Vince Callahan

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Vince Callahan
Vince Callahan

Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
from the 34th district
In office
1968 – 2008
Succeeded by Margaret Vanderhye

Born October 30, 1931 (1931-10-30) (age 77)
Washington, DC
Political party Republican
Residence McLean, Virginia
Religion Roman Catholic

Vincent F. "Vince" Callahan Jr. (born 30 October 1931 in Washington, DC)[1] is an American politician who served for 40 years as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. From January 1968 to January 2008, he represented the 34th district, which covers McLean, Great Falls, Tysons Corner, and parts of Herndon and Vienna. At the time of his retirement, he was the longest-serving Republican in the Virginia General Assembly.

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[edit] Early life

Vince Callahan served as a Marine in Korea from 1950 to 1952.[1] He attended Georgetown University and earned a B.S. in Foreign Service in 1957. After serving four years as a lieutenant in the Coast Guard, Callahan ran for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 1965, but lost to Fred G. Pollard. He ran for Delegate in 1967 and won. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S House of Representatives in 1976.[1]

[edit] In the House of Delegates

Callahan was considered by many to be a moderate Republican and was relatively popular in his district.[citation needed] While he has introduced legislation to restrict the death penalty to those 18 and older, Callahan also introduced a bill to ban all stem-cell research in the Commonwealth of Virginia.[2] In addition, Callahan introduced legislation in 2007 that would have increased the minimum wage in Virginia. He was also awarded the Equality Public Servant Award by Equality Virginia, a gay-rights group which rarely supports Republicans.[3]

Prior to 2007, he had last been challenged in 2001 by Dale Evans, a real estate agent, and won with 60.05% of the vote.[4]

[edit] 2007 election and retirement

As the only Republican state legislator within the Capital Beltway, Callahan was considered a target by Democrats keen to secure their hold on Northern Virginia. On 2007-03-06, Callahan announced that he would not run for re-election in November 2007.[5]

He endorsed his former legislative aide for appropriations Dave Hunt to succeed him but Hunt lost to Margaret Vanderhye, the Democratic candidate, in the November election.[6]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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