Frank Wolf

Frank Rudolph Wolf (born January 30, 1939) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1981 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he announced in December 2013 that he would not seek re-election in 2014. He was succeeded by his former chief of staff and Republican state delegate Barbara Comstock. At the time of his retirement, he was the dean of the state's congressional delegation, having served for 34 consecutive years.

Early life, education and early political career

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Wolf overcame an early speech impediment which caused him to stutter. Attending Pennsylvania State University, he was a member of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity, received a degree in political science and subsequently earned a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. He then joined the United States Army as a reservist and became a lawyer for the military.

Wolf entered politics in 1968, at the age of 29, when he became a legislative assistant to Edward Biester, the Republican congressman from Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district. From 1971 to 1975, Wolf served as an assistant to Secretary of the Interior Rogers Morton.

U.S. House of Representatives Elections

During the 1976 presidential election year, Wolf's first campaign for Virginia's 10th congressional district ended with his loss in the Republican primary to Vince Callahan by 45%–42%.

Wolf gives remarks during the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom at the U.S. Department of State in 2018 In the 1980 House election, when Ronald Reagan's decisive victory in the presidential election brought with it a 34-seat swing in the House, Wolf's third run proved to be successful; he won the Republican primary with 75% of the vote and then defeated Fisher in a rematch, 51%–49%. Those were the only occasions after 1982 that he received below 60 percent of the vote.

In the 2012 election, as Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney carried the district by 1%, Wolf was re-elected by 20%. In September 2013, it was announced that Wolf was to be challenged in the 2014 election by Democrat Richard Bolger, a Fairfax attorney and small business owner. In December 2013, Wolf announced his intention to retire from politics, leaving office in January 2015just days before his 76th birthday. Max was eliminated in round 8 of the ranked choice ballet counting which included 11 candidates total.

Tenure Wolf was especially prominent in three areas: transportation, human rights, and gambling. Before he retired, he was the co-chair of the US Congress Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, formerly the Human Rights Caucus.

In 2010, the NRA Political Victory Fund gave him a B+ and the American Civil Liberties Union gave him 13%, dropping to 0% in 2011. His pre-2009 ranking from the United States Border Control was 92%.

Human rights Wolf traveled five times to the Sudan, advocating for relief of the Darfur genocide. He has also convened conferences in his district to address human rights issues around the world.

After Iran tried the leadership of the Baháʼí Faith of Iran on February 11, 2009, Wolf voiced his deep concern over the "systematic persecution" of the Baháʼís. On February 13, Wolf offered a resolution on the subject of the Iranian trial, co-sponsored by seven other Congressmen, in H. RES. 175 – "Condemning the Government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of its Baháʼí minority and its continued violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights"; the resolution was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. The situation in Iran received international attention, including defense of Iranian Nobel Laureate attorney Shirin Ebadi in June, after she received threats in April warning her against making speeches abroad, including her defending Iran's minority Baháʼí community.

On February 28, 2014, along with the Democrat Jackie Speier, Wolf became the co-chair of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Caucus, a group created in response to the ongoing persecution of Ahmadis. On May 9, 2014, Wolf introduced the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2014 (H.R. 4653; 113th Congress), a bill that would amend the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to reauthorize the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) as an independent federal government advisory body through FY2019.

China Wolf has criticized the human rights record of China. He was one of the leading congressmen trying to stop the grant of permanent Most Favored Nation (MFN) status to China in 1999. When Wolf and Congressman Chris Smith were in Beijing shortly before the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Chinese security service prevented them from participating in a dinner meeting with local human rights lawyers.

In the 2011 United States federal budget, Wolf inserted a clause prohibiting NASA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy from any joint scientific activity with China for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year. Wolf remarked, "We don't want to give them the opportunity to take advantage of our technology, and we have nothing to gain from dealing with them. And frankly, it boils down to a moral issue. ... Would you have a bilateral program with Stalin?"

In June 2014, Wolf got House support for an amendment that would rename the street on which the Chinese embassy was located; the amendment would change International Place to Liu Xiaobo Plaza, in honor of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

Iraq War During the Bush administration, Wolf voted consistently with the President's positions. He voted in favor of military action in Iraq in 2002. He also voted to make the Patriot Act permanent, opposed requiring Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants for wiretaps within the United States, and supported the president in restricting congressional oversight of CIA interrogations.

Social issues Wolf opposes abortion and subsidized birth control for federal employees. As congressman, Wolf also voted to deny funding to Planned Parenthood. He also opposes U.S. funding for international family planning in developing countries. Wolf was one of several Congressmen who spoke against the Uganda anti-gay bill in 2010. He signed a letter supporting the "one man one woman" issue in the Manhattan Declaration. Wolf sought to revise the regulation process for gambling on Native American reservations. Wolf is a member of the Moderate Republican Main Street Partnership.

Electoral history