Tiger of the Week: Senate Candidate Greg Orman ’91

A few months ago, Greg Orman ’91 was a little-known independent candidate in the race for a Senate seat in Kansas, where the entrepreneur and investor lives. But as Orman has picked up momentum, endorsements, and some promising poll numbers — along with an assist from Democrats, who withdrew their candidate to avoid splitting votes — he’s earned some new titles: “Stormin’ Orman” (via The Economist); “the most interesting man in politics” (according to NBC’s Chuck Todd); and, if he were to defeat incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, perhaps the “Senate kingmaker” (The New York Times).

By PAW’s count, there are at least nine alumni running for Congressional seats this fall — five Democrats, three Republicans, and one independent — and Orman’s race is by far the most closely watched. Poll trackers believe that Orman, who has said he’ll caucus with the majority party, could block the Republicans’ bid to claim a majority in the Senate (the latest New York Times odds put the probability of that outcome at 14 percent).

Orman, an economics major at Princeton, hinted at his political independence in his senior yearbook entry, which included a quote by independent presidential candidate H. Ross Perot. While he seems destined to be wooed by both parties, for now he’s being critical of both and pushing for bipartisan cooperation. “We’re still sending the worst of both parties to Washington — people who seem more interested in getting reelected than they do in solving problems,” he said last month, according to The Atlantic. “They draw childish lines in the sand, they refuse to cooperate, and as a result, inaction has replaced leadership when it comes to solving our most pressing problems.”