to Indonesian born Lolo Soetoro resulted in Obama and his mother’s move to Jakarta in 1967. His mother and Soetoro had a daughter together. When Obama was ten years old, he returned to Hawaii to live with his grandparents; his mother later joined him. He attended the prestigious prep school Punahou Academy, graduating in 1978.

Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4, 1961. Obama is the son of Barack Obama Sr. from Kenya, and a white mother, Ann Dunham, from Kansas. Both of his parents are now deceased.
After graduating from high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles where he attended Occidental College for two years before transferring to Columbia University. He graduated with a degree in political science in 1983. Obama briefly worked at Business International Corporation and NYPRIG, but ultimately decided on a more altruistic line of work. In 1985, he moved to Chicago and began working as a community organizer for a group of churches.
In 1988, Obama left Chicago to enter Harvard Law School. He became the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review. He graduated magna cum laude in 1991. He returned to Chicago where he began teaching at the University of Chicago Law School and attained a position at the civil rights law firm Miner, Barnhill & Galland. Obama married Michelle LaVaughn Robinson in October 1992.