The Senator and Congressman of the 7th District of Virginia - Research Paper Example

The Senator and Congressman of the 7th District of Virginia The current coverage of the 7th legislative district of Virginia was established only in1993. It includes certain parts of Richmond, particularly its west, as well as portions of the counties of Henrico and Chesterfield. It boasts of having the highest voter turnout among the state’s 11 districts, at 80.18 percent (Virginia State Board of Elections, n.d.). The district has been for many years strongly Republican. Not only did it favor heavily candidates from the Republican Party for legislative positions in the state as well as representatives to the national legislature, such as congressmen and senators. The voters have tended to choose presidential candidates from the said party for three elections already. Apparently, this only gives the impression that the district may well be considered as a bulwark of the Republican Party. The presidential elections since the year 2000 provide figures that proved this conclusion. In 2000, when George W. Bush ran for president, he got 37 percent of the votes. As he continued to banner the war on terror, and riding on the bandwagon effect of the American response to 9/11, President Bush managed to be reelected. The 7th District of Virginia produced 38 percent of its registered voters in favor of the incumbent chief executive. While John McCain was very unpopular in other states, in the district, he and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin were able to obtain a majority of 53.16 percent of the votes (Virginia State Board of Elections, n.d.). This obviously made the tandem win in the district. All these figures only prove how the district’s population has the tendency to favor one party over the other. The voters in the district also favor congressional candidates who belong to the Republican Party. From January 1971 until the present, the district has always had a Republican congressman. This means that the GOP has been dominant in the counties composing for about four decades already. However, this is not the case when it comes to the voters’ choice of senator. In the 2008 senatorial elections, Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, won over Republican James Gilmore III with a huge margin of 88,461 votes. Sen. Warner took 62.25 percent of the total votes (Virginia State Board of Elections, n.d.). In the 2000 elections, however, a Republican, Sen. G.F. Allen won with a great majority also. As the presidential elections would show, it is clear that the 7th district of Virginia leans to the Republicans when it comes to choosing the country’s chief executive. This is the same tendency that is displayed in congressional elections, particularly when it comes to selecting a representative in the lower house. Its choice for senator, however, has changed only in the last senatorial elections. It remains to be seen whether this signifies a start of a new trend. Rep. Eric Cantor is the district’s congressman. He has been considered as the Republican Party’s fast-rising leaders. Aside from being a lawyer, Rep. Cantor is also a businessman. Prior to being elected a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, he was a member of the state of Virginia’s legislative body. He was first noticed on Virginia’s political scene when he became part of the House of Delegates from 1992 until 2000 (Project Vote Smart, n.d.). In 2000, he was elected as congressman. It did not take long before he immediately became prominent in the halls of Congress. He first became popular among fellow Republicans in Congress which resulted in him being named as chief deputy majority whip for the party in 2002-2006. He later held the position of chief deputy minority whip in 2006-2008. As he became more accepted as a party leader, Rep. Cantor became minority whip for about two years in 2008. This year, his influence became even broader when he became the majority leader of the House of Representatives. Considering his growing influence in the Republican Party, it is only expected that Rep. Cantor’s stand of issues would be typically conservative. His record on certain burning issues of the day, such as abortion, ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy in the armed forces, and civil rights and liberties only proves his tendency to adhere to the standpoint of the Republican Party. A clear example of this is his advocacy to lower government spending for welfare while reducing taxes at the same time. Because of such stance, Rep. Cantor gained very high approval ratings from organizations like the National Taxpayers Union and Citizens Against Government Waste (Project Vote Smart, n.d.). Reflecting his original occupation as a businessman prior to working full-time as a member of congress Rep. Cantor is also much favored by the business sector. His major supporters include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the National Retailers Federation. The most telling sign though that he often takes conservative positions is the rating provided by the American Conservative Union. In 2009, this organization gave Rep. Cantor a rating of 97 percent. In the same year, the ACU also rated him 100 percent for the entire time that he was a member of the House of Representatives. Due to his frequent conservative stand on issues, the congressman has been given a 0 rating by the American Democratic Action in 2009. At the same time, Rep. Cantor gained fame for being one of the more conservative Republican congressmen in the current House of Representatives. Although he stood for civil rights in certain particular issues, he only managed to get a very minimal rating from interest groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Within the period 2009 to 2010, the congressman only got a 13 percent rating from the NAACP although he did reach 28 percent according to the standards of the organization in 2001-2002. The ACLU, on the other hand, has continuously rated Rep. Cantor as a failure when it comes to civil liberties. In 2001, it gave him a 0 rating although it increased the rating by 2002 to7 percent. This dropped again to 0 in 2003-2004 but surprisingly rose to 18 percent in 2007-2008; during a time when Rep. Cantor took certain independent stand on issues. Despite often being tagged by the more rightist wing of the Republican Party as having liberal tendencies sometimes, for the ADA and the ACLU, he is still basically a conservative. Sen. Mar Warner’s background is not much different from that of Rep. Cantor. He too is a lawyer and held various positions in business before joining politics. Sen. Warner is a product of George Washington University and took law at Harvard Law School. Before he ran for an elective position in the commonwealth of Virginia, he managed firm like Columbia Capital Corporation, Nextel Communications, and TechRiders. Even as he served in the said companies, he was chosen to lead the Democratic Party organization in Virginia from 1993 to 1994. After a significant time preparing for a state elective position, he ran and won the governorship in Virginia in 2002. He held the position for four years. In 2009 until the present, he is a senator representing the state. His successful stint as governor proved to be a major factor in the very lopsided win in the senatorial election against the Republican Party’s candidate. For winning by huge margins in certain areas where the GOP was traditionally strong, it was widely believed that Sen. Warner was able to transcend political lines. However, Sen. Warner has always proven to be Democrat and a liberal through positions he takes in several issues. He explicitly expresses his belief that abortion should be legal in accordance to the ruling of Roe vs. Wade. He supports affirmative action and strongly recommends its continuing implementation. As regards the environment, Sen. Warner believes that certain laws would have to be strengthened in order to promote the protection of the environment. However, he thinks that it is not necessary to increase taxes on the use of petroleum products as a way of discouraging the consumption of carbon monoxide-producing fossil fuels. For upholding such liberal platforms even when he was still governor, now Sen. Warner was once considered as a contender for the Democratic nomination as candidate for president in the 2008 elections. However, he begged to stay out of the race and instead staunchly backed the nomination of current President Barack Obama. In the Democratic National Convention, he explicitly points out during a speech that the country needs Obama (CNN Politics, 26 August 2008). At the moment, he is one of the key Democrats in the House of Senate. Proving further that his stand on issues is well appreciated by organizations that adhere to such liberal and progressive principles, the ADA rated him 95 percent in 2009. The organization believed that Sen. Warner effective advanced the liberal through his positions on the most important issues confronting American society. Aside from this, the NAACP also gave him a rating of 90 percent in 2009 and increased it to 95 percent the following year. This could be attributed to the senator’s unflinching stand in favor of affirmative action. Environmental groups also gave the senator a high rating. As expected, however, Sen. Warner’s stand on issues did not sit well with the conservatives and the liberals. In fact, even the business sector in which he was once a part of considers him a failure when it comes to certain economic policies and taxation. The ACU had given him a rating of 24 percent in 2009. Business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce gave him 36 percent in 2010. The National Association of Manufacturers and the National Retailers Association, on the other hand, graded him 31 and 22 percent respectively in the same year. Sen. Warner’s ratings clearly points out that he is a liberal. Although he tries to break free from party partisanship as he claims in his speeches, his position on issues betray the fact that he promotes an agenda that is anti-conservative in nature. The responses of interest groups to his positions also expose further his liberal character. Nevertheless, his landslide win in a district know for putting into power Republicans is an interesting phenomenon. References CNN Politics. (26 August 2008). America Needs Obama, Says Ex-Virginia Governor. Retrieved 9 July 2011 from . Project Vote Smart. (n.d.). Representative Eric I. Cantor (VA). Retrieved 9 July 2011 from . Virginia State Board of Elections. (n.d.). November 2008 Official Results. Retrieved 10 July 2011 from . Read More