Virginia Foxx

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Virginia Foxx
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 5th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2005
Preceded by	Richard Burr
Born	June 29, 1943 (1943-06-29) (age 64) Bronx, New York
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Thomas Foxx
Religion	Roman Catholic

Virginia Foxx (born June 29, 1943) is a Republican Congresswoman from the 5th Congressional District of North Carolina first elected in 2004. The district takes in much of the northwestern portion of the state, and also includes portions of Winston-Salem.

A native of The Bronx, Foxx attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Foxx spent 10 years in the North Carolina Senate. She lives in Banner Elk, North Carolina. Roy Carter of Ashe County, NC is the opponent for her seat in the 2008 election.

When 5th District Congressman Richard Burr opted for an ultimately successful run for the United States Senate, Foxx was one of the first candidates to join the race. Her state senate district was virtually coextensive with the northwestern corner of the congressional district. Due to the highly partisan makeup of the district (only the neighboring 10th district is considered more Republican), the primary quickly became the most expensive and one of the nastiest in the history of North Carolina.

Foxx was the only woman in a field of eight candidates; most of her ugliest spats occurred with Winston-Salem city councilman Vernon Robinson. Although Foxx was one of the most conservative members of the state legislature, Robinson skewered her and the other primary challengers as liberals, and attacked Foxx for taking money from a gay rights group. Foxx explained that the group had given her a small donation during her first campaign for the state Senate, but never did again after they saw her voting record. (Like Robinson, Foxx campaigned heavily at gun shows.) Although Robinson was the highest vote-getter in the primary and heavily outspent Foxx, she decisively defeated him (55%-45%) in the runoff. By contrast, her general election campaign against Jim Harrell, Jr., which she won easily (59%-41%), was mostly cordial.

In September 2005, Foxx was one of 11 members of Congress to vote (see [1]) against the $51 billion aid package to victims of Hurricane Katrina. She was also one of only 33 Republicans to vote against the extension of the Voting Rights Act in July 2006. In the lame duck session of 2006, she introduced H.J.RES.96, a joint resolution praising the Christmas tree industry.

Foxx was briefly targeted for defeat in the 2006 elections, but the Democrats' top choice, popular Winston-Salem mayor Allen Joines, decided not to run. Joines later said that he didn't have the stomach for the kind of race he felt it would take to defeat Foxx. [2] Her 2006 opponent was Roger Sharpe, who was defeated.

[edit] Committee Assignments

• Agriculture Committee
  • Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture
  • Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry
• Education and Labor Committee
  • Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
  • Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness
• Oversight and Government Reform Committee
  • National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee

[edit] External links

• U.S. Congresswoman Virginia Foxx official House site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
• Christmas Tree resolution