John Randall "Randy" Minchew (born July 31, 1957, in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

) is an

American politician The politics of the United States function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that share powers. These are: the U.S. Congress which forms the legislative branch, a bic ...

and

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

. A

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 ...

, he was first elected to the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

in 2011, and re-elected for two subsequent terms. He represented the 10th district, made up of parts of

Clarke Clarke is a surname which means "clerk". The surname is of English and Irish origin and comes from the Latin . Variants include Clerk and Clark. Clarke is also uncommonly chosen as a given name. Irish surname origin Clarke is a popular surname i ...

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederick ...

and

Loudoun Loudoun ( gd, Lughdan) is a parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland and lies between five and ten miles east of Kilmarnock. The parish roughly encompasses the northern half of the Upper-Irvine Valley and borders Galston Parish (which encompasses the ...

counties in the northern part of the state.

Early life, education, business career

Minchew attended Langley High School in

Fairfax County, Virginia Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...

; as a senior, he was a campaign volunteer for future Congressman Frank Wolf. He received an

A.B. 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 yea ...

degree from

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

in 1980, studying public policy and

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

. After graduation, he worked in the

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

's office in

Durham County, North Carolina Durham County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 324,833, making it the sixth-most populous county in North Carolina. Its county seat is Durham, which is the only incorporated mu ...

. He received a certificate from

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

, in 1982, and a J.D. from

Washington and Lee University School of Law The Washington and Lee University School of Law (W&L Law) is the professional graduate law school of Washington and Lee University. It is a private American Bar Association-accredited law school located in Lexington in the Shenandoah Valley reg ...

in 1984, after which he clerked for

Supreme Court of Virginia The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and administrative ...

Justice Christian Compton. He then moved to

Leesburg, Virginia Leesburg is a town in the state of Virginia, and the county seat of Loudoun County. Settlement in the area began around 1740, which is named for the Lee family, early leaders of the town and ancestors of Robert E. Lee. Located in the far northea ...

to practice law. Minchew married Teresa "Terri" Hatterick c. 1992. They have a son, Jack. In 2010, Minchew received a diploma in Theological Studies from the

Virginia Theological Seminary Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, located at 3737 Seminary Road in Alexandria, Virginia is the largest and second oldest accredited Episcopal seminary in the Unit ...

Political career

Minchew became involved with the Loudoun County Republican Committee after his move to Leesburg, and was twice elected county Republican chair. In late 2005, Senator Bill Mims resigned his 33rd district

Senate of Virginia The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virg ...

seat to become Chief Deputy Attorney General. Minchew ran for the Republican nomination, finishing second in a four-way race, behind Loudoun County Supervisor Mick Staton. Staton lost the ensuing special election to

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

Mark Herring Mark Rankin Herring (born September 25, 1961) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th Attorney General of Virginia from 2014 to 2022. A Democrat, he previously served in the Senate of Virginia since a 2006 special election, ...

. The 10th House district was moved from the Martinsville area, on Virginia's southern border, to the northern tip of the state in the 2011

redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...

. Minchew won a three-way Republican primary in the new district, defeating his closest competitor, attorney John Whitbeck, by 87 votes. He defeated Democratic candidate David S. "Dave" Butler in the general election, 8140–5789. In 2013, Minchew faced no challenger for the Republican nomination. His general election campaign included a TV ad touting his accomplishments Minchew was endorsed by the

National Federation of Independent Business The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is an association of small businesses in the United States. It is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, with offices in Washington, D.C., and all 50 state capitals. The goal of NFIB is to ad ...

, the Virginia Farm Bureau, the Virginia Association of Realtors, the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce, and the Virginia Education Association, as well as the Loudoun, Frederick, and Clarke County Education associations, the

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

, and the

Loudoun Times-Mirror ''Loudoun Times-Mirror'' is a weekly newspaper based in Leesburg, Virginia Leesburg is a town in the state of Virginia, and the county seat of Loudoun County. Settlement in the area began around 1740, which is named for the Lee family, early le ...

. Minchew won re-election in the general election, decisively defeating Democratic challenger Monte A. Johnson, 12,950 - 9,723 (57% - 43%). In 2015, Minchew again faced no challenger for the Republican nomination. In the general election he faced Democrat Peter Rush, a Leesburg resident and formerly a member of the Loudoun County Soil and Water Board. Minchew won re-election 10,415-6,355 (62%-38%). This was his largest margin of victory since taking office. In 2016, Minchew introduced HB 1181, which would have forced Virginia's representatives to the Electoral College to vote according to how individual congressional districts voted rather than how the state voted overall. The bill was criticized for being highly partisan, as the system of voting would give an advantage to Republican presidential candidates. Virginia's current winner-takes-all system is shared by 47 other states and the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

. In 2017, Minchew was defeated in his bid for a fourth term in the

, losing to Democratic candidate

Wendy Gooditis Gwendolyn Wallace Gooditis is an American real estate agent, educator, and politician, known as Wendy Gooditis. A Democrat, Gooditis was elected in November 2017 to represent Virginia's 10th House of Delegates district in the Virginia House o ...

15,151-14,014.

Political positions

Randy Minchew opposes cannabis legalization.Sydney Kashiwagi
Virginia legalizing marijuana anytime soon? Probably not, lawmakers say
''Loudon Times-Mirror''. 19 April 2017

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Minchew, Randy 1957 births Living people Republican Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates Duke University alumni Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Washington and Lee University School of Law alumni Virginia Theological Seminary alumni People from Leesburg, Virginia 21st-century American politicians People from Arlington County, Virginia