Senator Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax)

Party Democratic Photo of Chap Petersen
District 34: Fairfax City (All), Fairfax County (Part) [map]
Took Office January 2008
Next Election November 2011
Committees General Laws and Technology, Privileges and Elections, Rehabilitation and Social Services, Transportation
Age 41
Website fairfaxsenator.com
Fundraising $14,476 cash on hand (From VPAP)
Copatroning Habits 79% of bills he copatroned were introduced by Democrats. Of all of the copatrons of his bills, 79% of them are Democrats. Of all of the copatrons of all of the bills that he also copatroned, 59% of them are Democrats.
Partisanship
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Tag Cloud ?
biofuel building business campaign commendation construction development electricity energy environment fuel gas gas tax government house landlord locality motorcycle permission power property real estate renewable energy renter safety scc state tax transportation utility
Bio

Attorney practicing business law with Surovell, Markle, Isaacs & Levy, PLC. Fairfax native. Elected to Fairfax City Council in 1998. Member of the House of Delegates from 2001-5, resigned his seat to seek unsuccessfully the Democratic nomination for Lt. Governor. Graduate of the University of Virginia and Williams College. Married with three children.
Top Recent Contributors
Donor Sector Total
Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus Democratic Party committees $249,200
Virginia Democratic Party Democratic Party committees $241,117
Moving Virginia Forward Democratic-based groups (but not official party committees) and generic liberal/progressive ones $117,750
Democratic Legislative Campaign Cmte Democratic Party committees $60,000
Rice, Edward Hart Insurance companies, general $35,000
One Virginia PACs operated by Democratic state politicians $30,000
Pritchard, Daniel Computer software $21,000
Virginia Trial Lawyers Assoc Attorneys & law firms $21,000
Deeds Pac, Future Democratic candidate committees $20,284
Blue Dominion Majority Democratic-based groups (but not official party committees) and generic liberal/progressive ones $19,000

Data provided by The National Institute on Money in State Politics.

Recent Mentions on Blogs

Fairfax Blue: City Dems at Independence Day Parade

June 30, 2009
City Dems Celebrate Independence Day "Hand in Hand, United We Stand" is the slogan for this year's Independence Day parade in the City of Fairfax. We are doing our part to stand United by featuring outstanding Democrats from the past and the future. Joining us for this year's parade with be Creigh Deeds - Governor Candidate, Jody Wagner - Lt. Governor Candidate, Senator Chap Petersen , Delegate David Bulova , and Fairfax County Chairman Sharon Bulova . W...

Waldo Jaquith: The legislature?s most prolific copatrons.

June 10, 2009
The more time that I spend mapping the social relationships of legislators via their copatroning habits, the more fascinated that I am by this mechanism of exploring the General Assembly. It really is a powerful tool. (To see one of the ways I?m using it on Richmond Sunlight now, check out HB1721 , SB1436 , or HB2482 , where you can see a graph indicating the average partisan position of each bill?s cosponsors.) Here?s a less thoughtful usage of this data, but no less interesting: a listi...

Not Larry Sabato: The Myth Of Steve Shannon

June 5, 2009
Coming out of the Republican Convention last weekend, many Democrats quickly expressed confidence that Steve Shannon would easily be able to defeat Ken Cuccinelli for Attorney General.  Let's take a quick look at Steve's election results and see if there is anything to back up that optimism. Steve has won three elections to the House of Delegates in 2003, 2005, and 2007.  In 2003 Steve ran for this open seat, which was open from Jeannemarie Devolities-Davis moving up to the Virginia S...

Anonymous Is A Woman: Politics and Religion and Culture: Conventional Wisdom and General Elections

May 30, 2009
Chap Petersen has an intriguing post on his Ox Road South blog. In it Chap demonstrates, by examining the results of elections going back to 1992, that the party that holds primaries eventually ends up winning the general election more often than not. To be sure, it's not foolproof and doesn't happen in every election. In fact, during the first few of years in the early 2000s, when the Democrats switched from conventions to primaries, they continued to lose, especially at the national level. B...

Fairfax Blue: Bowerbank Event May 19th

May 14, 2009
CANCELED You are cordially invited to join   Senator Chap Petersen and Former Congresswoman Leslie Byrne   for a fundraising reception supporting   Jon Bowerbank Russell County Supervisor At-Large and Democratic Candidate for Lieutenant Governor   Tuesday, May 19 th , 2009 6:30pm ? 8:00pm   At the office of Tom Greeson   Reed Smith LLP 3110 Fairview Park Drive Suite 1400 ...
Recent Mentions in the Media

Virginia Connection Newspapers: Deeds Wins Democratic Primary

June 11, 2009
"I have supported Creigh for six months but I am as surprised as anyone to see the amount of support he got up here," said state Sen. Chap Petersen (D-35).and more »

Tidewater News: Governor signs bill protecting petitioners

June 10, 2009
Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax, voted against the governor's amendment. ?I'm an elected official, and sometimes petitions are part of the process,? Petersen ...and more »

Daily Kos: Creigh Deeds!! How Sweet It Is.

June 9, 2009
State Senator Chap Petersen organized this. State Senator Mary Margaret Whipple (mine) is here. Lots of labor types, especially from law enforcement.and more »

Bills