Chris Coons was elected to the United States Senate in 2010 following terms as New Castle County Council President and New Castle County Executive. In the Senate, he sits on the Appropriations, Judiciary, Foreign Relations, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and Ethics Committees.
Before entering government, Chris worked as an attorney for W.L. Gore & Associates, an advanced materials manufacturer in Delaware. As a law student, Chris founded the Delaware chapter of the national "I Have a Dream" Foundation, which helps low-income students make the academic journey from elementary school through college. Shortly after receiving his law degree and clerking on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Chris began working at the organization's national office, where he launched and ran its AmeriCorps program in fifteen cities.
Chris graduated from Amherst College with a B.A. in chemistry and political science, and earned a law degree from Yale Law School and a Master's in Ethics from Yale Divinity School. A longtime New Castle County resident, Chris lives in Wilmington with his wife, Annie, and their three children, Michael, Jack, and Maggie.