Current Position: Virginia state senator (since December 2001)
Credit: Bill O'Leary/TWP
Why He Matters
When Deeds announced in December 2007 that he would stand for the Democratic nomination to become Virginia's governor, he said he would follow in the footstepsof moderate Democratic Govs. Mark Warner (Va.) and Tim Kaine (Va.)
With roots in rural western Virginia and a centrist record, Deeds packaged himself as a Democrat with appeal to voters statewide and in liberal, fast-growing Northern Virginia.
But that wasn't enough to stop him from falling to his nemesis, ex- Attorney General Bob McDonnell, by 18 points in the November 2009 election. McDonnell's victory was the first GOP one for a governor in the Old Dominion in eight years. The GOP also swept all statewide offices for the first time in 12 years.
Deeds failed to garner independent voters, and lost Fairfax County in northern Virginia, in a race that is likely to be repeatedly dissected in the runup to the 2010 midterms. He also couldn't muster the Barack Obama coalition that led to the swing state victory for Democrats in 2008.
In 2005, McDonnell defeated Deeds to become Virginia's attorney general by just 360 votes.
At a Glance
Current Position: Virginia state Senator (since December 2001)
Career History: Virginia gubernatorial candidate (2009), practicing attorney; Virginia state Senate (2001-present); member, Virginia House of Delegates (1992-2001); Commonwealth's Attorney, Bath County (1988-1992)
Birthday: January 4, 1958
Hometown: Richmond, Va.
Alma Mater: Concord College, B.A., 1980; Wake Forest University, J.D., 1984
Spouse: Pam
Religion: list the person's religious affiliation
State/District Office: N/A
Email N/A
Web site N/A
Path to Power
Born in Richmond, Va., Deeds' family moved to rural Bath County in west-central Virginia early in his childhood. As a child he joined his grandfather, the head of the local Democratic party, at Election Day polls, rituals that sparked his interest in public service.
Deeds graduated from Concord College in West Virginia before obtaining his law degree from Wake Forest University in 1984.
Deeds soon returned to Bath County, where he served once as a "country lawyer" and later as a local prosecutor. He still lives there and owns several farm animals, including a donkey named "Harry S. Truman."
State Lawmaker and 2005 Virginia Attorney General Race
Deeds was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1991, where he served nine years. He was elected to the state Senate in 2001, assuming the seat of state Sen. Emily Couric (D) who died of pancreatic cancer before her term was complete.
Deeds ran unopposed in the 2005 Democratic primary to become Virginia's attorney general. But he faced his future gubernatorial rival, state Del. Bob McDonnell (R), in the general election.
Following the November election, Deeds trailed McDonnell by 323 votes out of more than 1.9 million cast. The Democrat conceded the election only after a recount was completed six weeks later, giving McDonnell a 360-vote win. Deeds kept his spot in the Virginia Senate.
2009 Gubernatorial Race
In December 2007, Deeds announced he would seek the Democratic nomination for governor in 2009. He would face off against state Del. Brian Moran (D) and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee Terry McAuliffe in the June 2009 Democratic primary.
While Moran resigned from his state House post, Deeds remained in Richmond's Capitol Square, a decision that kept him from fundraising during the legislative session under state rules. Deeds trailed his two Northern Virginia rivals both in fundraising figures and polls one month before the primary.
But Deeds surged to win the Democratic nod with nearly half of all votes cast and emerging as the top votegetter in 10 of Virginia's 11 House districts. Observers say he benefited from a well-timed statewide ad blitz, a promise to tackle the state's transportation issues and a Washington Post endorsement saying he was the best choice for fast-growing Northern Virginia.
The victory set up a November rematch against McDonnell, who ran unopposed for the GOP nomination. McDonnell held comfortable leads in early opinion polls, leading by as much as 15 points in some mid-August polls. But in late August 2009, support for McDonnell eroded after The Washington Post reported on McDonnell's 1989 master's thesis at Regent University in which he attacked working women, feminists and homosexuals. Deeds hammered McDonnell on the document; McDonnell said the thesis was written a long time ago and that many of his views have since changed. A Washington Post poll taken in mid-September saw Deeds climb to within four points of his GOP rival, largely gaining support among independent women.
But any gains were short-lived; McDonnell defeated Deeds, 59 to 41 percent.
In Their Own Words
"I will not let lawmakers go home until we pass a comprehensive transportation plan—our economic future depends on this," Deeds wrote in a Washington Post editorial on his priorities if elected governor.
The Issues
During his tenure in the legislature, Deeds focused on education, economic development and environmental conservation. Deeds' reputation as a rural, outdoorsy moderate played a large role in some of his policy initiatives. He sponsored a state constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2000 guaranteeing the right to hunt and fish. The National Rifle Association backed Deeds, not the Republican McDonnell, in the 2005 Virginia attorney general race.
Deeds has taken a hardline approach to illegal immigration, voting in 2005 to deny state and local benefits to undocumented aliens. He also voted in favor of a 2009 measure denying in-state tuition aid to illegal immigrants. The measure hasn't been approved by the Virginia House.
Deeds penned Virginia's Megan's Law, which publicized the names of sexual offenders on the state police registry after it was enacted in 1998. In 2003, Deeds also introduced legislation establishing Virginia's Amber Alert system, used to locate missing children.
The Economy
Throughout his career, Deeds has focused his economic agenda on job growth and infrastracture.
Deeds said in his 2009 campaign that if elected governor, he would establish a bipartisan commission to craft a comprehensive transporation package that sought to of identify funding for projects that would remake the state's roads, railroads and ports. While he opposed tax increases for other matters, he said while campaigning that the state must find more than $1 billion annually to address neglected transportation needs without cutting other state programs.
Deeds also campaigned saying he would double the size of the Governor's Opportunity Fund, used to lure businesses to the state, and proposed that Virginia offer grants to green energy companies. In 1995, Deeds sponsored a failed proposal to provide tax credits to companies that create at least 25 to 50 jobs, depending on location, and repeated that he would seek a similar proposal if governor.
Social Issues
Deeds supports abortion rights and inserted the issue into his gubernatorial bid in August 2009, trying to appeal to Northern Virginia liberals by denouncing McDonnell's attempts to restrict abortion as being out of the mainstream.
But Deeds voted for the 2004 Marriage Affirmation Act, which prohibited same-sex marriage in Virginia and outlawed the recognition of out-of-state same-sex civil unions.
In 1996, Deeds voted to establish English as Virginia's official language, a measure approved by a 78-20 vote.
Education
In April 2009, Deeds unveiled a ten-year plan to make higher education affordable for more Virginians by increasing accessibility to loans and grants. The proposal, which Deeds estimated would cost $78 million in its first year, would guarantee up to $15,000 in loans for four-year college students, provide a $40 million need-based tuition fund and invest in a fund to curb tuition increases.
The Network
Deeds is a good friend of Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine. Kaine, who is also chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has been active in campaigning and fundraising for Deeds. But while Sen. Warner, another Democrat who served as Virginia governor, made an appearance in Deeds' first general election campaign ad, Kaine did not, which political observers interpreted as an attempt by Deeds to distance himself from the national Democratic party.
President Obama paid particular interest to the off-year governor's race near the Washington bubble, joining Deeds on the campaign trail in August 2009.
The White House tried pressuring former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder (D-Va.) to endorse Deeds. Wilder, the nation's first black governor, refused based on Deeds' willingness to raise taxes and support for lifting a law passed during Wilder's administration that limited personal handgun purchases to one per month.
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