;1982 Incumbent two term RepublicanJim Jeffries of Kansas's 2nd congressional district decided to retire. Then-State Representative Slattery decided to run and defeated Republican nominee Morris Kay 57%-43%. ;1984 He won re-election to a second term against Jim Van Slyke with 60% of the vote, winning every county except Clay. ;1986–1990 Over the next few years, he won re-election with no problem in 1986, 1988, and 1990 / ;1992 After redistricting, he represented more counties in the southeastern part of the state. He defeated Jim Van Slyke 56%-41%. He performed strongly in the northern part of the district, but did poorly in the southern part, mostly new territory for Slattery. He lost two counties: Coffey and Linn while winning five counties with less than a 50% majority: Wilson, Woodson, Allen, Bourbon, and Franklin counties.
Tenure
Slattery served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 1995 in the Kansas delegation. He was a central player on many key issues, including environmental protection, health care, telecommunications, and budget cutting efforts. He worked to limit production of the B-2 bomber, and was the chief sponsor of the successful amendment to terminate spending on the Superconducting Super Collider in 1993. Slattery gained success as a Democrat in a relatively conservative congressional district, Kansas's 2nd congressional district. He considered running for governor in 1990 against incumbent Gov. Mike Hayden, an unpopular governor following changes in property tax law. Slattery decided not to run in 1990, however, and Joan Finney became the first female governor of Kansas. In 1993, Slattery orchestrated the House campaign that killed the Superconducting Super Collider. The SSC would have been about three times as powerful as CERN's Large Hadron Collider, most notable for discovering a particle consistent with a Higgs boson.
Committee assignments
Slattery served on the Energy & Commerce, Veterans' Affairs, Budget, and Banking Committees.
1994 gubernatorial election
Finney served one term as governor and Slattery decided to run for the open governorship in 1994, stepping down from Congress. However, he faced Republican Bill Graves. Slattery lost that race, a victim of the Republican landslide of 1994.
Post-congressional career
Law career
Slattery lived in Virginia and was partner in a Washington, D.C. law firm, Wiley Rein LLP after his defeat. In 2019, he left Wiley Rein, where he had worked for more than two decades, to start his own firm, Slattery Strategy. He has also done various consulting and pro bono work, including successfully advocating for the release of a Princeton University student who had been imprisoned in Iran. His youngest son, Mike, lives in Mission, Kansas. Mike was elected to the Kansas State House in 2008, defeating his Republican opponent Ronnie Metzker. Mike edged out fellow Democrat Andy Sandler by three votes in a hotly contested primary.
2008 U.S. Senate campaign
Slattery declared his intention to run for the United States Senate in March 2008 against incumbent Pat Roberts, and officially announced his run in a statewide tour on April 29. Slattery was defeated by Roberts. The loss was the 25th consecutive setback for Democrats running for U.S. Senate seats from Kansas. The state last elected a Democrat in 1932, George McGill, who lost his re-election bid in 1938.
