Roland Wallace Burris (born August 3, 1937) is the junior United States Senator from the state of Illinois and a Democrat. He is the third black U.S. Senator from Illinois, after Carol Moseley Braun and Barack Obama. Burris is currently the only African-American in the U.S. Senate.

Under controversial circumstances, Burris was appointed by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to replace President-Elect Barack Obama as the junior senator from Illinois. Prior to Burris's appointment, Obama was the U.S. Senate's only African American; he resigned his Senate seat after being elected President of the United States. Blagojevich and Burris are both subjects of ethics probes.

In 1978, Burris was the first African American elected to statewide office in Illinois, when he was elected Illinois Comptroller. He served in that office until his election as Illinois Attorney General in 1990. Since then, he has run for office four more times unsuccessfully.

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