Cynthia Noland Dunbar (born June 27, 1964) is a

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and pr ...

member for the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia who entered the 2018 race as a congressional candidate for the 6th Congressional District of Virginia. She was the state-co-chair for

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...

in the 2016 presidential primary race and a Texas Board of Education member.

Life

Dunbar studied at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

in Columbia, Missouri. In 1990, Dunbar graduated from

Pat Robertson Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (March 22, 1930 – June 8, 2023) was an American Media proprietor, media mogul, Televangelism, televangelist, political commentator, presidential candidate, and charismatic movement, charismatic minister. Rober ...

Regent University School of Law Regent University School of Law is the law school of Regent University, a Private university, private Christianity, Christian university in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It was founded in 1986 and accredited by the American Bar Association in 1996. ...

. During the 2009–2010 academic year, she commuted from her home in Texas to teach at the

Liberty University School of Law The Liberty University School of Law is the law school of Liberty University, a private evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia. The school offers the J.D., L.L.M., and J.M. degrees. History The Liberty University School of L ...

, established by the late

Jerry Falwell Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. (August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007) was an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservatism in the United States, conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch ...

. Dunbar was divorced from attorney spouse, Glen Dunbar, in February 2008, and, in 2014, she married again. She is a former assistant professor of law and advisor to the provost of Liberty University.

Political career

While residing in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

and

Sugar Land Sugar Land (sometimes incorrectly spelled as Sugarland) is the largest city in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, located in the southwestern part of the metropolitan area. Located about southwest of downtown Houston, Sugar Land is a po ...

, in

Fort Bend County Fort Bend County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. The county was founded on December 29, 1837, and organized the next year. It is named for a blockhouse at a bend of the Brazos River. The community developed around the fort in ...

—suburbs of Houston, Texas— Dunbar, a Republican, lawyer and author, served on the 15-member elected

Texas State Board of Education The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States.

. In 2006, Dunbar won the Republican nomination for the Texas State Board of Education for District 10. She polled 32,589 votes (64.3 percent) to intra-party rival Tony Dale's 18,114 (35.7 percent). Dunbar claimed that voters responded to her call for teaching

intelligent design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins".#Numbers 2006, Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for it ...

in science classes, rather than only the

theory of evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, resulting in certai ...

. In the general election that year, she defeated Libertarian Martin Thomen, a clerk, with 225,839 votes (70.38%) to 95,034 votes (29.62%). She did not run for reelection in 2010 and her term hence ran from 2007 to January 2011. In early 2008, Dunbar ran for the Republican nomination for the United States House of Representatives to represent , the district formerly held by

Tom DeLay Thomas Dale DeLay (; born April 8, 1947) is an American author and retired politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, DeLay represented Texas's 22nd congress ...

. She eventually withdrew and endorsed

Shelley Sekula-Gibbs Shelley Ann Sekula-Gibbs (born June 22, 1953) is an American physician and politician, who serves as a director of The Woodlands, Texas Township board of directors. She served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, represen ...

, who briefly held the seat, now represented by

Pete Olson Peter Graham Olson (born December 9, 1962) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2009 to 2021. His district included much of southern Houston, as well as most of the city's southwestern suburbs such as Katy, ...

. Dunbar was publicly criticized in 2008 for a column she wrote fo
Christian Worldview Network
in which she claimed that then Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was plotting with terrorists to attack the U.S. within his first 6 months in office. In November 2017, Dunbar announced she would run for Congress in

Virginia's 6th congressional district Virginia's sixth congressional district is a List of United States congressional districts, United States congressional district in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It covers much of the west-central portion of the state, including Roanoke, Virg ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

for the seat being vacated by the retiring incumbent

Bob Goodlatte Robert William Goodlatte (; born September 22, 1952) is an American politician, attorney, and lobbyist who served in the United States House of Representatives representing from 1993 to 2019. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, he was ...

. She was endorsed by Congressman Ron Paul. Ultimately she lost the 2018 GOP primary election to state delegate

Ben Cline Benjamin Lee Cline (born February 29, 1972) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for Virginia's 6th congressional district since 2019. A member of the Republican Party ( ...

Works

*''One Nation Under God: How the Left Is Trying to Erase What Made Us Great'' (HigherLife Development Services, 2008)

References

External links

Cynthia Dunbar's official campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunbar, Cynthia 1964 births Living people 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century evangelicals American women non-fiction writers American Evangelical writers Intelligent design advocates People from Forest, Virginia People from Richmond, Texas People from Sugar Land, Texas Regent University School of Law alumni Republican National Committee members School board members in Texas Texas Republicans University of Missouri alumni Virginia Republicans Candidates in the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections