Jim Gilmore

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"James Gilmore" redirects here. For other people, see James Gilmore (disambiguation).

Jim Gilmore
Jim Nicholson
Succeeded byMarc Racicot
38th Attorney General of Virginia
In office
January 15, 1994 – June 11, 1997
GovernorGeorge Allen
Preceded byStephen Rosenthal
Succeeded byRichard Cullen
Personal details
Born
James Stuart Gilmore III

(1949-10-06) October 6, 1949 (age 75)
Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1977; died 2024)​
[1]
EducationUniversity of Virginia (BA, JD)
Signature
Websitewww.jimgilmoreforsenate.com Edit this at Wikidata
Military service
AllegianceUnited States
Branch/serviceUS Army
Years of service1971–1974
Unit650th Group, Military Intelligence Corps
AwardsJoint Service Commendation Medal

James Stuart Gilmore III (born October 6, 1949) is an American politician, diplomat and former attorney who served as the 68th governor of Virginia from 1998 to 2002. A member of the Republican Party, Gilmore also chaired the Republican National Committee in 2001 and served as the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe during the first Trump administration.

A native Virginian, Gilmore graduated with a

U.S. Senate in 2008 and for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 and 2016 elections.[2][3]

In November 2018, Gilmore was nominated by President

ambassador.[4] His nomination was confirmed by a voice vote of the U.S. Senate on May 23, 2019.[5] Gilmore was sworn in on June 25, 2019[6] and presented his credentials to OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger on July 2, 2019.[7]

Early life and education

Gilmore was born in Richmond, Virginia, the son of Margaret Evelyn (née Kandle), a church secretary, and James Stuart Gilmore Jr., a grocery store meat cutter.[8] He graduated from John Randolph Tucker High School and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia in 1971.

Gilmore met his future wife,

Hodgkin's disease. Jim Gilmore accompanied her to her chemotherapy treatments and hospitalizations.[9] The couple married in on August 6, 1977, and had two sons, Jay and Ashton Gilmore.[9][10]

Military service

In 1971, Gilmore volunteered to serve in the United States Army after attending college, receiving training and preparation for service in the

Military Intelligence Corps at the newly created United States Army Intelligence Center at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Gilmore also received rigorous foreign language education at the United States Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. Gilmore then worked for three years in the early 1970s, in the 650th Military Intelligence Group. Serving in West Germany during the Vietnam War and fluent in German, he served as a U.S. Army Counterintelligence Agent.[11]

Gilmore received his

Commonwealth's Attorney in Henrico County and was re-elected in 1991. In 1981, Gilmore ran for the Virginia House of Delegates in the 32nd district, however he lost the general election.[12] In 1993, he was elected Virginia's attorney general, defeating Democratic nominee William D. Dolan III by more than 10 percentage points (958,982 to 749,565 votes).[13]
Gilmore resigned in 1997 to run for governor.

Governor of Virginia

In

public schools and phasing out Virginia's personal property tax on automobiles.[14] Gilmore was elected, winning 56% of the vote to Beyer's 43%.[15]

In his first year as governor, Gilmore pushed for car tax reduction legislation that was eventually passed by the Democratic-controlled

September 11, 2001, resulting in the closure of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport for 23 days. Despite the economic downturn, Gilmore insisted on advancing the car tax phase out from a 47.5% reduction of each taxpayer's bill in 2000 to the scheduled 70% reduction in 2001. Gilmore signed an executive order, which was passed by the General Assembly, reducing state spending by all agencies, except for education, to keep the state's budget balanced during the economic downturn. Democrats criticized the spending reductions and car tax cut. According to The Washington Post, "Virginia's politicians struggled to balance car-tax relief against demands for public services."[16] When Gilmore left office in January 2002, the state's "rainy day fund," or revenue stabilization fund, had fallen to $900 million.[17]

In April 1998, Gilmore's first trip abroad as governor was to Germany with his Secretary of Commerce, Barry Duval. They sought to expand jobs and investment with German companies who at the time had invested more than $2 billion and 10,000 jobs in the Commonwealth. During his tenure, Gov. Gilmore was focused on creating jobs by leading several trade missions to: South America in 1999 (Argentina, Brazil, Chile); Asia in 2000 (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan); Europe again in 2001 (Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland). Mr. Gilmore, since leaving office, has also traveled to Pakistan, Australia, and Peru. He also traveled to Israel when he was Attorney General of Virginia in the early 1990s.

The Gilmore Administration implemented new Standards of Learning reforms in Virginia's public schools. The Standards of Learning prescribed a uniform curriculum in mathematics, science, English and social studies and instituted new tests at the end of the third, fifth and eighth grades, as well as end-of-course tests in high school, to measure student achievement. During Gilmore's term, Virginia's public school students' scores increased on these state tests as well as nationally normed tests.[18]

In 1999, Gilmore proposed and signed into law legislation that reduced tuitions at public colleges and universities by 20%. Gilmore also commissioned a Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education that studied accountability and governance of public colleges and universities. Gilmore's Commission authored the first blueprint for decentralized regulatory and administrative authority to some universities in return for agreements to meet agreed upon performance objectives.

Gilmore also proposed and signed into law Virginia's first stand-alone

Board of Education to include a more diverse range of historical figures in Virginia's Social Studies curriculum. Test scores during Gilmore's term showed a narrowing of the "achievement gap" between minority and white students. Gilmore significantly increased funding for two of Virginia's historically black universities, Norfolk State University and Virginia State University
.

Gilmore created the nation's first state Secretary of Technology, a position first held by Donald Upson. Together they established a statewide technology commission, and signed into law the nation's first comprehensive state Internet policy.[19]

During his term, 37 people were

mental illness. In another well publicized case, he pardoned Earl Washington, a former death row inmate, after DNA tests, ordered by Gilmore, implicated another person. Gilmore also ordered DNA tests in the case of Derek Rocco Barnabei
; the tests confirmed Barnabei's guilt and he was executed.

As governor, Gilmore signed into law legislation establishing a 24-hour waiting period and informed consent for women seeking an

partial birth abortion. Gilmore increased funding for adoption services. He also signed into law a bill that banned human cloning. In 1998, Gilmore went to court to try to prevent the removal of a feeding tube of a car crash victim, the former Kentucky news anchor Hugh Finn, who had suffered from a persistent vegetative state for several years.[20]
Gilmore lost his petition that removal of a feeding tube was not removal of artificial life support because it amounted to starvation of an infirm person who could not feed himself and Finn was allowed to die, upholding his wishes as he had expressed them to his family while he was working on developing a living will when still in good health that he wished not to be kept alive in such a state. As Attorney General of Virginia, Gilmore had defended a legal challenge to Virginia's first parental notification law for minors seeking abortions.

The

Virginia Constitution forbids any governor from serving consecutive terms, so Gilmore could not run for a second term in 2001. He was succeeded by Democrat Mark Warner
, who took office in early 2002.

Subsequent runs for office

2008 presidential candidacy

Main article: Jim Gilmore 2008 presidential campaign

A "Draft Gilmore for President" group was formed in August 2006 encouraging Gilmore to run for President of the United States.[21] On December 19, 2006, Gilmore announced he would form an

conservative void" in the race. On January 9, 2007, Gilmore officially filed papers with the Federal Election Commission to form the Jim Gilmore for President Exploratory Committee.[22]

Gilmore said he represented "the Republican wing of the Republican Party" in the race for the 2008 Presidential nomination; the comment mirrored the slogan used by Howard Dean when seeking the Democratic nomination in the 2004 election, who lifted the slogan from Senator Paul Wellstone. Gilmore officially announced his candidacy on April 26, 2007.[23]

In the first quarter of 2007 Gilmore raised $174,790, the second lowest of any of the major-party candidates.[24] Gilmore hosted only one fundraiser in the first quarter due to a late exploratory announcement.

On July 14, 2007, Gilmore announced that he was ending his campaign. Gilmore said that it would be "impractical" to run, citing the difficulty of raising enough money to be competitive in early-voting states Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.[25]

2008 Senate campaign

See also: 2008 United States Senate election in Virginia

In an interview with Politico, Gilmore said that he had been approached to run for the Senate seat of

Tom Davis
had informally announced his candidacy a few days after Mark Warner's announcement.

Gilmore lobbied strongly for choosing the party's nominee at a statewide convention rather than a primary, claiming that a convention would cost only $1 million versus the $4 million required to run a primary campaign. This was no small consideration, as the race for the Democratic nomination essentially ended with Mark Warner's entry into the race. It was understood that Warner would use his considerable wealth to self-finance his campaign. It was thought that a convention would favor Gilmore, since most of the delegates would come from the party's activist base, which is tilted strongly to the right. A primary was thought to favor Davis due to his popularity in voter-rich Northern Virginia; Davis is a moderate Republican, and most Republicans in Northern Virginia tend to be more moderate than their counterparts elsewhere in the state. On October 13, 2007, the state party's central committee voted 47–37 to hold a convention rather than a primary. With this decision, Gilmore said he was seriously considering a run for the Senate.

Gilmore formally announced his candidacy via a YouTube video on November 19, 2007.[26] He said that he was running to give Virginia "a strong and steady hand" in the Senate.

Gilmore faced a challenge from his right in State Delegate

Prince William County
. Marshall charged Gilmore with being too soft on abortion. However, at the convention Gilmore won the nomination by a margin of only 65 votes out of 3,000 cast.

In the November election, Gilmore was heavily defeated, winning only 34 percent of the vote to Warner's 65 percent. Gilmore only carried four counties in the state –

Powhatan and Hanover. In many cases, he lost in many areas of the state that are normally reliably Republican.[27] This was the worst showing for a Republican Senate candidate in Virginia since Chuck Robb
defeated Maurice Dawkins with 71 percent of the vote in 1988.

2016 presidential candidacy

Gilmore campaigning in New Hampshire

On July 7, 2015, Gilmore told the

Special Report with Bret Baier as the "center seat" where panelists Charles Krauthammer, Julie Pace, and Steve Hayes questioned him on a variety of issues.[31]

According to his campaign website, Gilmore's main issues that he would address if elected president include preserving the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, immigration and border re-enforcement, healthcare reform, and restoring America's economy.[32]

Gilmore was consistently one of the lowest-polling candidate in the 2016 GOP field.

Real Clear Politics aggregate poll.[35] Gilmore failed to qualify for all but two of the "undercard" lower-tier debates. He was the only commonly polled candidate to be left out of more than one undercard debate.[36] Gilmore insisted that he was "not going anywhere" and would continue to run.[37]

On January 26, 2016, after being denied participation in five consecutive debates, Gilmore was invited back for the "undercard" debate on January 28, his first debate since August. This was the last debate before the Iowa caucuses. The "undercard" debates were discontinued after the Iowa Caucuses.[38]

In the

into South Carolina.[39] However, he suspended his campaign a week before that primary, on February 12, 2016.[3][40]

Appointments and other positions

Gilmore taking questions during a 2004 National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee meeting.

During his term as governor, Gilmore chaired the Congressional Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce.[41] The Commission was charged with the task of making recommendations to the United States Congress on Internet taxation. The Commission's Report to Congress opposed taxation of the Internet.[42]

Gilmore served on the board of Windmill International, a government contractor previously accused of trying to secure fraudulent contracts in Iraq. His service on the board was not mentioned in his campaign filings, as required. Gilmore was never accused of wrongdoing regarding fraud committed in Windmill International's name.[43]

From 1999 to 2003, Gilmore chaired the Congressional Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction, nicknamed the Gilmore Commission.[44] It presented five reports to Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and to Congress each December 15 from 1999 through 2003.

From January 2001 to January 2002, Gilmore was the Chairman of the Republican National Committee.[45]

Gilmore is the President & CEO of the Free Congress Foundation,

conservative think tank which was founded by Paul Weyrich
. Gilmore has re-branded the Free Congress Foundation into the American Opportunity Foundation.

Gilmore has also served as Chairman of the

non-profit homeland security think tank based in Washington, D.C.[48]

From 2005 to 2017 he served on the board of directors of the National Rifle Association.

In 2021, Gilmore was interviewed,

GOP's
premier foreign policy minds"

Ambassador to the OSCE

Gilmore was considered for the position of

first Trump administration,[50] but ultimately not chosen. In November 2018, Gilmore was nominated as the next U.S. Representative to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe with the rank of ambassador.[4] He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 23, 2019.[5] Gilmore took his oath of office on June 25, 2019[6] and presented his credentials to OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger on July 2, 2019.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Roxane Gilmore, former first lady of Virginia, dies at age 70". AP News. August 7, 2024. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Allen, Cooper (July 30, 2015). "Jim Gilmore formally joins GOP presidential race". USA Today. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Jim Gilmore ends 2016 presidential bid". The Washington Post. February 12, 2016. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
  4. ^
    National Archives
    .
  5. ^ a b "PN124 — James S. Gilmore — Department of State". U.S. Congress. May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  6. ^ a b "Ambassador James Gilmore". U.S. Mission to the OSCE. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  7. ^ a b "Arrival of James Gilmore, New U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe". U.S. Mission to the OSCE. July 2, 2019. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  8. ^ Reitwiesner, William Addams. "The Ancestors of Jim Gilmore". Wargs.com. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  9. ^
    Washington Post. Archived
    from the original on April 10, 2017. Retrieved September 3, 2024.
  10. ^ Mather, Mike (August 19, 2024). "In Memoriam: Roxane Gilmore, Double Hoo and Former Virginia First Lady". UVA Today. Archived from the original on August 26, 2024. Retrieved September 9, 2024.
  11. ^ "Member Profile: Mr. Jim Gilmore". Republican National Lawyers Association. Archived from the original on March 27, 2017. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  12. ^ https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=858435
  13. ^ "Official election results".
  14. ^ Bierbauer, Charles (October 31, 1997). "Car Tax Opposition Propels Gilmore's Candidacy – Oct. 31, 1997". CNN. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  15. ^ Nov97 Gen Election Results for Governor by Congressional District and Locality Archived September 26, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Va. GOP Delegates Rev Up Car-Tax Relief Campaign, The Washington Post
  17. ^ "Mark Warner's rising stock". The Roanoke Times. January 1, 2006. Archived from the original on September 13, 2012. Retrieved December 16, 2007.
  18. ^ "Governor Gilmore Announces Virginia Students Continue to Post Academic Gains". pen.k12.va.us. Office of the Governor. March 21, 2001. Archived from the original on February 6, 2007.
  19. ^ "Bios" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 26, 2012. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  20. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved December 23, 2022.
  21. ^ "Virginia Patriot". Draftgilmore.org. Archived from the original on February 19, 2013. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  22. ^ Lewis, Bob (December 19, 2006). "Former Va. governor opens exploratory GOP White House campaign". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Archived from the original on November 21, 2005. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
  23. ^ Sweet, Phoebe (April 26, 2007). "Editorial: Bragging rights trump need". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  24. ^ "First Quarter 2007 FEC Filings | Campaign 2008: Campaign Finance". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  25. ^ Mike Allen, "Gilmore drops out of the race", Politico, July 14, 2007
  26. ^ "Jim Gilmore Announces His Candidacy For The U.S. Senate". YouTube. November 18, 2007. Archived from the original on December 22, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  27. ^ "Results by county for 2008 Senate election". Voterinfo.sbe.virginia.gov. Archived from the original on February 26, 2012. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  28. ^ Gass, Nick (July 8, 2015). "Jim Gilmore adds to ever-expanding 2016 GOP field". Politico. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  29. ^ Suderman, Alan (July 7, 2015). "Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore plans to announce presidential run in early August". U.S. News & World Report. Associated Press. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  30. ^ Richinick, Michele (July 30, 2015). "Jim Gilmore Is GOP's 17th Presidential Candidate". Newsweek. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  31. ^ "Special Report". Fox News. Fox News. Archived from the original on July 31, 2015. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  32. ^ "Political Options - Jim Gilmore for America". Gilmoreforamerica.com. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
  33. ^ Strauss, Daniel (February 12, 2016). "Jim Gilmore suspends campaign". POLITICO. Retrieved January 25, 2025.
  34. ^ "2016 National Republican Primary – Polls – HuffPost Pollster". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  35. ^ "2016 Republican Presidential Nomination". Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
  36. ^ "Gilmore campaign not concerned, despite not yet qualifying for next GOP debate". Fox News. Archived from the original on October 1, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  37. ^ "Jim Gilmore: Alive and Kicking". Bearing Drift.com. September 2015. Archived from the original on September 28, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  38. ^ "Fox News announces GOP debate candidate lineup". Fox News. January 26, 2016. Archived from the original on January 27, 2016. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  39. ^ Glum, Julia (February 9, 2016). "After New Hampshire Primary, Who's Still Running For President?". International Business Times. Archived from the original on February 11, 2016. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
  40. ^ Allen, Cooper (February 12, 2016). "Jim Gilmore drops out of GOP presidential race". USA Today.com. Archived from the original on February 13, 2016. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
  41. ^ NCTL: National Center for Technology and Law Archived December 7, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  42. ^ Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce – Report to Congress Archived November 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  43. ISSN 0190-8286
    . Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  44. ^ "National Security Research Division | Gilmore Commission". RAND. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  45. ^ Stuart Rothenberg, "White House takes Gilmore's scalp" Archived October 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, CNN.com, December 3, 2001
  46. ^ "Free Congress Foundation".
  47. ^ "Public/Private Partnerships for Community Preparedness and Response". NCORP. September 11, 2001. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  48. ^ "Who We Are". USA Secure. Archived from the original on March 22, 2013. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  49. ^ Lim, Christopher (July 5, 2021). "Interview with Ambassador Jim Gilmore". The Bruges Group. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  50. ^ Gearan, Anne. "Former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore on shortlist for ambassador to Germany". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jim Gilmore.

Archival Records

Legal offices
Preceded by Attorney General of Virginia
1994–1997 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chair of the Republican Governors Association
2000–2001 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Jim Nicholson
 Chair of the Republican National Committee
2001 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by
George Allen
 Governor of Virginia
1998–2002 		Succeeded by
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Kate Byrnes

Acting
 United States Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
2019–2021 		Succeeded by
Courtney Austrian
Acting
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded byas Former Governor Order of precedence of the United States Succeeded byas Former Governor
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jim_Gilmore&oldid=1280498363"