Randy Forbes

Randy Forbes

James Randy Forbes (* 17th February 1952 in Chesapeake , Virginia ) is an American politician of the Republican . From 2001 to 2017 he represented the state of Virginia in the US House of Representatives . He resigned from Congress on January 3, 2017, because he was defeated in the party primary for the November 2016 election .

Career

Randy Forbes attended Randolph-Macon College in Ashland until 1974 . After completing a law degree at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville , he worked as a lawyer from 1977 onwards. At the same time he embarked on a political career as a member of the Republican Party . From 1996 to 2001 he was regional party chairman for the state of Virginia. Between 1989 and 1997 he was a member of the Virginia House of Representatives ; from 1997 to 2001 he was a member of the State Senate .

After the death of Congressman Norman Sisisky , Forbes was elected in the extraordinary by-election for his seat in the fourth congressional constituency of Virginia as his successor to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , where he took up his new mandate on June 19, 2001. Since he was re-elected in all subsequent elections - in some cases without an opponent - he was able to exercise his mandate until the end of the legislative period of the 114th Congress on January 3, 2017. Forbes served on the Armed Forces Committee , the Justice Committee, and the Committee on Education and the Workforce, as well as four subcommittees. He was also a member of 14 caucuses .

After the division of congressional constituencies in Virginia was declared illegal by the state's Supreme Court and its previous fourth congressional constituency was redesigned for the November 2016 election so that Democratic dominance could be expected through the incorporation of the predominantly left-wing liberal city of Richmond , Forbes decided not to run again in its previous constituency, but to apply for the internal party primary in the second congressional electoral district of the state, whose Republican mandate holder Scott Rigell did not run for re-election. Forbes referred in the primary for the fourth congressional constituency, which is dominated by military facilities, to his political priorities in military affairs, in particular his chairmanship of the subcommittee for the Navy, which he promised to be able to direct investment decisions in the new constituency. However, he lost against his internal party candidate, the previous member of the Virginia House of Representatives, Scott Taylor , a veteran of the US Army , who successfully portrayed Forbes as a member of the aloof Washington politics and a non-constituency and in this district, who in the presidential primary election clearly to Donald Trump knew how to use the general mood in favor of outsiders. Due to this defeat, Forbes could not run for election in November 2016 and therefore left Congress on January 3, 2017.

Web links

Commons : Randy Forbes  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Randy Forbes in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

supporting documents

1. ^ Maggie Severns: Virginia's Forbes loses GOP House primary after redistricting. In: Politico , June 14, 2016 (English); Jenna Portnoy: Rep. Randy Forbes loses congressional seat in new district. In: The Washington Post , June 14, 2016.