Dwight Carter Holton (born December 18, 1965) is an American attorney and politician from

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. Born in

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is ...

, he was approximately four years old when his father, Linwood Holton, was elected governor, becoming the first

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

in one-hundred years to hold that office. The elder Holton, who ran on a platform of racial reconciliation, famously sent his children to majority-Black public schools in Richmond, following court-ordered integration. After earning a degree at Brown University and spending a number of years working on Democratic political campaigns, Holton entered the University of Virginia School of Law, and, after his graduation, joined the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

as an Assistant United States Attorney. He spent over a decade prosecuting cases in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and, later,

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, before being named interim

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the District of Oregon in 2010. After a year-and-a-half in office, he left federal government service to seek the Democratic nomination for

Oregon Attorney General The Oregon Attorney General is a statutory office within the executive branch of the state of Oregon, and serves as the chief legal officer of the state, heading its Department of Justice with its six operating divisions. The attorney general is ch ...

in 2012. Despite being an early frontrunner in campaign fundraising, he lost his party's primary to

Ellen Rosenblum Ellen F. Rosenblum (born January 6, 1951) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the Oregon Attorney General since 2012. She is the first female state attorney general in Oregon's history, and previously was a judge on the Oreg ...

Early life and family

Childhood and education

Holton was born on December 18, 1965 in

, the fourth and youngest child of Virginia Harrison "Jinks" ( née Rogers; born 1925) and

Abner Linwood Holton Jr. Abner Linwood Holton Jr. (September 21, 1923October 28, 2021) was an American politician and attorney. He served as the List of governors of Virginia, 61st governor of Virginia, from 1970 to 1974, and was the first elected History of the United S ...

(1923–2021), a prominent local attorney and Republican Party politician. He was named for former President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

, who had campaigned for his father during his unsuccessful gubernatorial run against

Mills Godwin Mills Edwin Godwin Jr. (November 19, 1914January 30, 1999) was an American politician who was the 60th and 62nd governor of Virginia for two non-consecutive terms, from 1966 to 1970 and from 1974 to 1978. In his first term, he was a member of ...

earlier in the year, and Episcopal bishop Robert Carter Jett, his great-grandfather. In 1969, Holton's father ran for Governor again, this time defeating William C. Battle, former

United States Ambassador to Australia The position of United States Ambassador to Australia has existed since 1940. U.S.–Australian relations have been close throughout the history of Australia. Before World War II, Australia was closely aligned with the United Kingdom, but it has ...

and son of former Governor John S. Battle. Shortly after he and his family moved to the state capital, Richmond, U.S. district court judge Robert R. Merhige Jr. decided the case ''Bradley v. Richmond School Board'', ordering a limited busing program to integrate the city's public schools. Holton's parents made national headlines when they sent his older siblings: Tayloe,

Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

, and Woody, to majority-Black schools near the Executive Mansion, in a show of public support for the move. Holton started

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th ce ...

at John B. Cary Elementary School the following year, to little fanfare. Holton moved with his family to

northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward and southward from Washington, D.C. Wit ...

in 1974, when his father accepted a job as

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

's Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations. While in high school, he served as a congressional page. He graduated from Langley High School in 1983, after which he entered Brown University. He received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in Liberal Ideology in 1987.

Marriage

On September 22, 2000, Holton married Mary Ellen Glynn, a spokesperson for Ambassador

Richard Holbrooke Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke (April 24, 1941 – December 13, 2010) was an American diplomat and author. He was the only person to have held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for two different regions of the world (Asia from 1977 ...

and former

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

deputy press secretary under

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, at Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic Church in La Jolla, California. The couple eventually settled in

Southeast Portland, Oregon Southeast Portland is one of the sextants of Portland, Oregon. Boundaries and features Southeast Portland stretches from the warehouses along the Willamette River through historic Ladd's Addition to the Hawthorne and Belmont districts out to ...

in 2002, after Governor-elect

Ted Kulongoski Theodore Ralph Kulongoski ( ; born November 5, 1940) is an American politician, judge, and lawyer who served as the 36th Governor of Oregon from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative As ...

appointed Glynn as his communications director. They have two children, a son and a daughter.

Career

Democratic campaigns

Leaving Brown, Holton worked on

Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis (; born November 3, 1933) is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history a ...

's 1988 presidential campaign and Doug Wilder's successful 1989 gubernatorial campaign, after which he continued on as an aide to Wilder.

Federal prosecutor

Campaign for Attorney General

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holton, Dwight 1965 births Living people Brown University alumni Lawyers from Portland, Oregon United States Attorneys for the District of Oregon University of Virginia School of Law alumni 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers