Thomas Warren Moss, Jr. (October 3, 1928 – November 26, 2015) was an American politician, most recently serving as the
City Treasurer The municipal treasurer is a position of responsibility for a municipality according to the locally prevailing laws.
The treasurer of a public agency is elected Democratic member of 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 ...
, and was its
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
1991–2000.
Early life
Moss received his bachelor's degree from the
Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...
. He served in the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
during the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, attaining the rank of
first lieutenant
First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment.
The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a s ...
. Afterward, he attended the
University of Richmond School of Law
The University of Richmond School of Law (Richmond Law) is a school of the University of Richmond, located in Richmond, Virginia. Richmond Law is ranked 52nd (tie) in the US by ''US News'', among the ''top five value'' law schools by the ''Natio ...
and set up a law office in his home town of Norfolk. He practiced law until his election as city treasurer in 2001.
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
.
House of Delegates
In 1965 Moss ran for the Virginia House of Delegates as part of a racially mixed coalition of Democrats opposed to the pro-segregation state Democratic
political machine
In the politics of Representative democracy, representative democracies, a political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives (such as money or political jobs) and that is characterized by a hig ...
of
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
Harry Flood Byrd, Sr. Running under the campaign slogan "get Norfolk out of the Byrd cage," Moss won his first election.
In 1980, when Speaker John Warren Cooke retired,
House majority leader
Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are ele ...
A. L. Philpott succeeded him and Moss was chosen as majority leader. Philpott, whose endorsement of
Douglas Wilder
Lawrence Douglas Wilder (born January 17, 1931) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 66th Governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994. He was the first African American to serve as governor of a U.S. state since the Reconstruction ...
's 1985 campaign for
lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
helped pave the way for his election as
governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
in 1989, died of cancer in September 1991, shortly after announcing his retirement. Moss was elected Speaker on November 11, 1991.
Moss served one term as Speaker with a Democratic governor and state senate majority. Wilder was succeeded by two Republican governors,
George Allen George Allen may refer to:
Politics and law
* George E. Allen (1896–1973), American political operative and one-time head coach of the Cumberland University football team
* George Allen (Australian politician) (1800–1877), Mayor of Sydney and ...
and
Jim Gilmore
James Stuart Gilmore III (born October 6, 1949) is an American politician, diplomat, statesman, and former attorney who was the 68th Governor of Virginia from 1998 to 2002 and Chairman of the Republican National Committee in 2001.
A native Vir ...
, and the Senate passed into Republican hands in 1997. Democrats technically held a one-vote majority in the 1997–98 session; in fact the House was split 50-50, since the one independent member,
Lacey Putney
Lacey Edward Putney (June 27, 1928 – August 26, 2017) was an American politician. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from January 1962 until January 2014, making him the longest-serving member in the history of the Virginia Gene ...
, caucused with the Republicans. Finally in 1999, Republicans won outright control of the House. Moss chose not to serve as minority leader in the next session, ceding the job to the previous majority leader, C. Richard Cranwell.
Post-House career
Republicans had complete control of the Virginia
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 ...
process following the 2000 census. Moss' House district, the 88th, was eliminated (though his district number was moved to the Fredericksburg area). Most of its territory was merged with the neighboring 89th district, a majority African-American district represented by an African-American,
Jerrauld Jones
Jerrauld Corey Jones (born July 22, 1954) is an American politician and jurist. He was a Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates 1988-2002, representing the 89th District in Norfolk. He is currently a judge of the Norfolk Circu ...
. Moss chose instead to run for city treasurer, replacing the retiring Joseph T. Fitzpatrick, a former state senator and state Democratic Party chair. Moss won election with 56% of the vote.
Four years later, Moss faced an internal challenge for the Democratic nomination, where concerns were expressed about his age and health. Moss chose instead to run as an independent, winning the reelection with 45% of the vote in a four-way race with three African-American opponents. He died on November 26, 2015, in Greenville, South Carolina, from a heart attack.''Washington Post'' Thomas W. Moss, hr, former speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates dies at 87 /ref>