Lynn Westmoreland

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Lynn Westmoreland
Lynn Westmoreland
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 3rd district
Incumbent
Assumed office 
January 3, 2005
Preceded by Mac Collins
Born April 2, 1950 (1950-04-02) (age 58)
Atlanta, Georgia
Political party Republican
Spouse Joan Westmoreland
Religion Baptist

Lynn Westmoreland (b. April 2, 1950, Atlanta, Georgia), a politician from the U.S. state of Georgia, was elected in 2004 to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican representing Georgia's 3rd congressional district.

Contents

[edit] Personal life

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Westmoreland resides in Grantville, Georgia, with his wife, Joan; they have three children and six grandchildren.

[edit] Political career

[edit] Georgia House of Representatives

Prior to his election to the United States Congress, Westmoreland owned a construction company and worked as a real estate developer. He also served in the Georgia House of Representatives beginning in 1993 and began serving as the House Republican Leader in 2001, until he resigned from that position to pursue his Congressional campaign in late 2003. He continued to serve in the Georgia House until his election to the U.S. House in 2004.

During his time as the Republican Leader in the Georgia House, he led the fight against redistricting by the Democratic majority in 2001, and then was instrumental in the re-redistricting that took place in 2005 after Republicans won control of the Georgia legislature in the 2004 elections.[1]

[edit] United States House of Representatives

Westmoreland won the plurality of votes in his Republican primary election in 2004, but faced fellow Republican Dylan Glenn in a runoff. Westmoreland received 55.5% of the vote in the runoff, before going on to receive 75.6% of the vote in the general election against Democrat Silvia Delamar.[citation needed]

During his first term in the 109th United States Congress, Westmoreland was appointed to the U.S. House Committee on Small Business, U.S. House Committee on Government Reform, and the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.[citation needed]

In 2005, Westmoreland received criticism for spreading a memo to fellow House members that consisted of auto-industry talking points, verbatim, even using the same font as the auto-industry document. An aide defended him, saying, "such behavior is standard practice."[2]

As a U.S. congressman, Westmoreland cosponsored a bill to place the Ten Commandments in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Westmoreland also sponsored a bill that the Ten Commandments could be displayed in courthouses in a historical setting.[3] In May of 2006, political humorist Stephen Colbert interviewed Westmoreland for The Colbert Report show segment Better Know a District. The congressman was only able to name three of the 10 Commandments he sought to legally put in public display.An article on CNN falsely claims that he only named two and got the third wrong.[4]

In 2008, Westmoreland ran unopposed in the Republican primary. He will be challenged by Newnan Democrat Stephen Camp in the 2008 general election.

[edit] U.S. House committee assignments

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Please help improve this article with relevant internal links. (April 2008)
  • Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
    • Subcommittee on Aviation
    • Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials
  • Committee on Small Business
    • Subcommittee on Regulations, Healthcare and Trade (Ranking Member)
    • Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight
  • Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
    • National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee

[edit] References

  1. ^ Election districts drawing attention - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - February 26, 2005
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ "GOP Intros 10 Commandments Bill", Associated Press. 
  4. ^ [2]

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Mac Collins		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 8th congressional district
January 3, 2005–January 4, 2007		 Succeeded by
Jim Marshall
Preceded by
Jim Marshall		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 3rd congressional district
2007 – present		 Incumbent
v • d • e
Georgia's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Representative(s)
Jack Kingston (R), Sanford Bishop (D), Lynn Westmoreland (R), Hank Johnson (D), John Lewis (D), Tom Price (R), John Linder (R), Jim Marshall (D), Nathan Deal (R), Paul Broun (R), Phil Gingrey (R), John Barrow (D), David Scott (D)
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Non-voting delegations
Persondata
NAME Westmoreland, Lynn
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION American politician from the state of Georgia
DATE OF BIRTH April 2, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH