Howard Morgan Griffith (born March 15, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician who has been the U.S. representative for

Virginia's 9th congressional district Virginia's ninth congressional district is a United States congressional district in the Commonwealth of Virginia, covering much of the southwestern part of the state. The 9th is Virginia's second-largest district in area, covering 9,113.87 s ...

since 2011. The district covers a large swath of southwestern Virginia, including the

New River Valley The New River Valley is a region along the New River in Southwest Virginia in the United States. It is usually defined as the counties of Montgomery (including the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg), Pulaski, Floyd, and Giles and the i ...

and the Virginia side of the

Tri-Cities Tri-Cities most often refers to: *Tri-Cities, Tennessee, United States *Tri-Cities, Washington, United States Tri-City, Tricity or Tri-Cities may also refer to: Populated places Americas Canada *Tri-Cities (British Columbia), consisting of Co ...

. He is a member of the Republican Party and the

Freedom Caucus The Freedom Caucus, also known as the House Freedom Caucus, is a congressional caucus consisting of conservative Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. It is generally considered to be the most conservative and fart ...

. Griffith was the

majority leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

of the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

and represented the 8th district from 1994 to 2011. The district was based in his hometown of Salem and included parts of surrounding Roanoke County.

Early life, education, and career

Griffith was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, and in his infancy his family relocated to

Salem, Virginia Salem is an independent city in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,346. It is the county seat of Roanoke County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combine ...

. He graduated from Andrew Lewis High School in 1976 and from

Emory and Henry College Emory & Henry College (E&H or Emory) is a private liberal arts college in Emory, Virginia. The campus comprises of Washington County, which is part of the Appalachian highlands of Southwest Virginia. Founded in 1836, Emory & Henry College i ...

in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts. Griffith completed his education with a J.D. from the

Washington and Lee University School of Law The Washington and Lee University School of Law (W&L Law) is the professional graduate law school of Washington and Lee University. It is a private American Bar Association-accredited law school located in Lexington in the Shenandoah Valley re ...

in 1983. After law school, Griffith settled in Salem, where he worked as an attorney in private practice specializing in traffic violations and DUI. On June 23, 2008, Albo & Oblon LLP, a law firm run by fellow Republican delegate Dave Albo, announced that Griffith had joined the firm as head of its new Roanoke/Salem office.

Early political career

Griffith's first entry into electoral politics came in 1986, when he was chosen as chair of the Salem Republican Party. He chaired the party from 1986 to 1988 and from 1991 to 1994.

Virginia House of Delegates

In 1993, incumbent Delegate G. Steven Agee chose to run in the Republican primary for Attorney General. Griffith ran for the open seat representing the 8th district and won. He was elected to several terms, facing opposition only in 2001, 2003, and 2009. He served as vice chair of the Rules Committee and on the Courts of Justice Committee, and chaired its Criminal Law Subcommittee. He also served on the Commerce and Labor Committee, and the Committee on Militia, Police, and Public Safety. He was elected House Majority Leader in 2000, the first Republican to hold that position in Virginia's history.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2010

Rather than run for a tenth term in the House of Delegates, Griffith opted to challenge Congressman

Rick Boucher Frederick Carlyle Boucher (; born August 1, 1946) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 1983 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He was defeated in his bid for a 15th term by Republican Morgan Griff ...

, a 13-term incumbent Democrat who had served since 1983. His home in Salem was just outside the 9th's borders at the time, but the district included almost all of his House of Delegates district. Griffith chose to run for Congress after Boucher voted for the

cap and trade Emissions trading is a market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for reducing the emissions of pollutants. The concept is also known as cap and trade (CAT) or emissions trading scheme (ETS). Carbon emission t ...

bill. Boucher capitalized on the fact that Griffith did not live in the district, and in return Griffith branded Boucher as a rubber stamp for

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

and

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...

. Griffith won the election by less than 5% of the vote.

2012

Griffith defeated Democratic nominee Anthony Flaccavento, 61.3% to 38.6%.

2016

Griffith defeated Democratic nominee Derek Kitts and Independent Janice Boyd with 68.59% of the vote.

2018

Griffith defeated two Democratic opponents, Flaccavento and Justin Santopietro, and a Whig opponent, Scott Blankenship.

2020

Griffith ran unopposed. He was reelected with 94.39% of the vote.

Committee assignments

Committee on Energy and Commerce A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

** Subcommittee on Energy **

Subcommittee on Health The U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health is a subcommittee within the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Jurisdiction The House Subcommittee on Health has general jurisdiction over bills and resolutions relating to pub ...

** Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

Caucus memberships

Congressional Constitution Caucus The Congressional Constitution Caucus is a congressional caucus made up of 41 members of the United States Congress. The caucus was founded in 2005; it had 37 members the first year it was founded. The group was founded and formerly led by Re ...

* Congressional Western Caucus * Veterinary Medicine Caucus *

* Liberty Caucus * Friends of Wales Caucus

Electoral history

Political positions

Iraq

In June 2021, Griffith was one of 49 House Republicans to vote to repeal the Authorization of Military Force against Iraq. The measure ultimately succeeded in the House and has been pending in the Senate since then.

Immigration

Griffith has voted to allow Virginia to enforce federal immigration laws to criminalize knowingly employing

illegal immigrants Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...

or undocumented workers, and also voted to criminalize possession of firearms by illegal aliens. Griffith voted against the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 which authorizes DHS to nearly double the available H-2B visas for the remainder of FY 2020. Griffith voted against H.R.1158 in the 116th Congress, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which effectively prohibits ICE from cooperating with Health and Human Services to detain or remove illegal alien sponsors of unaccompanied alien children (UACs). The measure was approved by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on December 10, 2019.

Gay rights

While serving in the Virginia House of Delegates, Griffith supported a constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriage by defining marriage as between one man and one woman. He voted in favor of a motion to effectively kill a bill to prohibit discrimination on the basis of

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generally ...

for government employees in Virginia.

Environment

In 2017, Griffith voted to nullify the Stream Protection Rule, which included improvements in the protection of water supplies, water quality, streams, fish and other wildlife that can be negatively affected by surface coal mining. The same year, he joined other members of the House of Representatives in passing an amendment to H.R. 3354, which undermined the

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

’s ability to enforce environmental standards in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which covers six states and the District of Columbia. Griffith is a proponent of "an 'all of the above' energy strategy" that utilizes both fossil fuel and renewable energy sources. In 2011, he joined other GOP members in urging Interior Secretary

Ken Salazar Kenneth Lee Salazar (born March 2, 1955) is an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat who is the United States ambassador to Mexico. He previously served as the 50th United States Secretary of the Interior in the administration of President ...

to reconsider the ban on offshore drilling off Virginia's coast.

Gun rights

Griffith voted in favor of several bills to reduce restrictions on gun ownership, including a bill to allow

concealed weapons Concealed carry, or carrying a concealed weapon (CCW), is the practice of carrying a weapon (usually a sidearm such as a handgun), either in proximity to or on one's person or in public places in a manner that hides or conceals the weapon's pr ...

in vehicles without a permit and to allow concealed weapons permit holders to carry their firearms in restaurants and bars. He also voted to prohibit consumption of alcohol while in possession of a concealed weapon. In 2004 Griffith voted to prohibit carrying firearms or ammunition in non-secure areas of airport terminals, including baggage claim areas.

Health care

Early in 2010, Griffith voted in favor of a bill to prohibit any

individual mandate An individual mandate is a requirement by law for certain persons to purchase or otherwise obtain a good or service. United States Militia act The Militia Acts of 1792, based on the Constitution's militia clause (in addition to its affirmative ...

to purchase health insurance. This law passed Virginia's legislature before the federal

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...

was enacted, which Virginia has used to challenge the individual mandate in federal court. On July 17, 2013, Griffith was the lone GOP member of the House to vote against delaying the implementation of the individual mandate. Just before the

United States federal government shutdown of 2013 From October 1 to October 17, 2013, the United States federal government entered a shutdown and curtailed most routine operations because neither legislation appropriating funds for fiscal year 2014 nor a continuing resolution for the interi ...

, Griffith issued a press release in which he endorsed the final House version of

Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014 The Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014 () is a bill that was introduced into the United States House of Representatives on September 10, 2013. The original text of the bill was for a continuing resolution that would make continuing appro ...

, which would have continued funding for federal government operations while delaying implementation of the Affordable Care Act. He voted against the

Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014 The Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014 (; ) is a law used to resolve both the United States federal government shutdown of 2013 and the United States debt-ceiling crisis of 2013. After the Republican-led House of Representatives could not a ...

, the Senate-proposed compromise that ended the shutdown without defunding the ACA.

Death penalty

Griffith has consistently voted for expansions of the death penalty to include eligibility for accomplices to a murder, as well as for those who murder a judge or a witness.

Abortion

When surveyed in 1999 on his political positions by

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in si ...

, Griffith indicated that he supports legalized

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

in the

first trimester Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops ( gestates) inside a woman's uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Pregnancy usually occurs by sexual intercourse, but ...

and to save the life of the mother,Project Vote Smart
/ref> while favoring the restriction of abortion through parental notification laws and prohibition of partial-birth abortion. His voting record has generally been consistent with that survey, voting in favor of restrictions such as parental-notification and parental-consent, restricting state funding of abortions, and requiring

abortion clinic Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregnan ...

s to meet the same licensing requirements as surgical centers. In 2006 Griffith voted to restrict state funding for fetal stem cell research. In 2007 Griffith voted against a bill in the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 1 ...

, HB 2797, which stated ''"That life begins at the moment of fertilization and the right to enjoyment of life guaranteed by Article 1, § 1 of the Constitution of Virginia is vested in each born and preborn human being from the moment of fertilization".'' Griffith's 2010 campaign website reported that Griffith has a "100% pro-life" voting record and an "A" rating from the Virginia Society for Human Life (VSHL). But VSHL's report on 2007 legislation in Virginia omits reference to HB 2797. Project Vote Smart indicated that Griffith declined to retake their survey in 2010.

Taxes and spending

Griffith supports raising the retirement age and reducing the number of American troops serving overseas as means of reducing the federal budget deficit. Most recently, he voted for the

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 The Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018, , is a congressional revenue act of the United States originally introduced in Congress as the Tax Cuts and Jobs A ...

Medical marijuana

In 2014, Griffith introduced legislation to move marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule II narcotic, which would effectively make the drug legal for medical purposes under federal law.

''Texas v. Pennsylvania''

In December 2020, Griffith was one of 126 Republican members of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

to sign an

amicus brief An ''amicus curiae'' (; ) is an individual or organization who is not a party to a legal case, but who is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. The decision on ...

in support of '' Texas v. Pennsylvania'', a lawsuit filed at the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...

contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated incumbent

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked

standing Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an ''erect'' ("orthostatic") position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the ...

under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state. Presidential election certification On January 6, 2021, Griffith was one of the 147 Republican members of Congress who objected to certifying the 2020 presidential election.

Defense

In September 2021, Griffith was among 75 House Republicans to vote against the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022, which contains a provision that would require women to be drafted. Griffith was among 19 House Republicans to vote against the final passage of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.

Big Tech

In 2022, Griffith was one of 39 Republicans to vote for the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.

Personal life

Griffith and his wife, the former Hilary Davis, have three children. He is an Episcopalian. In 2014 Griffith founded the Congressional Friends of Wales Caucus in honor of his Welsh heritage.