Party: Republican
Current job: Lawyer and consultant
Birth date: May 28, 1944, Brooklyn, New York
Education: Manhattan College, A.B., 1965; New York University Law School, J.D., 1968
Family: Married Judith "Judi" Nathan (2003-present); Donna Hanover (1984-2002, divorced); Regina Peruggi (1968-1982, annulment); children: stepdaughter Whitney (1986); Caroline (1989); Andrew (1986)
Religion: Roman Catholic
Major Election Issues: Rudy Giuliani's Position
Giuliani supports abortion rights along with parental notification laws for minors. He also supports a ban on "partial birth" abortion unless the mother's life is at risk. Adoptions increased 66% while abortions decreased over 16% in New York City when he was mayor.
Giuliani worked to reform the nation’s largest public school system, increased school funding, and hired new teachers while insisting on reforms that ended social promotion, abolished principal tenure, and created a Charter School Fund. He is a strong supporter of school choice and believes it is one of the great civil rights issues today.
Giuliani supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and offshore drilling in U.S. waters. He also calls for increased reliance on coal, including coal-to-liquid fuel. He supports more biofuel incentives, including a tax credit for ethanol.
Giuliani believes climate change is caused by humans but does not support mandatory limits on CO2 emissions or increasing auto fuel-economy standards.
Giuliani does not support universal health care but suggests several steps to reforming the current system, including a Health Insurance Credit for low-income individuals, an income exclusion of up to $1,500 for individuals not covered by their employers, and expanding health savings accounts. He also believes that competition is what will ultimately drive down prices and improve health care quality.
Before Giuliani became mayor, New York City was averaging close to 2,000 murders a year and more than 11,000 major crimes per week. He cut crime in half and reduced murders by two-thirds. He improved response times in the Fire Department and created the Office of Emergency Management. He improved the quality of life for residents and turned New York into the safest large city in America, according to FBI crime statistics.
Giuliani supports providing a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants, but he does not believe they should be given preference over those following the legal system. He would be supportive of legislation that requires illegal immigrants to pay back-taxes and penalties and learn English and American history before gaining citizenship. He supports a fence at the U.S.-Mexican border, use of the National Guard, and additional longer-term increases in border patrol personnel as well as a tamper-resistant identification system to verify legal status.
Giuliani believes marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman, but he supports civil unions, domestic partnerships, and legal benefits for same-sex couples and opposed the Federal Marriage Amendment. He also supports open acceptance of gays in the military and abolition of "don't ask, don't tell."
Giuliani supports private retirement accounts as a part of Social Security but not at the expense of guaranteed benefits.
Giuliani's foreign policy focus is on winning the war on terror and extending international security through diplomacy and a stronger defense.
Giuliani opposes setting a timetable for troop withdrawal and supported Bush's plan to send additional American troops to Iraq. He believes Iraq is only one front in the larger war on terror and failure there would lead to a larger regional conflict in the near future.
