Mark Warner

Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Virginia, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Warner served as the 69th governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006. He is vice chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus and vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Warner was widely expected to pursue the Democratic nomination in the 2008 United States presidential election, but he announced in October 2006 that he would not run, citing a desire not to disrupt his family life. Warner delivered the keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and was considered to be a potential vice presidential candidate until he took himself out of consideration after winning the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. Warner was elected to the Senate in 2008 and reelected in 2014 and 2020. He became Virginia's senior senator in 2013, when Senator Jim Webb retired. He is the honorary chairman of Forward Together PAC. Before entering politics, Warner became involved in telecommunications-related venture capital during the 1980s. He founded and led the Columbia Capital firm. He also co-founded Capital Cellular Corporation. With a net worth of $214.1 million, Warner is the seventh-wealthiest member of Congress and its wealthiest Democrat.

Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Virginia, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Warner served as the 69th governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006. He is vice chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus and vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Warner was widely expected to pursue the Democratic nomination in the 2008 United States presidential election, but he announced in October 2006 that he would not run, citing a desire not to disrupt his family life. Warner delivered the keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and was considered to be a potential vice presidential candidate until he took himself out of consideration after winning the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. Warner was elected to the Senate in 2008 and reelected in 2014 and 2020. He became Virginia's senior senator in 2013, when Senator Jim Webb retired. He is the honorary chairman of Forward Together PAC. Before entering politics, Warner became involved in telecommunications-related venture capital during the 1980s. He founded and led the Columbia Capital firm. He also co-founded Capital Cellular Corporation. With a net worth of $214.1 million, Warner is the seventh-wealthiest member of Congress and its wealthiest Democrat.

Early life and education

Warner was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of Marjorie (née Johnston) and Robert F. Warner. He has a younger sister, Lisa. He grew up in Illinois, and later in Vernon, Connecticut, where he graduated from Rockville High School, a public secondary school. He has credited his interest in politics to his eighth grade social studies teacher, Jim Tyler, who "inspired him to work for social and political change during the tumultuous year of 1968." He was class president at Rockville High School and hosted a weekly pick-up basketball game at his house, "a tradition that continues today." Warner graduated from George Washington University, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1977. He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and graduated valedictorian, with a 4.0 grade point average. Warner was the first in his family to graduate from college. GWU later initiated him into Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society, as an alumnus member in 1995. While at George Washington University, he worked on Capitol Hill to pay for his tuition, riding his bike early mornings to the office of U.S. Senator Abraham Ribicoff. His sophomore year, Warner took time off from school to serve as the youth coordinator on Ella Grasso's successful gubernatorial bid in Connecticut. Upon returning to Washington, Warner took a part-time job in the office of then-Representative Chris Dodd. He went on to serve as Dodd's senatorial campaign manager during his freshman year of law school. When his parents visited him at college, he got two tickets for them to tour the White House; when his father asked him why he didn't get a ticket for himself, he replied, "I'll see the White House when I'm president." Warner then graduated from Harvard Law School with a Juris Doctor in 1980 and coached the law school's first intramural women's basketball team. Warner then took a job raising money for the Democratic Party based in Atlanta from 1980 to 1982. Warner has never practiced law.

State activism

Warner involved himself in public efforts related to health care, transportation, telecommunications, information technology and education. He managed Douglas Wilder's successful 1989 gubernatorial campaign and served as chairman of the state Democratic Party from 1993 to 1995. Warner also served, in the early 1990s, on the Virginia Commonwealth Transportation Board and sat in on monthly committee meetings of the Rail and Public Transportation Division (headed by Robert G. Corder).

1996 U.S. Senate election

He unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1996 against incumbent Republican John Warner (no relation) in a "Warner versus Warner" election. Mark Warner performed strongly in the state's rural areas, making the contest much closer than many pundits expected. He lost to the incumbent, 52% to 47%, losing most parts of the state including the north.

Governor of Virginia

2001 election

of the Virginia Army National Guard and Virginia Air National Guard]] In 2001, Warner campaigned for governor as a moderate Democrat after years of slowly building up a power base in rural Virginia, particularly Southwest Virginia. His opponents were Republican Mark Earley, the state's attorney general, and the Libertarian candidate William B. Redpath. Warner won with 52.16 percent of the votes, 96,943 votes ahead of the next opponent. Warner had a significant funding advantage, spending $20 million compared with Earley's $10 million.

Tenure

After he was elected in 2002, Warner drew upon a $900 million "rainy day fund" left by his predecessor, Jim Gilmore. Warner campaigned in favor of two regional sales tax increases, especially in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, to fund transportation. Virginians rejected both regional referendums to raise the sales tax. In 2004, Warner worked with Democratic and moderate Republican legislators and the business community to reform the tax code, lowering food and some income taxes while increasing the sales and cigarette taxes. His tax package effected a net tax increase of approximately $1.5 billion annually. Warner credited the additional revenues with saving the state's AAA bond rating, held at the time by only five other states, and allowing the single largest investment in K-12 education in Virginia history. Warner also entered into an agreement with Democrats and moderate Republicans in the Virginia Senate to cap state car tax reimbursements to local governments. During his tenure as governor, Warner influenced the world of college athletics. "Warner used his power as Virginia's governor in 2003 to pressure the Atlantic Coast Conference into revoking an invitation it had already extended to Syracuse University. Warner wanted the conference, which already included the University of Virginia, to add Virginia Tech instead — and he got his way." , May 2006]] Warner's popularity may have helped Democrats gain seats in the Virginia House of Delegates in 2003 and again in 2005, reducing the majorities built up by Republicans in the 1990s. Warner chaired the National Governors Association in 2004-2005 and led a national high school reform movement. He chaired the Southern Governors' Association and was a member of the Democratic Governors Association. In January 2005, a two-year study, the Government Performance Project, in conjunction with Governing magazine and the Pew Charitable Trust graded each state in four management categories: money, people, infrastructure and information. Virginia and Utah received the highest ratings average with both states receiving an A− rating overall, prompting Warner to dub Virginia "the best managed state in the nation." (left) and then-U.S. Senator Jim Webb (right), November 4, 2007]] The Virginia Constitution forbids any governor from serving consecutive terms, so Warner could not run for reelection in 2005. The 2005 Virginia gubernatorial election became a contest between two other statewide figures who had served alongside Warner, Lieutenant Governor and former Richmond Mayor Tim Kaine, and Attorney General and former Virginia Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore. Warner supported and campaigned for Kaine, a Democrat, against Kilgore, a Republican. On November 8, Kaine was elected governor with 52% of the vote. Kilgore received 46%, and Russ Potts, a moderate Republican state senator who ran as an independent, 2%. Many national pundits considered Kaine's victory further evidence of Warner's political clout in Virginia. On November 29, 2005, Warner commuted the death sentence of Robin Lovitt to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Lovitt was convicted of murdering Clayton Dicks at an Arlington pool hall in 1999. After his trial in 2001, Lovitt's lawyers stated that a court clerk illegally destroyed evidence that was used against Lovitt during his trial, but that could have possibly exonerated him upon further DNA testing. Lovitt's death sentence would have been the 1,000th carried out in the United States since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment as permissible under the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution in 1976. In a statement, Warner said, "The actions of an agent of the commonwealth, in a manner contrary to the express direction of the law, comes at the expense of a defendant facing society's most severe and final sanction." Warner denied clemency in 11 other death penalty cases that came before him as governor. Warner also arranged for DNA tests of evidence left from the case of Roger Keith Coleman, who was put to death by the state in 1992. Coleman was convicted in the 1981 rape and stabbing death of his 19-year-old sister-in-law, Wanda McCoy. Coleman drew national attention, even making the cover of Time, by repeatedly claiming innocence and protesting the unfairness of the death penalty. DNA results announced on January 12, 2006, confirmed Coleman's guilt. In July 2005, his approval ratings were at 74% and in some polls reached 80%. Warner left office with a 71% approval rating in one poll.

U.S. Senate

Elections

Campaign contributions

From 2008 to 2014, Warner's top ten campaign contributors included JP Morgan Chase, the Blackstone Group, and Columbia Capital. BlackRock had never contributed until Warner bought shares in the BlackRock Equity Dividend Fund in 2011.

119th United States Congress Committee assignments

Source: Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment (Ranking Member) Subcommittee on Digital Assets Committee on the Budget Committee on Finance Committee on Rules and Administration Select Committee on Intelligence (Vice Chairman) Joint Committee on the Library

Personal life

Warner is married to Lisa Collis. While on their honeymoon in 1989 in Egypt and Greece, Warner became ill; when he returned home, doctors discovered he had suffered a near-fatal burst appendix. Warner spent two months in the hospital recovering from the illness. During her husband's tenure as governor, Collis was the first Virginia first lady to use her birth name. Warner and Collis have three daughters, one of whom died in April 2026¹ of Type 1 diabetes and other health issues. Warner is involved in farming and winemaking at his Rappahannock Bend farm. There, he grows of grapes for Ingleside Vineyards; Ingleside bottles a private label that Warner offers at charity auctions. He has an estimated net worth of $215 million as of 2018. He is not related to John Warner, his predecessor in the Senate.

Honorary degrees

Mark Warner has received several honorary degrees, including:

Notes

References

Further reading

Archival records Archived website of the Office of the Virginia Governor Archived website of Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner, 2005-2006 part of Virginia's Political Landscape 2005 Web Archive Collection at Virginia Memory A Guide to the Governor Mark R. Warner, Executive Office, Records, 2001-2006 at The Library of Virginia A Guide to the Records of the Policy Office of Governor Mark R. Warner, 2002-2006 at The Library of Virginia A Guide to the Governor Mark R. Warner, Press Office records, 2001-2006 (bulk 2002-2006) at The Library of Virginia A Guide to the Governor Mark R. Warner, Transition Office, Records, 2001 at The Library of Virginia A Guide to the Governor Mark R. Warner, Virginia Liaison Office, Records, 2002-2005 at The Library of Virginia

External links

Senator Mark Warner official U.S. Senate website Mark Warner for Virginia campaign website |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |-

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371700151 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.