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Arnie Vinick is a social moderate and fiscal conservative with a maverick streak and a direct manner. He is is pro-choice. He is, however, opposed to late-term abortion. He opposes the Religious Right's domination of the Republican Party since 1980, and wants to return to more traditional, limited-government conservatism
The son of Richard Vinick, a public school teacher in the New York City School District, and Patricia Vinick, a community activist, Vinick was born in New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn in 1940. When he was four years old, his younger brother was born and the family relocated to the southern California town of Santa Paula to farm orange groves. In Santa Paula, Vinick volunteered at the public library. Vinick was married to Catherine Vinick for 34 years before she died in 2004. He has one brother, four children and nine grandchildren.
After graduating from Yale and Stanford Law School, Vinick opened a law practice in Santa Paula. He was eventually elected to the city council in the town's first write-in victory. He served one term on the council before being elected to the California State Assembly. He then moved on the United States Senate where he won election with 6.9 million votes—the highest total for any Senate candidate at the time. Vinick has served in the Senate for 26 years.
