Mooney, Alex X. (Alexander Xavier), 1971-

<p>Alexander Xavier Mooney (born June 7, 1971) is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for West Virginia's 2nd congressional district since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he represented District 3 in the Maryland State Senate from 1999 to 2011 and is a former chair of the Maryland Republican Party. He is the first Hispanic elected to Congress from West Virginia.</p>

<p>Mooney's mother, Lala, was a Cuban refugee who escaped political imprisonment at age 21, shortly after the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Her older brother is former Miami mayor Xavier Suarez, and Mooney is the cousin of Miami's current mayor, Francis X. Suarez. His great-grandparents on his father's side were Irish-born. His father, Vincent, grew up in Long Island, New York. Mooney was born in 1971 in Washington, D.C., and raised in Frederick, Maryland. He graduated from Frederick High School, where he was elected president of the student government.</p>

<p>In 1993, Mooney received his B.A. in philosophy from Dartmouth College. While attending Dartmouth, he ran for the New Hampshire House of Representatives in Grafton County's 10th District. He finished in last place with 8% of the vote. In 2007, Mooney was elected to the Dartmouth College Association of Alumni's executive committee. In early 2008, he traveled to New Hampshire to testify in support of a state bill that would require legislative approval for amendments that the private Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College wished to make to its charter.</p>

<p>Congressman Alex X. Mooney and his wife, Dr. Grace Mooney, live in Charles Town in Jefferson County with their three children. Their third child, Gabrielle, was born in Charleston, West Virginia in October 2014. The son of a Cuban refugee and Vietnam veteran, Alex grew up with a deep sense of appreciation for the American ideals of individual freedom and personal responsibility.</p>

<p>Alex’s mother, Lala (Suarez) Mooney, was born and raised in Fidel Castro’s Cuba, where she was thrown into jail for seven weeks for opposing Castro’s communist regime. When she was 20, Lala escaped Cuba and fled to America to restart her life.</p>

<p>Alex’s father, Vincent, was sent to Vietnam when Lala was expecting their first child. He served as an Engineering Captain and was awarded the Bronze Star.</p>

MOONEY, Alex X., A Representative from West Virginia; born in Washington, D.C., June 7, 1971; graduated from Frederick High School, Frederick, Md.; A.B., Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., 1993; unsuccessful candidate for the New Hampshire state house of representatives, 1992; staff, United States Representative Roscoe Gardner Bartlett of Maryland, 1993-1995; staff, House Republican Conference, 1995; member of the Maryland state senate, 1999-2010; chairman, Maryland Republican Party, 2010-2013; member, Republican National Committee, 2011-2013; elected as a Republican to the One Hundred Fourteenth and to the three succeeding Congresses (January 3, 2015-present).