Gerry Connolly

First elected in 2008, Gerry Connolly is a Democratic U.S. Representative for the 11th District of Virginia, which encompasses Fairfax County, Prince William County, and Fairfax City in Northern Virginia. Before coming to Congress, he spent 14 years on the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors in Fairfax County, the largest jurisdiction in the Washington, DC metro area with more than 1.1 million residents, which is a center of high technology and education. He was President of the 2008 freshman class in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Foreign relations

He spent 10 years on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, especially oversight of international economic issues and policies concerning the Middle East and the United Nations.

In March 2010, he expressed concern over the Committee vote for a resolution declaring Turkey at fault in the Armenian Genocide. He told CNN that Congress should not do anything to undermine the Turkish government, which is a "secular alternative model for the Muslim world. I hate this vote. The United States has a great deal at stake in the Turkish relationship." Congress shouldn't "pontificate on this issue" and then pretend "there will be no consequences." The one-vote win for the symbolic resolution, according to Congressional leaders, will not come to a full vote.

Committees

• House Budget Committee
• House Committee on Foreign Affairs (former Committee professional staff)
  • Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade Subcommittee
  • Mideast and South Asia Subcommittee
• House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
  • Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia
  • Subcommittee on Government Management, Organization, and Procurement.

Education

• B.A. in Literature from Maryknoll College in Glen Ellyn, Illinois
• M.A. in Public Administration, Harvard University (1979)