WASHINGTON — Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, the highest Democrat on the Home Oversight Committee identified for his vocal advocacy of federal employees and his frequent clashes with Republicans throughout televised hearings, died Wednesday morning, his household mentioned. He was 75.
His dying comes lower than a 12 months after he received a aggressive race to change into the rating member of the Oversight and Authorities Reform Committee, one of many key panels which are charged with retaining a verify on the chief department. He introduced in April that his esophageal most cancers had returned regardless of receiving “grueling therapies,” and he wouldn’t be working for reelection in 2026.
“Gerry lived his life to offer again to others and make our group higher. He seemed out for the deprived and unvoiced. He at all times stood up for what is true and simply. He was a talented statesman on the worldwide stage, an completed legislator in Congress, a visionary govt on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, a fierce defender of democracy, an environmental champion, and a mentor to so many,” his household said in a statement saying his dying.
“However extra necessary than his accomplishments in elected workplace, Gerry lived by the ethos of ‘bloom the place you’re planted.’ From the Silver Line to the Oakton Library, Mosaic District to the Cross County Path and past, his legacy now colours our area.”
Earlier than elected workplace, Connolly labored as a Democratic staffer on the Senate Overseas Affairs Committee, together with for considered one of its members, then-Sen. Joe Biden. In 1995, Connolly received a seat on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in Virginia, simply exterior of Washington, D.C., and served for 14 years, together with the final 5 as board chairman.
When GOP Rep. Tom Davis introduced he wouldn’t run for reelection in 2008, Connolly jumped into the race to succeed him. Connolly cruised to victory in his main, and likewise simply defeated his GOP opponent.
He received reelection eight instances in Virginia’s eleventh district, which sits within the prosperous suburbs exterior of the nation’s capital and consists of Fairfax County.
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