GOVERNOR
Creigh Deeds
Born: Richmond, 1958. Family moved to Bath County.
Education: B.A., Concord College. J.D., Wake Forest University School of Law.
Political career:
– Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1992 until 2001 and has been serving in the Senate since December 2001, following the death of Senator Emily Couric.
– In 2005, he was the Democratic candidate for Attorney General but lost against Republican Bob McDonnell by 360 votes, the closest margin in any Virginia race.
– Committee assignments: Courts and Justice, Corporations Insurance and Banking, Conservation and Natural Resources, Agriculture.
Political highlights:
– Deeds wrote and introduced Megan’s Law, passed in 1998, which allows public access to the state sex offender registry.
– He received the Leadership in Public Policy Award from The Nature
Conservancy and was named Delegate of the Year by the Preservation Alliance of Virginia.
– With Gov. Tim Kaine, Deeds has worked to have an energy policy geared to cutting greenhouse gases by 30 percent over the next two decades.
– According to Deeds’ website, he “wrote the state law that has turned the tide against homegrown illegal methamphetamine drug labs.”
Personal: Married to Pam and has four children.
LT. GOVERNOR
Jody Wagner
Born: Ohio in 1955.
Education: B.A., Northwestern University, J.D., Vanderbilt University.
Political career:
– In 2000, she unsuccessfully ran as a Democratic nominee for Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District, but lost against Republican Ed Schrock, a state senator.
– Served as a member of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and the Virginia Small Business Authority.
– Sherved on the Virginia Public School Authority and on the Commonwealth of Virginia Joint Subcommittee Study on Science, Math and Technology Education, and has served on the Eastern Virginia Medical School Board of Visitors and as a member of the Virginia College Buildings Authority.
– Former Chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia.
– Served on Governor’s Advisory Council on Reserve Estimates, Council on Virginia’s Future, Governor’s Advisory Board of Economists, among others.
Political highlights:
– In 2002, then Gov. Mark Warner appointed her as Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
– Awarded the Fairfax County Police Department Meritorius Team Excellence Award in 2003.
– Awarded the Fairfax Coalition of Police, Legislator of the Year in 2005.
– Elected President of the National Association of State Treasurers.
– Chairman of the Commonwealth of Virginia Treasure Board.
– In January 2006, Gov. Tim Kaine named Wagner Secretary of Finance of the Commonwealth, making her the first female in that role.
Personal: Married to Dr. Alan Wagner and has four children.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Steve Shannon
Born: Berkeley, California in 1971.
Education: B.A., Fairfield University. Master of Public Policy, Georgetown University, J.D., University of Virginia School of Law.
Political career:
– In 2003, Steve Shannon was elected to represent the 35th District in the House of Delegates.
– Serves on the House Committee on Appropriations, the House Committee on Education, and the House Committee on Agriculture, the Chesapeake and Natural Resources.
Political highlights:
– In both 2007 and 2008, Shannon was named one of Virginia’s “Legal Elite” by Virginia Business magazine.
– In 2001, Shannon and his wife Abby co-founded the AMBER Alert system in Northern Virginia to help rescue abducted children.
– Gov. Tim Kaine appointed Shannon to the Governor’s Commission on Sexual Violence, and served as Chairman of the Committee on Treatment and Intervention.
Personal: Married to Abby and has three children.
