Jody Moses Wagner (born August 6, 1955) is an American politician from

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the most populous city in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeastern Virginia. It is the sixth-most populous city in the ...

. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, she served as

State Treasurer In the state and territorial governments of the United States, 54 of the 56 states and territories have the executive position of treasurer. New York abolished the office of New York State Treasurer in 1926, in which the duties were transfer ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

from January 2002 to January 2006, and as

Virginia Secretary of Finance The secretary of finance is a member of the Virginia Governor's Cabinet. The office is currently vacant. List of secretaries Finance (July 1, 1972–July 1, 1976) * Walter Craigie (1972–1973) * William H. Forst (1973–1974) * Maurice B. Ro ...

in the Cabinet of Governor

Tim Kaine Timothy Michael Kaine ( ; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States ...

from January 2006 to August 2008. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

Virginia's 2nd congressional district Virginia's second congressional district is a List of United States congressional districts, U.S. congressional district in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It currently encompasses all of the counties of Accomack County, Virginia, Accomack, Nort ...

in the

2000 election The following elections occurred in the year 2000. Africa * 2000 Ethiopian general election * 2000 Ghanaian presidential election * 1999–2000 Guinea-Bissau general election * 2000–01 Ivorian parliamentary election * 2000 Ivorian presidentia ...

She was the Democratic Party nominee for

Lieutenant Governor of Virginia The lieutenant governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The lieutenant governor is elected every four years along with the governor and attorney general. The office is currently held ...

in the 2009 election, and was defeated by Republican incumbent

Bill Bolling William Troy Bolling (born June 15, 1957) is an American businessman, politician and educator who served as the 39th Lieutenant Governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2014. A member of the Republican party, he was elected twice to the position by ...

Personal life

Wagner received a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

in 1977, and a J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1980. She was admitted to the bar in

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

in 1980 and in Virginia in 1984. Prior to her appointment to

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

, she worked for about 18 years at the

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

law firm Kaufman & Canoles, specializing in securities and banking law. She has been a board member of the Norfolk Foundation and the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership. She is a former president of the Jewish Family Services of Tidewater and former board member of the

Eastern Virginia Medical School Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS), part of the Macon and Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University, commonly known as Virginia Health Sciences, is a public medical school in Norfolk, Virginia operated by Old Dominion U ...

. In September 2005, Wagner and her husband, Dr. Alan Wagner, an

ophthalmologist Ophthalmology (, ) is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of eye diseases and disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a ...

, began a side business making gourmet

popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns, or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated. The term also refers to the snack food produced by the expansion. It is one of the oldest snacks, with evidence of p ...

Political career

In 2000, Wagner was the Democratic nominee in

following the retirement of Democratic Representative Owen B. Pickett. She lost the race to Republican

Ed Schrock Edward Lee Schrock (born April 6, 1941) is a retired naval officer (1964–1988) and American Republican politician who served as a member of the Senate of Virginia from 1996 to 2001. He also served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Ja ...

, a Virginia state senator, despite roughly matching Schrock in fundraising and showing unexpected strength in a Republican-leaning district. In January 2002, Wagner was appointed by Virginia Governor

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 gove ...

as Treasurer of Virginia, an office within the Secretariat of Finance. During her tenure in that position, she was elected President of the National Association of State Treasurers, and upon leaving the position, she told ''The Washington Post'' that her "major accomplishment" in the position was preserving Virginia's AAA bond rating. She also told the publication at that time of her efforts "to modernize the state's treasury functions". In December 2005, incoming Virginia governor

announced Wagner as the state's first female

Secretary of Finance The Secretariat of the Treasury and Public Credit (, SHCP) is the finance ministry of Mexico. The Secretary of the Treasury is the head of the department, and is a member of the federal executive cabinet, appointed to the post by the President ...

. She was succeeded as state treasurer by deputy state treasurer Braxton Powell. Wagner resigned as Secretary of Finance effective August 8, 2008, and was succeeded in that post by state budget director

Ric Brown Richard Daryl "Ric" Brown (born June 1, 1946) is an American economist who served from 2008-2018 as the Virginia Secretary of Finance. He joined the Virginia Department of Planning and Budget in 1971 and was appointed as its director by Governor ...

. A week later, on August 15, she announced her candidacy for lieutenant governor in the 2009 election. She won the June 9, 2009 primary. She lost the general election to Republican incumbent

. On the filing deadline of June 9, 2020, Wagner announced she would run for

Mayor of Virginia Beach The Mayor of Virginia Beach is the head of the municipal government in Virginia Beach, Virginia, which has a Council–manager government, council-manager system of government. The mayor presides over city council meetings and serves as the cer ...

in the November 2020 election against incumbent Bobby Dyer. Dyer's previous opponent, City Councilman Aaron Rouse, ended his campaign on May 30. By June 20, 2020, Wagner had outraised Dyer, $75,453 to $67,225. She was defeated in the November election by Dyer.

References

External links

Jody Wagner for Mayor
2020 campaign page *
Jody Wagner for Virginia campaign website Biography
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Jody 1955 births 20th-century Virginia politicians 20th-century American women politicians 20th-century American businesswomen 21st-century Virginia politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American businesswomen Businesspeople from Virginia Businesspeople from Ohio Candidates in the 2000 United States elections Lawyers from Canton, Ohio Living people Northwestern University alumni Politicians from Canton, Ohio Politicians from Virginia Beach, Virginia State cabinet secretaries of Virginia State treasurers of Virginia Vanderbilt University alumni Virginia Democrats Virginia lawyers Women in Virginia politics