A Georgetown Law Center graduate and Navy Secretary in the Reagan administration announced this month he will run for the Virginia U.S. Senate seat as a Democrat in November’s congressional elections.
James H. Webb (L ‘75) attended Georgetown after winning numerous awards for service as a Marine officer in the Vietnam War. He later served as House committee counsel and an assistant secretary of the Navy before being appointed to the top position in 1987. He resigned the next year after disputes over military spending cuts.
“We’re enthusiastic that a strong candidate will be running. If he wins the primary, we’ll be excited to work with a Georgetown alumni,” Tim D’Arduini (SFS ‘06), vice president of the Georgetown College Democrats, said.
In recent years, Webb has become a vocal critic of the Bush administration’s military policies.
“In my view the United States’ invasion of Iraq was one of the most ill-advised and reckless actions that the U.S. government has ever taken,” he said in a June 2003 speech, several months after the Iraq operation began.
He will run against former Virginia governor and current senator George Allen, whom many consider a front-runner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination and who Webb endorsed in the 2000 Virginia Senate race.
Webb is one of several Georgetown-related candidates running for Congress this year. Dean Judy Feder of the Georgetown Public Policy Institute will challenge Republican Rep. Frank Wolf (L ‘65) for the 10th Congressional District in northern Virginia. Three Congressmen from southern Maryland seeking reelection this year are also graduates of the Law Center.
