[Retiring at end of current term.] Richard Burr, in many ways, marches to the beat of his own drum. He buys dress shirts at Costco, often goes without socks, especially on travel days, and putters around Capitol Hill in a 1974 gray Volkswagen Thing, a convertible off-road vehicle with a rear bumper covered in campaign stickers. Burr worked for 17 years at Carswell Distributing Co., where he started off selling appliances and became national sales manager for the company. Taxation was the issue that led Burr to run for Congress in 1992.

Learn what Richard Burr says about finding common ground