Beyer, Donald Sternoff, 1950-

<p>BEYER, DONALD STERNOFF JR., a Representative from Virginia; born in Trieste, Italy, June 20, 1950; graduated from Gonzaga College High School, Washington, D.C., 1968; B.A., Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., 1972; automobile dealer; lieutenant governor of Virginia, 1990-1998; unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Virginia in 1997; United States Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, 2009-2013; elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Fourteenth and to the two succeeding Congresses (January 3, 2015-present).</p>

<p>Donald Sternoff Beyer Jr. (born June 20, 1950), is an American businessman, diplomat, and politician who has served as the United States Representative for Virginia's 8th congressional district since 2015. The district is located in the heart of Northern Virginia and includes Alexandria, Falls Church, and Arlington. He is a member of the Democratic Party.</p>

<p>Beyer owns automobile dealerships in Virginia and has a long record of involvement in community and philanthropic work. From 1990 to 1998 he served as the 36th Lieutenant Governor of Virginia during the gubernatorial administrations of Democrat Doug Wilder (1990–1994) and Republican George Allen (1994–98). His party's nominee for governor in 1997, he lost to Republican Jim Gilmore, who was then the Attorney General of Virginia. From 2009 to 2013, he served as United States Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.</p>

<p>In 2014, Beyer announced his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives seat for Virginia's 8th congressional district held by the retiring Jim Moran. Beyer won the June 2014 Democratic primary with 45% of the vote and defeated Republican Micah Edmond 63% to 33% on November 4, 2014.</p>

<p>Beyer was born in the Free Territory of Trieste, the son of a U.S. Army officer, Donald Sternoff Beyer Sr., (1924–2017) and his wife, Nancy McDonald (d. 1999). His grandmother Clara Mortenson Beyer was a pioneer in labor economics and workers' rights, and worked in the United States Department of Labor under Frances Perkins during the New Deal era. The oldest of six children, he was raised in Washington, D.C., where his father founded a chain of car dealerships. In 1968, he graduated from Gonzaga College High School, where he was salutatorian of his class; in 1972 he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Williams College, magna cum laude, in economics. Beyer was a Presidential Scholar in 1968, and was a National Merit Scholarship winner. He graduated from a winter Outward Bound course at Dartmouth College in January 1971, and attended Wellesley College that year as part of the "12 College Exchange" program.</p>

<p>After college Beyer began working in his father's Volvo dealership. In 1986, Beyer and his brother Michael bought the business from their parents, and as the Beyer Automotive Group, the business expanded to nine dealerships, including the Volvo, Land Rover, Kia, Volkswagen and Subaru brands.</p>

<p>Beyer is a past chairman of the National Volvo Retailer Advisory Board. In 2006, he served as chairman of the American International Automobile Dealers Association.</p>

<p>He served as a member of the board of Demosphere International, Inc., a leading soccer registration software provider. He was also a board member of History Associates, which bills itself as "The Best Company in History." He has served on the Virginia Board of First Union National Bank, the board of Shenandoah Life Insurance Company, and the board of Lightly Expressed, a fiber optic lighting design and manufacturing firm.</p>

<p>Beyer was the northern Virginia coordinator of the successful Gerald L. Baliles campaign for governor in 1985. In 1986 Baliles appointed Beyer to the Commonwealth Transportation Board. Beyer was elected Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 1989, beating Republican state senator Edwina P. Dalton. He was re-elected in 1993, beating Republican Michael Farris 54-46 percent, as Republicans George Allen and Jim Gilmore were elected on the same ballot as Governor and Attorney General, respectively.</p>

<p>During his tenure as lieutenant governor, Beyer served as president of the Virginia Senate. He chaired the Virginia Economic Recovery Commission, the Virginia Commission on Sexual Assault, the Virginia Commission on Disabilities, the Poverty Commission and was co-founder of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, an outgrowth of the Chamber of Commerce. He was active in promoting high-tech industries, and lead the fight to eliminate disincentives in the Virginia Tax Code to high-tech research and development.</p>

<p>He is also credited with writing the original welfare reform legislation in Virginia.</p>

<p>Beyer was the Democratic nominee for governor in 1997, losing in the general election to Republican Jim Gilmore. He served as Finance Chairman for Mark Warner's Political Action Committee, "Forward Together" and as the National Treasurer for the 2004 presidential campaign of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. Following Dean's withdrawal from that race, he served as chairman of the Kerry/Edwards presidential campaign in Virginia.</p>

<p>During 2007–2008, he endorsed and campaigned extensively for presidential candidate Barack Obama. He served as chairman of the Mid Atlantic Finance Council of Obama for America campaign, and served on the campaign's National Finance Council.</p>

<p>He was appointed by the Democratic National Committee to serve at the 2008 DNC Convention on the Credentials Committee.</p>

<p>Following the 2008 election, President-elect Obama asked Beyer to head up the transition team at the Department of Commerce.</p>

<p>Obama nominated Beyer for the post of United States Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein on June 12, 2009. In December 2010 Beyer attracted public attention when it was reported that he had warned the Swiss government against offering asylum to WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange. In March 2013 Beyer received the Thomas Jefferson Award from American Citizens Abroad. The award is presented annually by ACA to recognize State Department individuals who have rendered outstanding service to Americans overseas. Beyer was recognized for organizing a series of town hall meetings where American citizens overseas could voice concerns and opinions to officials of the State Department. He resigned as ambassador in May 2013.</p>

<p>On January 24, 2014, Beyer announced that he was running for Virginia's 8th congressional district in the 2014 elections to succeed retiring Democratic incumbent Jim Moran. It was his first partisan race since losing the 1997 gubernatorial election. He won the June 10 Democratic primary with 45.7 percent of the vote.</p>

<p>On November 4, 2014, Beyer faced and defeated Republican nominee Micah Edmond and three others in the general election receiving 63.1% of the votes. For all intents and purposes, however, he had effectively clinched a seat in Congress in the primary. At the time, the 8th was the second-most Democratic district in Virginia, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+16 (only the 3rd District was more Democratic). On November 9, 2016, Beyer defeated Republican challenger Charles Hernick with 68.6% of the vote to Hernick's 27.4%. On November 6, 2018, Beyer defeated Republican challenger Thomas Oh with 76.3% of the vote to Oh's 23.7%.</p>

<p>He is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.</p>

<p>Congressman Don Beyer is serving his third term as the U.S. Representative from Virginia’s 8th District, representing Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, and parts of Fairfax County. He serves on the House Committees on Ways and Means and Science Space and Technology, and is a Co-Chair of the New Democrat Coalition's Climate Change Task Force. He was the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1998, and was Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein under President Obama.</p>

<p>Rep. Beyer’s signature work as lieutenant governor included advocacy for Virginians with disabilities and ensuring protections for Virginia’s most vulnerable populations as the Commonwealth reformed its welfare system in the mid-1990s. Rep. Beyer was Virginia’s Democratic nominee for governor in 1997.</p>

<p>After leaving office, Rep. Beyer spent fourteen years as Chair of Jobs for Virginia Graduates, a highly successful high school dropout prevention program, and was active for a decade on the board of the D.C. Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. As Chair of the Virginia Economic Recovery Commission, he helped pass permanent pro-business reforms and was co-founder of the Northern Virginia Technology Council.</p>

<p>President Obama nominated Rep. Beyer to serve as Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein in 2009. He used his position to advocate for stricter sanctions to compel Iran to begin nuclear disarmament discussions. As Ambassador, Rep. Beyer was integral to US Department of Justice efforts to halt the abuses of Swiss bank secrecy by wealthy Americans.</p>

<p>Rep. Beyer has spent four decades building his family business in Northern Virginia after a summer job at a car dealership in 1974. He is a graduate of Williams College and Gonzaga College High School in Washington, DC. He was named a Presidential Scholar by President Lyndon Johnson.</p>

<p>Rep. Beyer has four children and two grandchildren. He and his wife Megan live in Alexandria, Virginia.</p>