The congressman from the 8th District is Democrat Jim Moran, elected in 1990. He has worked his way up to a senior position on the Appropriations Committee to take care of his federally-dependent district, but his legislative work has been overshadowed at times by a combativeness that has landed him in headline-grabbing confrontations. Read More

The congressman from the 8th District is Democrat Jim Moran, elected in 1990. He has worked his way up to a senior position on the Appropriations Committee to take care of his federally-dependent district, but his legislative work has been overshadowed at times by a combativeness that has landed him in headline-grabbing confrontations.

Moran was one of seven children in an Irish Catholic family in suburban Boston. His father was a professional boxer and Washington Redskins football player. Moran graduated from the College of the Holy Cross and got a master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He was elected to the Alexandria City Council in 1979 and became vice mayor in 1982. Then in 1984, the first of what would be many career controversies flared, and Morgan pleaded no contest to a conflict of interest charge and resigned from the Council. The charges were later dropped, and in 1985, Moran was elected mayor. In 1990, he ran for Congress against Republican incumbent Stanford Parris. It was a nasty race. Parris said Moran was a supporter of Iraqi Leader Saddam Hussein, and Moran responded that he wanted to “break (Parris’) nose,” and called him “a deceitful, fatuous jerk.” The major substantive issue was abortion rights; Moran ran an ad portraying Lady Liberty behind bars to demonstrate his “pro-choice” position. With a big margin in Alexandria, he won 52%-45%.

In the House, Moran has styled himself as a moderate among Democrats, though he has shown more loyalty to his caucus since President Barack Obama took office. In 1997, he co-founded the New Democrat Coalition, made up of moderate Democrats to support alternatives to liberal policies. Unlike many liberals, Moran has supported free trade agreements, and, he is a strong ally of the high-tech industry. He got a bill into law in 2010 aimed at cracking down on the illegal dog and cat fur trade by enforcing rules requiring that all garments containing any amount of fur list the species of the animal used on the product’s label.

With a district chock full of federal employees, Moran watches out for their interests. When several Virginia military installations saw an influx of new personnel as a result of the 2005 base realignment process, he worked on ways to ease traffic problems. He also has been an advocate for his district through earmarking. He secured $107 million in earmarks in 2010, the fourth-highest amount among House members, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Moran’s short temper and edgy remarks sometime land him in hot water. In 1995, he had a shoving match with California Republican Duke Cunningham on the House floor after Cunningham said that Moran had “turned his back on Desert Storm.” At an anti-war forum in 2003, Moran seemed to blame the pro-Israel lobby for the war in Iraq. “If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this,” he said. The furious reaction prompted Moran to apologize. After Democrats lost their majority in 2010, he told an Arab television network that Republican gains came in part because “a lot of people in this country … don’t want to be governed by an African-American.” At a town hall meeting several months later, he tangled with a disabled military veteran whom the congressman accused of making “caustic” comments, a videotaped exchange that made the rounds of conservative blogs and websites.

Moran’s personal finances have raised eyebrows as well. In 2000, The Washington Post reported that a pharmaceutical company lobbyist gave Moran a $25,000 loan on generous terms. Moran quickly agreed to repay the loan and suffered no apparent political damage. More trouble followed in 2002 with reports that he borrowed $50,000 from the founder of America Online, and that MBNA, the big credit card company, had given him a favorable rate on a mortgage. The Post reported in 2010 that since his 2004 remarriage to a wealthy entrepreneur, he has had one of the most actively traded stock portfolios, and that in 2005, he personally made more than two dozen risky, short-term investments.

In 2004, his primary opponent was Alexandria attorney Andrew Rosenberg, a political newcomer who criticized Moran’s character and rhetoric. Moran cited his advocacy for his district and prevailed 59%-41%. He went on to win the general election easily and has had uneventful re-elections since. Redistricting in 2012 is likely to cause him to yield some Democratic portions of his district to 11th District Democrat Gerald Connolly and to pick up some Republican-leaning precincts.