Path to Power
Born in Philadelphia in 1954, McDonnell was raised in Northern Virginia where he was a high-school football star.
McDonnell attended the University of Notre Dame on an undergraduate ROTC scholarship. After graduating in 1976, he served as a medical-supply officer working in an Army clinic in West Germany and at McDonald Army Hospital at Fort Eustis in Newport News, Va. After leaving active duty in 1981, McDonnell continued to serve in the Army Reserve, retiring in 1997 as a lieutenant colonel.
During the 1980s, McDonnell worked for the American Hospital Supply Corporation before receiving his 1988 law degree from Regent University, a Virginia Beach institution founded by evangelical Rev. Pat Robertson. During his time in law school, McDonnell worked as an intern at the U.S. House Republican Policy Committee, an experience McDonnell credits with sparking his interest in politics.
McDonnell served two years as an assistant prosecutor before he was elected in 1991 to Virginia's House of Delegates, spending 14 years in the state's lower chamber. He rose to become the chairman of its committee overseeing the state's court system and the assistant majority leader.
Attorney General of Virginia
Armed with the backing of state party leaders and social conservatives, McDonnell won the 2005 Republican nomination to become the state's attorney general. He faced state Sen. Deeds (D), also a former prosecutor, in the general election. McDonnell claimed victory after the initial vote count gave him a 323-vote edge. A recount of more than 1.9 million ballots didn't begin until Dec. 20, 2005, eventually adding 37 votes to McDonnell's lead. Deeds conceded the following day, ending a campaign that totalled $9 million in costs for both candidates.
McDonnell's tenure as attorney general was marked by a series of high-profile criticisms and legal rulings against Gov. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) on issues such as the death penalty and job discrimination against homosexuals. While state Democrats have branded McDonnell as partisan at times, he also pursued a widely-popular law enforcement agenda and was successful in pushing his largely non-controversial legislative agenda through the state's chambers.
2009 Virginia Gubernatorial Election
Unopposed in the 2009 Republican primary for Virginia's gubernatorial seat, McDonnell resigned from his attorney general post in February 2009 to focus on the November election. On the Democratic side, Deeds won nearly 50 percent of the vote in the June primary, besting former state Del. Brian Moran (D) and Terry McAuliffe, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Early polls showed McDonnell leading comfortably in his rematch with Deeds. The only major bump came in August 2009, when the Washington Post reported on McDonnell's 1989 master's thesis, publicly available at Regent, describing working women and feminists as "detrimental" to the family, and supporting the use of government policies to benefit married couples over homosexuals. He also decried a Supreme Court ruling legalizing contraception as "illogical." During the 2009 race, McDonnell tried distancing himself from the document, saying what he wrote about women working was an "academic exercise" and "clearly does not reflect my views."
After holding 15-point leads over Deeds in some mid-August polls, McDonnell led the Democrat by just four points, 51 to 47 percent, in a Washington Post poll conducted one month later. The dip was attributed to loss of support from independent women, but McDonnell ultimately prevailed by 18 points.
