Congressman Jim Moran (D-8) announced last week that he will not seek re-election in 2014. He is retiring after 22 years on the Hill. He is the senior Virginia Democrat on the Hill, and is one of only two solid progressives from Virginia. The other is Rep. Bobby Scott.
Congressman Moran comes from good Irish-American Massachusetts stock. His dad, Jim senior, played professional football with the old Boston Redskins after starring at Holy Cross. Congressman Moran also attended Holy Cross where he had a football scholarship. He then earned his Masters’ Degree in Public Administration from the University of Pittsburgh. After working as a stock broker, a budget specialist at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and the Library of Congress, and a staffer with the Senate Appropriations Committee, he was elected to the Alexandria City Council in 1979. He was elected Mayor in 1985 and served until he resigned to run for Congress in 1990. Since upsetting a five-term incumbent that year, Jim Moran has won handily in 10 subsequent elections. In all that time, Jim Moran has been a champion of working people, the disadvantaged, and those in our society most in need of a champion. He speaks the truth to those in power when they most need to hear it, and he is willing to part with his party and the President based on his convictions and sense of what is right. That included voting for the impeachment investigation of President Clinton, one of the few Democrats to do so, because he thought the President had lost his moral compass. But, when it became clear that there was no injury to the country or its security resulting from Clinton’s behavior, he voted against impeachment. When George W. Bush successfully stampeded the Congress, including most Democrats, to authorize the use of force against Iraq, Moran voted no. And, right here in Reston, he made remarks at an anti-war event suggesting that war might be avoided if the Jewish leaders stood down from their push for war. It was neither the first time nor the last time he would take on perhaps the most powerful lobby in Washington. Moran is one of few willing to criticize Israel for repeated violations of international law in occupied Palestinian lands. More recently, he was one of four from the Congress arrested for protesting at the Sudan Embassy for that government’s alleged genocide of its non-Arab citizens. He takes on the U.S. military for base relocation decisions negatively impacting the lives of his constituents and stands up for labor unions and the shrinking rights of working people across a range of issues. Minimum wage increase—yes, count him in. When other democrats, such as Senator Mark Warner, failed to support President Obama on key parts of his Affordable Care Act, Jim Moran was holding forums in places like Reston’s South Lakes High School in support of the strongest bill possible.
An attribute often overlooked in this sometimes rough-edged leader is his exceptional intellect. He has a quick, analytical mind and deep understanding of complex issues in areas such as high tech and biological sciences. He was named High Technology Legislator of the Year and elected to the American Electronics Hall of Fame, for example.
We are losing a unique public servant, a good human being and one of today’s most reliable progressive legislators. It is unlikely we’ll find an equal to take his place. The force is diminished by his departure.