Scott Rigell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Scott Rigell
Scott Rigell, Official Portrait, 112th Congress.jpg
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Virginia's 2nd district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 3, 2011
Preceded by Glenn Nye
Personal details
Born Edward Scott Rigell
(1960-05-28) May 28, 1960 (age 53)
Titusville, Florida[1]
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Teri Rigell[1]
Children Four children[1]
Alma mater Mercer University (B.B.A.
Regent University (M.B.A)[1]
Profession Car dealership owner
Religion Protestant[1]
Website scottrigell.com
Military service
Service/branch United States Marine Corps Reserve
Years of service 1978–1984
Rank Sergeant USMC-E5.svg

Edward Scott Rigell[2] (born May 28, 1960) is an American politician who has been the U.S. Representative for Virginia's 2nd congressional district since 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Contents

Early life, education, and business career[edit]

Rigell was raised in Titusville, Florida. He served for six years in the United States Marine Corps Reserve from 1978–1984, attaining the rank of Sergeant. His father served in the Marines in World War II, landing on Iwo Jima, and his son is a Marine. He holds an A.A. from Brevard Community College, a B.B.A. from Mercer University, and a M.B.A. from Regent University.[3]

Rigell founded a car dealership, Freedom Automotive in 1991, initially purchasing the former Bruce Flournoy Ford dealership in Norfolk, then expanding to purchase Thompson Ford in Hampton. Later, Rigell subsequently added a Volvo and Lincoln-Mercury dealership, subsequently selling Freedom Ford-Hampton, Freedom Volvo and Freedom Lincoln Mercury-Chesapeake (since closed) to their respective presidents, while continuing to own the properties. Rigell still owns Freedom Ford in Norfolk.[citation needed]

He and his wife Teri live in Virginia Beach and have four children.[4]

U.S. House of Representatives[edit]

2010 election[edit]

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia, 2010#District 2
Primary

Rigell won the Republican nomination in a six-way race. The Hill rated Rigell's primary race as one of the top seven primaries in Congress for this election cycle.[5] Rigell was considered by many to be the favorite in the primary,[6] had support from the National Republican Congressional Committee[7] and Eric Cantor[8] - at least after the primary,[9] and was endorsed by Republican Virginia governor Bob McDonnell.[10]

Rigell came under attack from his primary opponents for having sold 138 cars under the Cash for Clunkers program, which Rigell subsequently criticized as "reckless bailouts and an out-of-control federal debt."[11] He also came under attack for making campaign contributions to Barack Obama during the 2008 Democratic primaries and to Virginia Democrat Louise Lucas in her bid against Randy Forbes.[12] Rigell said he believed that Hillary Clinton would have been a worse option for President.[13]

General election

Rigell states that his top priority is reducing government spending and that he supports replacing the health care law with market-based reforms.[14] As of June 4, 2010, Rigell had contributed $775,000 of his personal wealth to his campaign.[12] Rigell defeated Democratic incumbent Glenn Nye for Virginia's 2nd congressional district.

2012 election[edit]

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia, 2012#District 2

Rigell was challenged by businessman and Democratic nominee Paul Hirschbiel.

Tenure[edit]

Social issues

Representative Rigell has conservative views on social issues: he states he is "proudly pro-life",[15] he opposes gay marriage and opposed the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell.".[16] In 2011, Rigell cosponsored bills to prohibit abortion coverage under the national Affordable Health Care law, prohibit the use of federal funds for Planned Parenthood and prohibit taxpayer funding of abortion. Rigell supports a tax credit for heterosexual couples.[17]

Military issues

Rigell's district includes the largest concentration of active duty and retired service members in the United States. He supported the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Act, which the House and Senate passed. This bill increased the rate of compensation for veterans who were disabled in active duty.[18] Representative Rigell supports the continued military effort in Afghanistan; he opposed a vote in 2011 to remove troops from the country. However, he also opposed deploying ground troops to Libya.[19]

Budget

Representative Rigell supported Paul Ryan's budget plan, Path to Prosperity, which called for repeal of the 2010 Healthcare legislation. He vocally criticized Senate inaction on the House's budget plans in 2011, stating "Empirically we can show that the bottleneck is in the Senate – I hope every American stands up and says to Senator Reid: get these bills passed, we’ll go to conference, let’s work it out, we’ll work weekends and get this thing moving again."[20] Ultimately, he voted in favor of S 627, the 2011 budget proposal which raised the debt ceiling and required a supercommittee to provide more concrete spending cuts.

Warren Buffett challenge to the GOP

Billionaire Warren Buffett challenged the GOP that he would match any donations to the treasury they give. Rigell had already been giving back 15% of his salary, and when he flagged this for Buffett, Buffett agreed to match it. [21]

Eric Holder Contempt of Congress

On June 28, 2012, Rigell was one of only two Republicans (along with Steven LaTourette of Ohio) who voted against a motion to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for his handling of the ATF gunwalking scandal.[22]

Committee assignments[edit]

Caucus memberships[edit]

  • Fix Congress Now Caucus (Co Founder)
  • Shipbuilding Caucus
  • Job Creators Caucus (Co Founder)
  • Contaminated Drywall Caucus (Chairman)
  • Prayer Caucus
  • Congressional Constitution Caucus
  • Navy and Marine Corps Caucus
  • Wounded to Work Caucus
  • Values Action Team
  • Job Creators Caucus
  • General Aviation Caucus
  • Defense Communities Caucus
  • New Media Caucus
  • Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus
  • Chesapeake Bay Caucus
  • Congressional Zoo and Aquarium Caucus
  • Aerospace Caucus

Electoral history[edit]

2010 Republican Congressional Primary, 2nd district[23]
Candidate Votes Percentage
Scott Rigell 14,396 39.50%
Ben Loyola 9,761 26.78%
Bert Mizusawa 6,341 17.40%
Scott Taylor 2,950 8.09%
Jessica Sandlin 1,620 4.44%
Ed Maulbeck 1,371 3.76%
Virginia's 2nd congressional district, general election
Year Republican Votes Pct Democrat Votes Pct Independent Votes Pct
2010[24] Scott Rigell 88,007 53.15% Glenn Nye 70,306 42.46% Kenny E. Golden 7,158 4.32%

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e Blade, Rachel (November 3, 2010). "112th Congress: Scott Rigell, R-Va. (2nd District)". Congressional Quarterly. Retrieved November 7, 2010. 
  2. ^ "Representative Edward Scott Rigell (Scott) (R-Virginia, 2nd) - Biography from LegiStorm" (fee). Legistorm.com. Retrieved 2013-02-04.  (subscription required)
  3. ^ http://rigell.house.gov/about-me/full-biography
  4. ^ http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000589
  5. ^ Blake, Aaron (November 18, 2009). "Top seven primaries in Congress". The Hill. Retrieved 2013-02-04. 
  6. ^ "McDonnell picking GOP favorite against Nye". Politico.com. December 4, 2009. Retrieved 2013-02-04. 
  7. ^ "National Republican training program promotes two Va. candidates". Washington Post. May 6, 2010. 
  8. ^ Giroux, Greg (April 19, 2010). "Virginia: Cantor Backs Rigell". CQ Politics. Archived from the original on 2010-04-24. 
  9. ^ Newton-Small, Jay (September 22, 2010). "Virginia's 2nd Congressional District: Glenn Nye vs. Scott Rigell". TIME. Retrieved 2013-02-04. 
  10. ^ Walker, Julian (May 12, 2010). "McDonnell to endorse Rigell in GOP congressional primary". Virginian Pilot. 
  11. ^ Fritze, John (May 12, 2010). "Dealers-turned-candidates run into trouble". USA Today.  Text "05" ignored (help); Text "12" ignored (help)
  12. ^ a b Gioroux, Greg. Wealthy House Candidate Digs Deeper Ahead Of Tuesday’s Primary. Congressional Quarterly. June 4, 2010.
  13. ^ Pershing, Ben (May 25, 2010). "Rigell's survey says he's the clear frontrunner in GOP race to face Rep. Nye". Washington Post. 
  14. ^ Payne, Kimball (June 6, 2010). "BIO: Scott Rigell". Daily Press. 
  15. ^ "Where I Stand: Family Values". Scott Rigell for Congress. Retrieved November 22, 2011. 
  16. ^ "Scott Rigell Firmly Disagrees with Glenn Nye's Vote to Repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell". Scott Rigell for Congress. Retrieved November 22, 2011. 
  17. ^ Blessing, Kathy. "Scott Rigell". WhoRunsGov.com. Retrieved November 22, 2011. 
  18. ^ "S. 894". GovTrack.us. Civic Impulse, LLC. Retrieved November 22, 2011. 
  19. ^ "H Res 292". National Key Votes. VoteSmart.org. Retrieved November 22, 2011. 
  20. ^ Hooper, Molly (October 4, 2011). "House GOP Freshman Slams Reid, Senate for Inaction on Budget". The Hill. The Hill. Retrieved 2013-02-04. }
  21. ^ "Lawmaker calls Buffett's bluff". Fox News. April 5, 2012. 
  22. ^ http://politics.nytimes.com/congress/votes/112/house/2/441
  23. ^ "2010 June Republican Primary Unofficial Results". Virginia State Board of Elections. 
  24. ^ November 2010 Unofficial Results Virginia State Board of Elections

External links[edit]

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Glenn Nye		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Virginia's 2nd congressional district
January 3, 2011 – present		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
United States order of precedence
Preceded by
Cedric Richmond
D-Louisiana		 United States Representatives by seniority
332nd		 Succeeded by
Martha Roby
R-Alabama
Senators
Representatives
(ordered by district)
Other states'
delegations
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Scott_Rigell&oldid=552918485"