Percy Hunter

Percy Hunter (born 16 May 1971) is an American politician and the current junior United States Senator from Rhode Island. Formerly, Hunter served as the U.S. Representative for Rhode Island's 1st congressional district from 2002 to 2008. He is the only member of the Libertarian Party in Senate.

The son of prominent African American civil rights activist, Percy R. Hunter, he was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and has lived there ever since. Hunter obtained his law degree from Brown University and started working there as a lawyer until 1997, when he decided to go into politics. Having decided earlier on in his life that neither of the two large political parties in the country adequately represented his views, he registered with the Libertarian Party. When he stopped actively working as a lawyer, he accepted an offer to work as the chairman of the Party's state chapter in Rhode Island.

In 2001, he announced his intention to enter into national politics and was, against the odds, elected as the Representative for Rhode Island's 1st congressional district in the House in 2002. He remained at that post for three consecutive terms until he did not run for the 2008 election. During his break from Congress, Hunter returned to the internal structures of the Libertarian Party and served on the Libertarian National Committee until in 2012, when he was elected to the U.S. Senate, representing Rhode Island.

Vocal on liberties, Hunter describes himself as an "individualistic man of the ideology", referring to what he mockingly calls "Hunterism". Hunter is a classical liberal, believing in a sovereign individual above the state and in a free and open market. He has been widely criticized by members of the Republican Party as well as members within his own party as "a threat to order in society".