Don Beyer VA-08

Don Beyer

Summary

Current Position: US Representative of US House District 8 since 2015
Other Positions: Joint Economic Committee; Ranking Chair of the Subcommittee on Space; Member of the Subcommittees on Trade, Select Revenue Measures (Ways & means), and Research and Technology
Affiliation: Democrat
Former Position: Lt. Governor from 1990 – 1998; Business owner
District:  Including all of Alexandria, Arlington, and Falls Church, as well as parts of Fairfax County.

Pinned Tweet: I am grateful to voters in Northern Virginia for again making me their Democratic nominee to represent Virginia’s 8th District. Their trust in me is humbling, and I will continue to do all I can to earn it.”

Don Beyer Interview – one minute overview

OnAir Post: Don Beyer VA-08

News

Don Beyer Interview Aircast Highlight
Other, Ben Murphy, Aircaster, September 7, 2022 (02:08)

Students onAir Presents Don Beyer’s Highlight Reel from his aircast with us on Aug. 31 2022. If you enjoyed this video check out the full aircast for more of Representative Beyer.

   • Video  

Moderator: Connor Oatman, US onAir – connor.oatman@onair.cc

Aircaster: Ben Murphy, US onAir – ben.murphy@onair.cc

Featured Guest: Congressman Don Beyer, US House VA-08

Student Guests: Valentina Autorina, Frida Cervantes, Devin Pieczynski, Gabriel Yu from George Mason University. Students will be asking Congressman Don Beyer about his positions on a number of issues including abortion, guns, and funding college education.

Don Beyer post: https://va.onair.cc/politician/don-be…

How the Freedom Caucus Hopes to Defund the Police
Government Page, Don BeyerJanuary 23, 2023

Much of the country watched the opening of the 118th Congress descend into chaos earlier this month as Rep. Kevin McCarthy struggled to consolidate support for his bid to become speaker of the House. The once-in-a-century contestation of the speaker vote was even more dramatic from the vantage of those of us inside the room. We watched our colleagues nearly come to blows over whether a group of holdouts from the right-wing House Freedom Caucus would support McCarthy or force the elevation of another candidate.

But the tension inside the House chamber and the back-room deals outside it that helped advance the drama did not signal the opening act in this power play. That came much earlier, which might explain why it escaped the notice of most who tuned in for the week of roll calls in the House. Speaker McCarthy’s vote woes actually began last summer, when the Freedom Caucus quietly advanced a mechanism by which their most radical members now hope to defund both the federal investigations into Donald Trump and the law enforcement agencies conducting them.

In the caucus’s opening bid to McCarthy last July, it outlined some of the concessions its members would require in exchange for their support for his speakership bid in a new House majority. One of these concessions was the reinstatement of a little-known House procedure called the Holman Rule. McCarthy accepted this and other demands shortly before the House cast the first of our fifteen speaker ballots.

So what is the Holman Rule, and why is it so important to hard-right MAGA conservatives?

The Holman Rule is named after Indiana Representative William Steele Holman, who proposed it in 1876. The rule was altered, removed, or reinstated repeatedly over the following century before it was repealed by then-Speaker Tip O’Neill in 1983. The basic structure remained consistent throughout the hundred-plus years it was in place: It allowed for specific provisions to reduce or eliminate the salaries of individual federal employees or offices. This creates a mechanism for legislators to, in effect, fire individual federal employees with appropriations riders on must-pass government funding bills.

This may sound innocuous enough, but it is important to understand why the Freedom Caucus wanted the rule reinstated so badly. To this end there are two important points to consider: The first has to do with the history of the civil service, the second with Donald Trump.

Until 1883, employees of the United States government were largely determined via the spoils system: A victorious presidential candidate would populate federal positions across the country with cronies and political allies, regardless of experience, ability, or competence. This was an ongoing source of chaos, inefficiency, and corruption, and Congress finally took a big step to end it with the Pendleton Act of 1883. The act provided the foundation of today’s permanent, merit-based civil service, which is designed to select applicants based on experience and competence rather than personal connections or political allegiance.

Nobody thinks the federal government is perfect—most of us know stories of inefficiency created by bureaucracy. But the vast majority of federal workers are conscientious people who forgo the generally larger salaries available in the private sector in order to serve their country. The alternative—a constantly rotating, inexperienced, completely politicized workforce, such as Americans had to deal with before the Pendleton Act—is far worse. That was the reality Donald Trump would have reinstated with his “Schedule F” proposal: a federal workforce that owes its power, position, and livelihood to the person of the president, not the American people.

Today we have the Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent agency empowered by Congress to conduct disciplinary matters in the federal workforce free of partisan interference. This creates a sturdy obstacle for those who would seek political vengeance on perceived enemies in the career federal workforce. But that obstacle can be bypassed via the Holman Rule.

And that is where Donald Trump comes in.

Following Trump’s election to the presidency in 2016, and with his campaign slogan about “draining the swamp” in mind, the Republican House majority revived the long-defunct Holman Rule in January of 2017, making it part of the rules package for the 115th Congress.

Freedom Caucus Members then proposed Holman Rule actions to punish federal employees.

Rep. Mark Meadows tried to use it to eliminate the positions of 89 staff at the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, presumably in retaliation for CBO having given unflattering scores to Republican legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Reps. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) likewise used it in attempts to get back at civil servants. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) later proposed using an appropriation to eliminate Anthony Fauci’s salary.

Importantly, not one of these efforts was successful because each lacked the support of Republican leadership. (For her part, Greene proposed her bill, the “Fire Fauci Act,” during a period when the Holman Rule was not even in force.) But this dynamic was turned on its head earlier this month when it became clear that the Freedom Caucus is calling the shots in the new Republican majority.

Their more recent history with the Holman Rule is very concerning.

On August 5, 2022, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) publicly called for use of the Holman Rule to “start defunding some of these bad agencies—the FBI, the DOJ.” Biggs’s desire to defund the FBI and the Justice Department was echoed by Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, and others. Notably, the Freedom Caucus letter to McCarthy that demanded reinstatement of the Holman Rule was led by Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Scott Perry (R-Penn.), a major figure in the plot to overturn the 2020 election results. (You might recall that his cell phone was seized last summer by the FBI.)

It is not a coincidence that the people seeking to defund the FBI and the Justice Department are people who were heavily involved in the plot to overturn the 2020 election, which has since become the subject of the largest criminal investigation in American history. Most of those named above requested presidential pardons from Donald Trump, and they have consistently been some of his most zealous allies in seeking to use their power to silence, intimidate, and punish his enemies.

It is this fringe element, which tried to help Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election, that now hopes to extend the same chaos and nihilism to the rest of the federal government. The irony should not be lost on anyone that those plotting to defund law enforcement were previously some of the loudest critics of calls to “defund the police.” Today, instead of “backing the blue,” they hope to defund the federal police to shield Donald Trump from investigation.

The Holman Rule passed as part of the House rules package less than 48 hours after McCarthy finally became speaker, with only one Republican voting against it. In 2017, a handful of moderates and experienced Republican leaders tried to prevent the return of the Holman Rule. Sadly, no one in today’s House GOP conference was willing to take that stand.

So where does that leave us now that the Holman Rule is in place?

The federal prosecutions of January 6th insurrectionists, the Justice Department, the FBI, and even Special Counsel Jack Smith have been identified as potential targets. The Freedom Caucus could try to eliminate the salary of Merrick Garland, Christopher Wray, or others in the FBI and DOJ, effectively firing them. Republicans could try to zero out funding for the FBI’s D.C. field office or the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia to end the DOJ’s January 6th investigation.

The principle is simple: All who pose a threat to Donald Trump or to the larger MAGA cohort must be deterred, blocked, punished, or fired.

The extreme right flank of the House GOP can’t do this on their own. The legislative process requires bills to pass the House and the Senate before either receiving a signature from the president, or overcoming his veto.

But that’s the trick of the Holman Rule: By making must-pass funding bills available as a vehicle for riders that eliminate salaries or defund government programs, the rule enables the House majority to bypass traditional legislative barriers to firing federal employees or shutting down federal operations outright. The Freedom Caucus said repeatedly during the speaker showdown that they intend to do exactly this, playing hardball with those must-pass bills—going so far as to threaten government shutdowns or a catastrophic debt default to extract concessions.

The Freedom Caucus may use these threats to attack the Justice Department and the FBI, both to ensure that Trump is protected from accountability and to protect themselves from any potential criminal exposure. This is a nightmare scenario: It could see the U.S. government paralyzed, our economy harmed, and the country undergoing some of the worst attacks on the rule of law we have ever seen.

That threat is very real.

Preventing this outcome will require more backbone than the moderate wing of the GOP has shown so far. The Freedom Caucus outmaneuvered them over and over again to seize the reins of the new majority. There are reasonable people in the House Republican Conference, but as long as they continue to acquiesce to a leadership that is dominated by the extreme fringe of their party, they can’t do anyone any good.

The Congress—and far more importantly, the country—may soon depend on those reasonable Republicans to stand up to the radical right. There may be enormous consequences for American families and the future of our democracy if they don’t.

GMU Interview Aircast
Ben Murphy, Aircaster Connor Oatman, Host, September 23, 2022 – 3:00 pm (ET) (26:35)

About

Source: Government website

Don Beyer VA-08Congressman Don Beyer is serving his fourth term as the U.S. Representative from Virginia’s 8th District, representing Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, and parts of Fairfax County.

Don chairs Congress’s Joint Economic Committee, and serves on the essential House Committee on Ways and Means.  He also sits on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, where he chairs the Space Subcommittee. He is a member of the New Democrat Coalition’s Climate Change Task Force and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and founded the Congressional Fusion Caucus.

Don’s public service began in 1986 when Governor Gerald Baliles appointed him to the Commonwealth Transportation Board, responsible for overseeing the Virginia Department of Transportation and allocating highway funding to specific projects. From 1990 to 1998, Don served as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia where his signature work included advocacy for Virginians with disabilities and ensuring protections for Virginia’s most vulnerable populations as Virginia reformed its welfare system. He was also Virginia’s Democratic nominee for Governor in 1997.

After leaving office, Don served in a variety of leadership roles.  He spent 15 years as chair of Jobs for Virginia Graduates, a highly successful high school dropout prevention program. Don continues to serve on the National Board for Jobs for America’s Graduates.

He was also active for a decade on the board of the DC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.  As chair of the Virginia Economic Recovery Commission, he helped pass permanent pro-business reforms and was co-founder of the Northern Virginia Technology Council. Don was founding chair of Alexandria Community Trust (ACT), where he served in leadership for five years. He was also president and a member of the American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA), where he represented 10,000 international nameplate automobile dealers.

An active leader in Democratic politics, Don served as the Virginia chair of the Clinton-Gore and Kerry-Edwards presidential campaigns and was the treasurer and Virginia chair for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign.  He chaired the DNC’s Democratic Business Council in 2005 and was finance chair of Sen. Mark Warner’s “Forward Together” presidential exploratory committee in 2006.  For Pres. Obama, Don served as mid-Atlantic finance chair for the campaign and later acted as Transition Team Leader for the Department of Commerce.

In 2009, Pres. Obama nominated Don to serve as ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein. He used his position to advocate for stricter sanctions to compel Iran to begin nuclear disarmament discussions. As ambassador, Don was integral to US Department of Justice efforts to halt the abuses of Swiss bank secrecy by wealthy Americans.

For four decades, Don helped build his family’s business in Northern Virginia following a summer job at the dealership in 1974.  He sold the business in 2019.

Don, born in the Free Territory of Trieste, is the son of U.S. Army officer Donald Sternoff Beyer Sr., and his wife, Nancy McDonald. His grandmother, Clara Mortenson Beyer, was a pioneer in labor economics and workers’ rights and instrumental in implementing minimum wage legislation via the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Don’s grandfather, Otto S. Beyer Jr. was Chairman of the National Mediation Board.

Don is a graduate of Williams College and of Gonzaga College High School in Washington, DC. He was named a Presidential Scholar by President Lyndon Johnson. Don has four children and two grandchildren. He and his wife Megan live in Alexandria, Virginia.

 

Personal

Full Name:  Don S. Beyer, Jr.

Gender:  Male

Family:  Wife: Megan; 4 Children: Clara, Grace, Donny, Stephanie

Birth Date:  06/20/1950

Birth Place:  Trieste, Italy

Home City:  Alexandria, VA

Religion:  Christian

Source:

Education

BA, Economics, Williams College, 1968-1972

Attended, Wellesley College, 1971

Offices

Washington, DC Office
1119 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4376
Fax: (202) 225-0017

District Office
5285 Shawnee Road
Suite 250
Alexandria, VA 22312
Phone: (703) 658-5403
Fax: (703) 658-5408

Contact

Email: Government

Web Links

Videos

DON BEYER – Learn About His story

August 24, 2022 (01:00)

Students onAir introduces Don Beyer … Democratic Candidate for Virginia US House District 08 … by way of this 1-minute bio … drawn from his campaign website.

Go to https://va.onair.cc/ and select the Don Beyer post to learn more about his policy positions and much more.

DON BEYER – Learn About His Issues

August 16, 2023 (01:00)
By: US onAir Network

Students onAir presents the key policy positions of Don Beyer … Democratic Candidate for Virginia US House District 08 … drawn from his campaign website.

Go to https://va.onair.cc/ and select the Don Beyer post to learn more about his policy positions and much more

DON BEYER – Interview Aircast

September 22, 2022 (26:30)
By: US onAir Network

More Information

Services

Source: Government page

I want to serve my constituents in any way I can. Whether you need help with a federal agency, are trying to find out if federal grants are available for your project, or are considering applying to a service academy. I hope all the information in this section will be helpful.

District

Source: Wikipedia

 

Virginia’s 8th congressional district is located just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.. It comprises several populous suburbs in Northern Virginia, including all of Alexandria, Arlington, and Falls Church, as well as parts of Fairfax County. Democrat Don Beyer has held the seat since 2015. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of D+26, it is the most Democratic district in Virginia.

The 8th district is heavily influenced by the federal government in neighboring Washington, with nearly a quarter of its working population employed in the public sector. Though commuting into the nation’s capital for work is common, several government agencies have their headquarters in the 8th district. The most prominent of these are the United States Department of Defense (located in the Pentagon) and the Central Intelligence Agency. Their presence has established a flourishing aerospace and defense industry in the area, with Northrop Grumman being one of the district’s top private sector employers. Other major corporations are also located within its boundaries, most notably AES.

The seat has long been a liberal stronghold, having backed every Democratic presidential nominee since 1992. But those margins have grown dramatically; in 2020, Joe Biden carried the 8th district by over 55 points. Once a popular destination for white flight, the district has seen an influx of Asian, Black, and Hispanic residents in recent years and is now majority nonwhite. It also has the nation’s fifth-highest share of individuals with a bachelor’s degree or higher, in large part due to the nearby government presence.

Wikipedia

Donald Sternoff Beyer Jr. (/ˈb.ər/ BY-ər; born June 20, 1950) is an American businessman, diplomat, and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Virginia’s 8th congressional district since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, his district is located in Northern Virginia and includes Alexandria, Falls Church, Arlington, and parts of eastern Fairfax County.

Beyer has owned automobile dealerships in Virginia and has a long record of involvement in community and philanthropic work. From 1990 to 1998, he served two terms as the 36th lieutenant governor of Virginia during the gubernatorial administrations of Doug Wilder (1990–1994) and George Allen (1994–1998). His party’s nominee for governor of Virginia in 1997, he lost to Republican Jim Gilmore, who was then the Attorney General of Virginia. From 2009 to 2013, he served as United States Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein under President Barack Obama.[1]

In 2014, Beyer announced his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives seat for Virginia’s 8th congressional district held by the retiring Jim Moran. Beyer won the 12-candidate Democratic primary in June with 45% of the vote and went on to win the general election 63% to 33%. He has since been reelected five times, most recently in 2024.

Early life and education

Beyer was born in the Free Territory of Trieste, the son of a U.S. Army officer, Donald Sternoff Beyer Sr., and his wife, Nancy McDonald.[2][3] His grandmother Clara Mortenson Beyer was a pioneer in labor economics and workers’ rights, and worked in the United States Department of Labor under Frances Perkins during the New Deal era.[4] His grandfather Otto S. Beyer Jr. was Chairman of the National Mediation Board. The oldest of six children, he was raised in Washington, D.C., where his grandparents lived.

In 1968, he graduated from Gonzaga College High School, where he was salutatorian of his class; in 1972 he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Williams College, magna cum laude, in economics. Beyer was a Presidential Scholar in 1968 and a National Merit Scholarship winner. He graduated from a winter Outward Bound course at Dartmouth College in January 1971 and attended Wellesley College that year as part of the “12 College Exchange” program.[5][6]

In 2022, during his congressional career, Beyer enrolled at George Mason University in pursuit of a master’s degree in computer science with a concentration in machine learning,[7] taking one evening course per semester. He told The Washington Post in December 2022 that he was taking required undergraduate courses before he started graduate coursework, which he expected to begin by 2024.[8]

Business career

After college, Beyer began working at the Volvo dealership his father had purchased in 1973. In 1986, he and his brother Michael bought the business from their parents and as the Beyer Automotive Group, the business expanded to nine dealerships, including the Volvo, Land Rover, Kia, Volkswagen, Mazda, and Subaru brands. Beyer sold his share of the dealerships to his brother in 2019.[citation needed] Beyer is a past chairman of the National Volvo Retailer Advisory Board. In 2006, he chaired the American International Automobile Dealers Association.[9]

One of Beyer’s automotive dealerships in Fairfax County, Virginia

Beyer served as a member of the board of Demosphere International, Inc., a leading soccer registration software provider.[10] He was also a board member of History Associates, which bills itself as “The Best Company in History.”[11] He has served on the Virginia Board of First Union National Bank, the board of Shenandoah Life Insurance Company, and the board of Lightly Expressed, a fiber optic lighting design and manufacturing firm.

Civic activism

During nearly two decades of community activism, Beyer has taken leadership roles on the boards of many business, philanthropic and public policy organizations, the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce and the American Cancer Society. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Grand Award for Highway Safety from the National Safety Federation; the James C. Wheat Jr. Award for Service to Virginians with Disabilities;[12] the Earl Williams Leadership in Technology Award; and the Thomas Jefferson Award for 2012 from American Citizens Abroad.[13]

In 2017, he received the Leaders for Democracy Award from the Project on Middle East Democracy. In April 2017, he received the Community Integration Leadership Award for Community and Public Service from the ENDependence Center of Northern Virginia and the Community Engagement Award from Phillips Programs for Children and Families. In 2021, Beyer received the Excellence in Public Service Award from the Population Association of America.

Beyer chaired the board of the Alexandria Community Trust, Alexandria’s community foundation,[14] and the board of Jobs for Virginia Graduates, the state’s largest high school dropout prevention program.[15] He is a former president of the board of Youth for Tomorrow, Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs‘s residential home for troubled adolescent boys and girls.[16] He also served on the board of the DC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.[17] He currently serves on the board of directors of Jobs for America’s Graduates.

In 2022, readers and editors of Arlington Magazine named Beyer “Best Elected Official” as part of the magazine’s annual roundup of favorite restaurants, shops, doctors, summer camps, live bands and more in Arlington County, Virginia.[18]

Political career

Beyer was the northern Virginia coordinator of the Gerald L. Baliles campaign for governor in 1985. In 1986, Governor Baliles appointed Beyer to the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB), which is responsible for overseeing the Virginia Department of Transportation and allocating highway funding to specific projects. It consists of 17 members, including the Secretary of Transportation, Commonwealth Transportation Commissioner, Director of the Department of Rail and Public Transportation, and 14 citizen members who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Virginia General Assembly.[19]

Beyer as Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein

Beyer was elected lieutenant governor of Virginia in 1989, defeating Republican state senator Edwina P. Dalton. He was reelected in 1993, defeating Republican Michael Farris 54%-46%, as Republicans George Allen and Jim Gilmore were elected on the same ballot as governor and attorney general, respectively.

Farris’s close connection to conservative leaders such as Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority, Pat Robertson of the Christian Coalition and Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle Forum, as well as his adherence to the Quiverfull movement,[20][21] stirred deep-seated feelings and led some prominent Virginia Republicans such as U.S. Senator John Warner to support Beyer rather than Farris.[22]

During his tenure as lieutenant governor, Beyer served as president of the Virginia Senate. He chaired the Virginia Economic Recovery Commission, the Virginia Commission on Sexual Assault, the Virginia Commission on Disabilities, the Poverty Commission and was co-founder of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, an outgrowth of the Chamber of Commerce.[23] He was active in promoting high-tech industries and led the fight to eliminate disincentives in the Virginia Tax Code to high-tech research and development.[24]

He is also credited with writing the original welfare reform legislation in Virginia.[25]

Beyer was the Democratic nominee for governor in 1997, losing to Republican Jim Gilmore. He served as Finance Chairman for Mark Warner‘s Political Action Committee, “Forward Together”,[26] and as the National Treasurer for the 2004 presidential campaign of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean.[27] After Dean withdrew from the race, he served as chairman of the John Kerry campaign in Virginia.[28]

In 2007–08, Beyer endorsed and campaigned extensively for presidential candidate Barack Obama.[29] He chaired the Mid Atlantic Finance Council of Obama for America campaign[30] and served on the campaign’s National Finance Council.

The Democratic National Committee appointed Beyer to serve at the 2008 DNC Convention on the Credentials Committee.[31]

Following the 2008 election, President-elect Obama asked Beyer to head up the transition team at the Department of Commerce.[32]

Obama nominated Beyer for United States Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein on June 12, 2009.[33] In December 2010, Beyer attracted public attention when it was reported that he had warned the Swiss government against offering asylum to WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange.[34] In March 2013, Beyer received the Thomas Jefferson Award from American Citizens Abroad. The award is presented annually by ACA to recognize State Department members who have rendered outstanding service to Americans overseas. Beyer was recognized for organizing a series of town hall meetings where American citizens overseas could voice concerns and opinions to officials of the State Department. He resigned as ambassador in May 2013.

During the run-up to the 2020 primaries, Beyer endorsed Pete Buttigieg for president. He then endorsed Joe Biden on Super Tuesday.[35]

In June 2022, after a spate of mass shootings in the U.S., Beyer said he would propose a bill to increase taxes on assault-style guns by 1,000%.[36] He told Business Insider, “What it’s intended to do is provide another creative pathway to actually make some sensible gun control happen. We think that a 1,000% fee on assault weapons is just the kind of restrictive measure that creates enough fiscal impact to qualify for reconciliation.”

U.S. House of Representatives

Beyer during the 114th Congress

Elections

2014

On January 24, 2014, Beyer announced his candidacy for Virginia’s 8th congressional district to succeed retiring Democratic incumbent Jim Moran.[37] It was his first partisan race since losing the 1997 gubernatorial election. He won the June 10 Democratic primary with 45.7% of the vote.[38]

On November 4, Beyer defeated Republican nominee Micah Edmond and three others in the general election receiving 63.1% of the vote. But he had effectively clinched a seat in Congress in the primary. At the time, the 8th was Virginia’s second-most Democratic district, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+16 (only the 3rd district was more Democratic).

Beyer is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.[39]

2016

Beyer defeated Republican nominee Charles Hernick, 68.6% to 27.4%.[40]

2018

Beyer defeated Republican nominee Thomas Oh, 76.3% to 23.7%.[41]

2020

Beyer defeated Republican nominee Jeff Jordan, 75.8% to 24.0%.[42]

2022

Beyer defeated Republican nominee Karina Lipsman, 73.5% to 24.8%.

2024

Beyer defeated Republican nominee Jerry Torres, 71.5% to 24.7%.[43]

Tenure

Beyer was a frequent critic of the Trump administration. On April 13, 2017, he was the first lawmaker to call for senior White House adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner to lose his security clearance after it was revealed that Kushner had omitted numerous contacts with foreign nationals from his security clearance application.[44] In June 2017, Beyer renewed his call, sending a letter signed by more than 50 other House Democrats demanding that the White House immediately revoke Kushner’s clearance, citing national security concerns.[45]

Beyer wrote the Cost of Police Misconduct Act, which proposed to create a publicly accessible federal database over police misconduct allegations and settlements.[46]

As of 2022, Beyer has voted with President Joe Biden’s stated position 100% of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight.[47]

Beyer voted to provide Israel with support following 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.[48][49] He declined to vote in favor of a resolution declaring anti-Zionism a form of antisemitism, instead voting present.[50]

In October 2023, Beyer introduced legislation to prohibit the trade of donkey-hide gelatin, or ejiao, due to animal welfare concerns.[51] Across multiple Congresses, Beyer has authored the Humane Cosmetics Act, which would prohibit testing cosmetics on animals and bar the sale of new animal-tested cosmetic products in the United States. In March 2025, Beyer stated: “Cosmetics testing on animals is cruel, unnecessary, and outdated, and Congress should finally put a stop to it”.[52]

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Personal life

Beyer and his wife, Megan, have two children, Clara and Grace. He also has two children, Don and Stephanie, from a previous marriage,[63] and two grandchildren.[64] He is an Episcopalian.[65]

As of May 2019, according to OpenSecrets.org, Beyer’s net worth was more than $124 million.[66]

References

  1. ^ End of term reflections with U.S. Ambassador Beyer, World Radio Switzerland, May 27, 2013.
  2. ^ The Virginian-Pilot, September 21, 1997
  3. ^ Schudel, Matt (December 31, 2017). “Don Beyer Sr., Army officer and Northern Virginia auto dealer, dies at 93”. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 29, 2019. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  4. ^ https://livingnewdeal.org/glossary/clara-beyer-c-1892-1990/ The Living New Deal Archives. Clara Beyer (c. 1892–1990).
  5. ^ “12 College Exchange program manual”. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007.
  6. ^ Rosenfeld, Megan (January 18, 1990). “Don Beyer, Fresh Off The Lot”. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on February 15, 2020. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  7. ^ Kearney Rich, Colleen. “Congressman Don Beyer, Mason student and lifelong learner”. George Mason University. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
  8. ^ Flynn, Meagan (December 28, 2022). “A 72-year-old congressman goes back to school, pursuing a degree in AI”. The Washington Post.
  9. ^ “American International Automobile Dealers Association press release, June 1, 2006”. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007.
  10. ^ Demosphere website
  11. ^ “History Associates website”. Historyassociates.com. Archived from the original on July 31, 2020. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
  12. ^ “Virginia Board for People with Disabilities Newsletter, August 2001” (PDF). Vaboard.org. May 23, 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 1, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
  13. ^ “Thomas Jefferson Award”. American Citizens Abroad. Retrieved December 22, 2024.
  14. ^ “The Connection Newspapers”. Connectionnewspapers.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
  15. ^ Jobs for Virginia Graduates website Archived July 13, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Youth for Tomorrow website Archived August 27, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ “DC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy website”. Teenpregnancydc.org. Archived from the original on October 8, 2007. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
  18. ^ “Best of Arlington 2022”. Arlington Magazine. December 13, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  19. ^ “Commonwealth Transportation Board”. Secretary of the Commonwealth. Retrieved December 22, 2024.
  20. ^ “Bio for Mr Farris”. Archived from the original on March 20, 2007. Retrieved April 20, 2007.
  21. ^ Farris, Vickie (2002). A Mom Just Like You. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8054-2586-1.
  22. ^ Atkinson, Frank B. “John W. Warner III (1927–2021)”. Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved December 22, 2024.
  23. ^ “Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, 1990s”. Archived from the original on July 8, 2007.
  24. ^ Virginia Business magazine, July 1997 Archived October 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  25. ^ The Virginian-Pilot, February 16, 1995
  26. ^ The Virginian-Pilot, December 7, 2005 Archived August 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  27. ^ “RaisingKaine blog, May 3, 2007”. Archived from the original on April 19, 2008.
  28. ^ “More Dean Endorsements”. Burnt Orange Report. January 31, 2005. Archived from the original on May 4, 2013. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  29. ^ WTOP radio news”. WTOP News. April 21, 2007. Archived from the original on October 8, 2007. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
  30. ^ “Linked In profile”. LinkedIn. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  31. ^ Armstrong, Jerome. “Blogger report, 2008”. Mydd.com. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
  32. ^ “State Department biography”. State.gov. Archived from the original on October 7, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
  33. ^ Bellantoni, Christina (June 12, 2009). “Big Obama donor picked as envoy to Switzerland”. Washington Times. Archived from the original on June 21, 2010. Retrieved June 12, 2009.
  34. ^ “Der Sonntag – Politiker Wollen Wikileaks-Chef Helfen: Asyl Für Assange!”. Sonntagonline.ch. Archived from the original on August 31, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
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Political offices
Preceded by

Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
1990–1998
Succeeded by

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by

United States Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein
2009–2013
Succeeded by

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Virginia’s 8th congressional district

2015–present
Incumbent
Preceded by

Chair of the Joint Economic Committee
2021–2023
Succeeded by

U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by

United States representatives by seniority
131st
Succeeded by


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