Each week GOPAC will spotlight a candidate running for election. This weeks Candidate in the spotlight is Senator Jay O’Brien from Virginia. Senator O’Brien is the number 1 target for Virginia Democrats in their quest to take over the Virginia Senate. Senator O’Brien needs your help to keep his seat and to keep the Virginia Senate under Republican control.
Jay O'Brien was born in 1951 to a U.S. Army family in Nuremberg, Germany. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he received a B.S. in General Engineering in 1973. Upon graduation, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry branch and became Airborne and Ranger qualified. He served at Fort Benning, Fort Meyer, and Fort McNair until 1978 when he left active duty. Jay continued his service as a member of the Army Reserve and currently holds the rank of Colonel.
Jay received a M.A. in Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma in 1978 and worked in the healthcare industry until 1984. In that same year, he served as executive director of the Reagan-Bush Campaign for the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 1985, he accepted a political appointment in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the Reagan administration and served there until 1987 in the Office of Healthcare Financing. From 1988 until the present, Jay has been a self-employed small businessman in the office furniture industry.
Jay was first elected to Virginia's House of Delegates in 1992 from Northern Virginia's 40th District and served continuously until 2002 when he was elected to the State Senate. While in the House, he was a member of the Committees for Education, Commerce and Labor, General Laws, and Privileges and Elections. He chaired the Education Committee's Subcommittee on Students and Day Care and the General Laws' Subcommittee on Professional Licensure.
Jay was elected to the Senate in the special election of 2002. He currently serves on the Committees on Transportation, General Laws, Privileges and Elections, and Rehabilitation and Social Services.
Jay is a member of the Reserve Officers Association, the Fairfax Rotary Club, St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church, and the American Legion.
He and his wife, Sevea, reside in Clifton with their five children, Kerry (17), James K. III (16), Benen (14), Sean (12), and Kiernan (9).
To learn more about Senator Jay O’Brien please visit his website www.jayobrienforsenate.org or contact his campaign office at P.O. Box 5, Clifton, VA 20124 or by phone at (703) 913-8470.
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