Sheldon Whitehouse (born October 20, 1955) is the Junior Senator from the state of Rhode Island. A Democrat, he previously served as United States Attorney (1994–1998) and state Attorney General for Rhode Island. He is a descendent of William Bradford who was a colonial governor of Massachusetts.
Whitehouse was born in New York City, New York, the son of Mary Celine Rand and career diplomat Charles S. Whitehouse, and grandson of diplomat Sheldon Whitehouse. He graduated from St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and from Yale University in 1978. He received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1982.
In 1986 Whitehouse married Dr. Sandra Thornton Whitehouse, a marine biologist and granddaughter of James Worth Thornton and Elena Mumm Thornton Wilson. Her step-grandfather was prominent essayist and critic Edmund Wilson. They live in Rhode Island with their two children, Molly and Alexander.
Whitehouse defeated Republican incumbent Lincoln Chafee in the November 7, 2006 election to become the junior Senator from Rhode Island.
