Richard Craig Shelby is an American lawyer and retired politician who served as a United States senator from Alabama from 1987 to 2023. He was first elected to the Senate as a Democrat but switched to the Republican Party in 1994, becoming a senior member of the party. Before his Senate career, he served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and also served in the Alabama Senate. Over his long career, Shelby became known for his influence on national appropriations and banking policies as a fiscal conservative.