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Robert Joseph Wittman (born February 3, 1959) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2007. The district stretches from the fringes of the Washington suburbs to the
Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...
area. He is a member of the
Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...
.


Early life, education and career

Wittman was born in Washington, D.C., the son of adoptive parents Regina C. (née Wood) and Frank Joseph Wittman. His father was of German descent and his mother's ancestors included immigrants from Ireland and Canada. He grew up in Henrico County, Virginia. He attended
Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...
as a member of the
Corps of Cadets A corps of cadets, also called cadet corps, was originally a kind of military school for boys. Initially such schools admitted only sons of the nobility or gentry, but in time many of the schools were opened also to members of other social classes. ...
and Army ROTC and studied biology. While at Virginia Tech, he spent the summers working at a tomato cannery and on a fishing vessel. Also while in college, Wittman was a member of the
Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States-based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapter ...
fraternity. He earned a master's degree in public health from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which r ...
in 1990 and a Ph.D. from
Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia ...
in 2002. Wittman worked for 20 years with the
Virginia Department of Health The Virginia Department of Health oversees public health throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country ...
. He served as an environmental health specialist and was field director for the Division of
Shellfish Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater env ...
Sanitation. Wittman served on the Montross Town Council from 1986 to 1996 and as mayor of the Town of Montross from 1992 to 1996. Two of his major accomplishments in this office were the overhaul of the sewage system and the development of a computerized system for tax billing. From 1996 to 2005, Wittman served on the Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors, the last two years as chair. He helped create new libraries and pushed for raises in teacher salaries.


Virginia House of Delegates

In 2005, Wittman was elected to 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 ...
, representing the 99th district. He served on the Agricultural; Chesapeake and Natural Resources; and Police and Public Safety Committees.


U.S. House of Representatives


Committee assignments

* Committee on Armed Services ** Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces ** Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces (Ranking Member) *
Committee on Natural Resources Committee on Natural Resources may refer to: * Philippine House Committee on Natural Resources, a committee of the House of Representatives of the Philippines * United States House Committee on Natural Resources, a committee of the U.S. House of R ...
** Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs


Caucus memberships

*
House Baltic Caucus The House Baltic Caucus is a bipartisan registered Caucus of the House of Representatives since its inception in 1997 and is composed of members from both the Democratic and Republican Parties. The members of the House Baltic Caucus have a str ...
*
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 ...
* United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus *
Congressional Shipbuilding Caucus A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
*
Congressional Public Health Caucus A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
*
Republican Study Committee The Republican Study Committee (RSC) is a study group of conservative members of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives. As of 2021, the Chairman of the RSC is Representative Jim Banks of Indiana. Although the prima ...


Political positions

In 2010, Wittman's stated platforms included support for corporate tax cuts, expanding broadband, and cutting spending. He cosponsored legislation that would place a 2-year moratorium on capital gains and dividends taxes, cut the payroll tax rate and the self-employed tax rate in half for two years, and reduce the lowest income brackets by 5% each. He also favors deregulation. Wittman co-sponsored a personhood bill in Congress that defined life as beginning at conception. In 2012, Wittman said he would consider cutting pay and benefits for service members who join the military in the future in order to avoid closing bases or cutting the number of military personnel. Wittman authored the Chesapeake Bay Accountability and Recovery Act, designed "to enhance coordination, flexibility and efficiency of restoration efforts," according to Wittman. After several senators sponsored a bill to reauthorize the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, Wittman introduced a version of the bill for House members to consider. He proposed the Advancing Offshore Wind Production Act (H.R. 1398), which he said was designed to simplify the process companies must go through to test and develop offshore wind power.


Immigration

Wittman has said the "immigration system is broken. To keep America strong and prosperous, we need an immigration system that works for the American people." He supports ending
chain migration Chain migration is the social process by which immigrants from a particular area follow others from that area to a particular destination. The destination may be in another country or in a new location within the same country. John S. MacDonal ...
, implementing e-verify, eliminating the visa-lottery system, funding a southern border wall, increased border security and immigration enforcement, and revision of legal immigration. During the
115th Congress The 115th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 2017, to January ...
, Wittman voted to provide $1.6 billion for border security measures to enforce existing immigration laws, and
The Project Safe Neighborhoods Grant Program Authorization Act ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...
. In November 2018, Wittman said that "85 percent
f immigrants F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. Hi ...
don’t show up for a scheduled court hearing or call to schedule a court hearing." PolitiFact found that his claim was false. Wittman said he got the information from Representative
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 for 13 terms. A Republican, he was also the Chair of the House Judiciar ...
, who in turn said he got it from the conservative website '' Newsmax'', which attributed the claim to an anonymous "senior Los Angeles County Sheriff’s detective".


Health care

Wittman opposes the
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 ...
and has voted to repeal it. He said that Congress should not merely be "anti-Obamacare" and that Congressional Republicans are ready to provide alternatives if it is deemed unconstitutional. In 2017, he voted for the American Health Care Act, which would have repealed and replaced the ACA.


''Texas v. Pennsylvania''

In December 2020, Wittman 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 ''Texas v. Pennsylvania'', 592 U.S. ___ (2020), was a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the administration of the 2020 presidential election in certain states, in which Joe Biden defeated incumbent Donald Trump. Fil ...
'', 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.


Certification of 2020 presidential election

On January 6, 2021, Wittman was one of the 147 Republican members of the U.S. Congress who objected to certifying the 2020 presidential election. He voted against certifying Pennsylvania's electors after a day of violence as the U.S. Capitol was breached by Trump supporters who disrupted proceedings, despite no clear evidence of widespread voter fraud.


Political campaigns


2005

Wittman was first elected to the Virginia House of Delegates over Democrat Linda M. Crandell.


2007

Wittman was reelected to the Virginia House of Delegates unopposed. On December 11, 2007, Wittman was first elected to the United States Congress to succeed the late Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis, who died in October 2007. He was heavily favored in the special election due to the 1st's heavy Republican bent; it has been in Republican hands since 1977. The Independent candidate was Lucky Narain.


2008

Wittman was elected to his first full term, defeating Democratic nominee Bill Day and
Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
Nathan Larson.


2010

Wittman was reelected, defeating Democratic nominee Krystal Ball and Independent Green candidate Gail Parker.


2012

Wittman was reelected, defeating Democratic nominee Adam Cook and Independent Green candidate Gail Parker.


2014

Wittman defeated Democratic nominee Norm Mosher, Libertarian Xavian Draper, and Independent Green Gail Parker.


2016

Wittman defeated Democratic nominee Matt Rowe and Independent Green candidate Gail Parker.


2018

Wittman defeated Democratic nominee Vangie Williams. With the Republicans losing their remaining seat based in the Washington suburbs, as well as seats in Hampton Roads and the Richmond suburbs, Wittman was left as the only Republican holding a seat east of
Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen ...
.


2020

Wittman defeated Democratic nominee
Qasim Rashid Qasim Rashid (born July 21, 1982) is a Pakistani-born American author, activist, and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he is currently running for the Democratic nomination for Illinois's 11th congressi ...
.


2022

Wittman defeated Democratic nominee Herb Jones and Independent David Foster.


Electoral history


Personal life

Wittman is a member of St. James Episcopal Church in Montross.


References


External links


Congressman Rob Wittman
official U.S. House website
Rob Wittman for Congress
* * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Wittman, Rob 1959 births 21st-century American politicians American adoptees American Episcopalians Living people Mayors of places in Virginia Republican Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates People from Montross, Virginia Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health alumni Virginia city council members Virginia Commonwealth University alumni Virginia Tech alumni