BioRob Wittman was first elected to serve the First Congressional District of Virginia - America's First District - in December of 2007. Rob has quickly earned a reputation for being a district-first Representative and is continuously traveling the roads of the district from Fredericksburg to the Northern Neck to Hampton Roads. Rob still lives in Montross and drives home from Washington even when Congress is in session.As a Member of the Republican Study Committee, he is a leader in the fight against massive government spending and has offered numerous amendments to cut spending. One of these amendments to cut the largest of the spending bills was allowed by the Rules Committee to be voted on by the full House. Rob serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Natural Resources, where he is well-positioned to represent the needs of the First District. He has quickly earned a reputation for being an advocate for our men and women in uniform. On the Armed Services Committee, Rob serves as the Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, and also serves on the Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces. In addition, as Co-Chair of the Congressional Shipbuilding Caucus and Chairman of the Naval Academy Board of Visitors, he is a staunch advocate for a robust Naval fleet and a healthy domestic shipbuilding industry. Rob has also earned a reputation as a strong supporter of our veterans and is fighting for full concurrent receipt of veterans' disability and retirement benefits. A champion of the Chesapeake Bay, Rob also serves on the House Natural Resources Committee, to which he brings his professional expertise in water quality, environment, fisheries, and other natural resource issues. He is a leading voice for the Chesapeake Bay -- for its environmental, economic, and recreational attributes -- and has passed legislation increasing the accountability and effectiveness of Bay clean-up. He also Co-Chairs the House Chesapeake Bay Watershed Caucus to educate others in Congress about the Bay. Prior to his election to Congress, Rob served most recently as Field Director for the Virginia Health Department's Division of Shellfish Sanitation. Earlier, he worked for many years as an environmental health specialist for local health departments in Virginia's Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula regions. He holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University, a Master of Public Health degree in Health Policy and Administration from the University of North Carolina, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Virginia Tech. Rob served in several levels of government, from Town Council to United States Congress. Rob won his first campaign for public office in 1986 when he was elected to the Montross Town Council, where he served for 10 years, four of them as Mayor. In 1995, Rob was elected to the Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors and was elected its Chairman in 2003. In 2005, voters in the 99th Legislative District elected Rob to the Virginia House of Delegates, where he served until he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2007. Rob's wife, Kathryn, a teacher at Cople Elementary School in Hague, is a Westmoreland County native whom he met when he spent high school and college summer recesses working in a Leedstown tomato cannery and on a Reedville fishing boat in the Northern Neck. They live in Montross and have two children- a daughter, Devon, son-in-law Daniel Gooch, and son, Josh, and his wife, Tiffany. Rob and Kathryn are proud grandparents to two wonderful grandchildren, Morgan and Mark. Rob is an avid hunter and fisherman, and when possible, he enjoys spending time with his four yellow Labrador Retrievers.
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