what state is barack obama senator for?
Illinois State Senator
neutral
 Democratic Senator and former Governor Evan Bayh of Indiana began a movement for the 2008 Democratic nomination for president of the United States shortly following the 2004 presidential election . 

entailment
 He ran for President of the United States in 1996 , 2000 , and 2008 ( founding and serving as the presidential nominee of the America 's Independent Party in 2008 ) , and was a Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1988 , 1992 , and 2004 . Keyes was appointed Ambassador to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations by President Ronald Reagan , and served as Reagan 's Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs from 1985 to 1987 ; in his capacities as a UN ambassador , among Keyes 's accomplishments was contributing to the Mexico City Policy . 

entailment
 After much anticipation by the media , Brown announced that he would run for U.S. Senate from the state of New Hampshire . Born at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery , Maine , to parents who lived near downtown Portsmouth , Brown then spent his early childhood in Portsmouth , New Hampshire and later in Wakefield , Massachusetts following his parents ' divorce . He has also been a taxpayer and owned a home in Rye , New Hampshire for more than two decades . In December 2013 , he sold his primary home in Massachusetts and expressed to the Rye town clerk " his intention to establish residency and register to vote " . 

entailment
 Before his visit , he called upon Senator Edward Brooke of Massachusetts , the highest ranking African American in U.S. government , to campaign with him on trips to Illinois and California . Referring to Brooke as " one of my top advisers , " he accompanied campaign stops in Chicago and San Francisco , a move critics described as an attempt to further gain favor within the African American community . 

entailment
 In 2004 , Obama received national attention during his campaign to represent Illinois in the United States Senate with his victory in the March Democratic Party primary , his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July , and his election to the Senate in November . He began his presidential campaign in 2007 and , after a close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2008 , he won sufficient delegates in the Democratic Party primaries to receive the presidential nomination . He then defeated Republican nominee John McCain in the general election , and was inaugurated as president on January 20 , 2009 . Nine months after his inauguration , Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate . 
