Steven Douglas Symms is an American retired politician who served as a four-term congressman and two-term U.S. Senator, representing Idaho. He is currently a partner at Parry, Romani, DeConcini & Symms, a lobbying firm in Washington, D.C.
In 1972, Symms ran for Congress, highlighting his career as an apple farmer by using the slogan "Take a bite out of big government!" He was elected to the open seat in the U.S. House at age 34 and was re-elected three times, then ran for the U.S. Senate in 1980. Aided by political action committees, he unseated four-term incumbentDemocratFrank Church, winning by less than one percent. Symms was re-elected in 1986, defeating DemocraticGovernorJohn V. Evans in another hard-fought and close election. Symms chose not to seek a third term in 1992 and was succeeded by the Republican mayor of Boise, Dirk Kempthorne, a future two-term Idaho governor and U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
Year
Democrat
Votes
Pct
Republican
Votes
Pct
1972
Ed Williams
68,106
44%
Steve Symms
85,270
56%
-
1974
J. Ray Cox
54,001
42%
Steve Symms
75,404
58%
-
1976
Ken Pursley
79,662
45%
Steve Symms
95,833
55%
-
1978
Roy Truby
57,972
40%
Steve Symms
86,680
60%
Year
Democrat
Votes
Pct
Republican
Votes
Pct
3rd Party
Party
Votes
Pct
1980
Frank Church
214,439
49%
Steve Symms
218,701
50%
Larry Fullmer
Libertarian
6,507
1%
1986
John V. Evans
185,066
48%
Steve Symms
196,958
52%
-
-
-
-
-
Post-Senate
After leaving the U.S. Senate in 1993, Symms founded Symms, Lehn Associates, Inc., a consulting firm. In January 1999, he partnered with John Haddow and formed Symms & Haddow Associates, a lobbying firm. In January 2001, the firm joined forces with Romano Romani and former Senator Dennis DeConcini of Parry, Romani & DeConcini to form Parry, Romani, DeConcini & Symms.
Personal
Prior to his senior year at Idaho, Symms married college sweetheart Frances E. "Fran" Stockdale of Helena, Montana, in August 1959. They had four children: a son and three daughters. Following his re-election in 1986, the couple separated amidst rumors of infidelity, and their divorce was finalized in 1990. Although Symms declined to comment on the reason for the divorce, he was dogged by rumors of infidelity during his 1980s campaigns, claims which were eventually substantiated by his former wife. Symms married Loretta Mathes Fuller in 1992, a former aide and later the Deputy Sergeant of Arms of the U.S. Senate. Symms is a cousin of former Oregon congressman Denny Smith.
Controversy
Symms was one of several Republican senators who, in 1981, called into the White House to express discontent over the nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court; the opposition hinged over the issue of O'Connor's presumed unwillingness to overturn Roe v. Wade. During the 1988 U.S. presidential election, Symms claimed in a radio interview that a photograph existed from the 1960s showing Kitty Dukakis, the wife of Democratic presidential candidateMichael Dukakis, burning an American flag to protest the Vietnam War. Kitty Dukakis angrily denied the accusation as "totally false and beneath contempt," and Symms later admitted that he could not substantiate it. Nevertheless, the claim became national news, as media outlets began searching for the photograph Symms said he had "heard" about. The flag-burning story was one of several false rumors about Dukakis that circulated during the 1988 campaign. "Mr. Symms's comment was the third time in a few days that prominent Republicans have publicly aired allegations that the Democrats have swiftly rebutted," The New York Times reported. Symms was also one of the only six senators who voted against the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990.
