Rep. Eric Cantor (R) Elected 2000, 2d term
Born:	June 6, 1963, Richmond
Home:	Richmond
Education:	George Washington U., B.A. 1985, Col. of William & Mary, J.D. 1988, Columbia U., M.S., 1989
Religion:	Jewish
Marital Status:	married (Diana)
Elected  Office:	VA House of Del., 1991-2000.
Professional Career:	Practicing atty., 1990-00.
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In the center of Virginia, on a hill in downtown Richmond above the James River, is Thomas Jefferson's Capitol, one of the first classical-style buildings in North America, chaste and simple in the Jefferson style. A mile or so west is Monument Avenue, Richmond's grand 140-foot-wide boulevard, punctuated by circles, each with a statue of a Confederate hero--Robert E. Lee (62 feet tall, dedicated Memorial Day 1890), Jeb Stuart, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, Matthew Fountain Maury, "the Pathfinder of the Sea." Richmond is a monument to Jefferson and to the Confederacy; its metro area is only the third largest in the state, but it still sets the tone for Virginia, and is the home of many of the state's great institutions--Dominion Resources, Main Street banks, big law firms, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Richmond's metro area has long since grown out past its city borders, covering almost all of suburban Henrico and Chesterfield counties and spreading out into what was until recently countryside. For many years Richmond was riven by sharp racial differences. It was from here that Virginia's leaders called for massive resistance to desegregation in the 1950s, and when Richmond elected its first black-majority council in the 1970s, the outgoing council deeded the statue of Lee to the state for fear it would be torn down. Now Richmond has come to a better place. Blacks have been a majority in the city for two decades now, and in 1989 Virginia elected a black governor, Douglas Wilder, who grew up on Church Hill, in a segregated neighborhood overlooking the Capitol. The state's Martin Luther King Jr. holiday pays homage to Confederate heroes and to the civil rights leader, and a statue of Richmond-born African-American tennis champion Arthur Ashe has been added to Monument Avenue. Politically there remain differences. Black-majority Richmond is solidly Democratic; Henrico and Chesterfield and the counties beyond are heavily Republican.

The 7th Congressional District includes most of the area surrounding Richmond, but the black precincts in the city and Henrico County are mostly in the black-majority 3d District, which extends downriver along the James to Newport News and Norfolk. The growth in the suburbs has led activists to criticize the sprawl as jeopardizing the local quality of life. The district also has an extension that runs north past James Madison's home at Montpelier to Rappahannock County and the Blue Ridge Mountains. But 76% of the 7th's population is in metro Richmond. Even after redistricting moved half of Chesterfield County to the 4th District in an effort to strengthen the party there, this remains the most heavily Republican district in Virginia.

The congressman from the 7th District is Eric Cantor, a Republican elected in 2000. He grew up in Henrico County, graduated from George Washington University and William and Mary Law School and got a master's degree in real estate from Columbia University. He then began practicing law in his family's firm in Richmond. In 1991, he was elected to the first of five terms in Virginia's House of Delegates. In the legislature, he was a leading ally of business, sponsoring a bill to limit the liability of Philip Morris in a Florida court decree and opposing restrictions on telemarketers. When 7th District Congressman Tom Bliley, after 20 years in the House, announced his retirement, Cantor entered the race. He had a big advantage: He served as Bliley's campaign chairman for six years and had the backing of Bliley's political organization. He endorsed a $1,000 per child education tax credit, elimination of the marriage tax penalty, and an increase in the maximum IRA contribution. Cantor, who is the only Jewish Republican in the House, has strongly supported Israel, and secured funding for a new building for the Virginia Holocaust Museum.

Still, Cantor faced a serious contest in the Republican primary, which was tantamount to victory here. His opponent was state Senator Stephen Martin. Martin emphasized his low-income background and he had a solid base of social and religious conservatives. Their contest turned negative: Cantor attacked Martin for supporting a back-door pay raise for legislators; Martin questioned Cantor's business dealings. Both supported gun rights and abolition of the National Endowment for the Arts, and opposed racial quotas and most abortions. Cantor supported PNTR with China; Martin was opposed. Cantor, who was well-known in his Henrico County base, had a big fundraising advantage and put on a substantial advertising campaign. Martin raised less than $200,000--a quarter of what Cantor spent in the primary. Cantor got the endorsement of Governor Jim Gilmore, but won the primary by only 263 votes. Cantor won 74% in Henrico, while Martin won 77% in his Chesterfield County base; each county cast about one-third of the total vote. In the general election, Cantor beat former Goochland County school superintendent Warren A. Stewart by 67%-33%.

In the House, Cantor has been reliably conservative in the Richmond tradition. His first term seemed uneventful. His first bill provided a tax credit of $1,000 per child for all parents with school-age children in public or private schools until they graduate from high school. He passed in the House a bill that would retain the image of Monticello on the nickel starting in 2006, after the U.S. Mint had announced a redesign to commemorate the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition. With his knowledge of the Middle East and his outspoken support for Israel, Cantor also became chairman of the House Republican task force on terrorism and unconventional warfare. But his more significant activity was outside the public spotlight as a member of Tom DeLay's Whip team. His laborious and mostly behind-the-scenes efforts to assure support for Republican initiatives impressed House leaders and presaged a meteoric rise to leadership. In December 2002, incoming Majority Whip Roy Blunt unexpectedly named Cantor as his chief deputy whip, giving him a seat at the party's leadership table and handing him the often thankless task of keeping track of his colleagues' sentiments on pending legislation. The appointment also was seen as part of DeLay's efforts to reach out to Jewish voters. Cantor also sought and won a seat on the Ways and Means Committee.

Cantor's reelection probably received more public attention than it warranted. His opponent was Ben Jones, who served two terms in the House from Georgia before he lost a 1992 Democratic primary, but who remains better known for his "Cooter" character in The Dukes of Hazzard. Jones settled in Rappahannock County, where he opened two stores capitalizing on Cooter's popularity and was a member of a successful band. But his campaign was hardly a joy ride. Jones picked up little national Democratic support, and Cantor largely ignored Jones and won 69%-30%; Jones carried Rappahannock County, which usually votes Republican. Even before he was tapped for the Republican leadership, the Times-Dispatch editorialized that Cantor's victory margin showed that he had become "indispensable" in Washington. It's not likely that he will have to worry about reelection for the remainder of this decade.

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DC Office
329 CHOB 20515, 202-225-2815; Fax: 202-225-0011; Web site: cantor.house.gov

State Offices
Culpeper, 540-825-8960; Richmond, 804-747-4073.

Committees

• Chief Deputy Majority Whip
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• Ways & Means (24th of 24 R): Human Resources; Oversight.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	0	7	0	0	67	100	57	100	100	97	100
2001	0	--	0	0	--	--	70	100	100	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	0%	--	94%		9%	--	87%
Social	0%	--	81%		0%	--	75%
Foreign	33%	--	60%		0%	--	85%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 2. Limit Patients' Bill of Rights Y 3. Campaign Finance Reform N 4. Ban ANWR Development N 5. Faith-Based Charities Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts Y		7. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  8. Arm Commercial Pilots Y  9. Trade Promotion Authority Y 10. Bar Funds for Intl. Court Y 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Deny Home. Sec. Dept. Union Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	Eric Cantor (R)	113,658	69%	$1,402,415
	Ben "Cooter" Jones (D)	49,854	30%	$166,332
2002 primary	Eric Cantor (R)	unopposed
2000 general	Eric Cantor (R)	192,652	67%	$1,336,548
	Warren A. Stewart (D)	94,935	33%	$70,430

2000 presidential
	Bush (R)	172,425	61%
	Gore (D)	105,504	37%
	Other	6,261	2%
For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Seventh District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R +12
• District Size: 3,556 square miles
• Population in 2000: 643,499; 70.0% urban; 30.0% rural
• Median Household Income: $50,990; 6.1% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 19.4% blue collar; 68.4% white collar; 12.2% gray collar; 13.5% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 78.2% White, 16.1% Black, 2.3% Asian, 0.3% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 1.1% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 2.0% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 12.1% English, 10.6% USA, 10.2% German
• Click here for statewide demographic data.