Ed Gillespie

Ed Gillespie - Page 1

Senate Candidate, Virginia

Ed’s father Jack came to this country from Ireland as a boy because Ed’s grandfather had found work in America. Ed grew up working in his parents’ grocery store.<br /> <br /> Ed’s parents never went to college, but they insisted that he get a college education. Ed worked his way through the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.<br /> <br /> He and his wife Cathy have raised their three children, John, Carrie and Mollie, near George Washington’s Mt. Vernon in Fairfax County, Virginia. Their family includes two Jack Russell Terriers: Sunny and Skye.<br /> <br /> An Alexandria communications consultant and former White House aide, Gillespie has spent his career fighting for conservative principles of limited, effective government and personal liberty that help make life better and more prosperous for Virginians. He has fought to make sure that the American Dream that brought his father to this country continues to be in reach for future generations.<br /> <br /> Gillespie was a long-time policy and communications aide to former House Majority Leader Dick Armey. He was a principal drafter of the Contract with America, the 1994 campaign platform on which Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years.<br /> <br /> A former Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Gillespie in 2004 became the first GOP chairman in 80 years to preside over his party’s winning the White House, House and Senate. His aggressive outreach to African-American and Hispanic voters was a highlight of his tenure. He went on to serve as Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia.<br /> <br /> He served as chairman of Bob McDonnell’s successful campaign for governor in 2009, Counselor to the President in the last 18 months of the Bush Administration, and before that was co-founder of a bipartisan public affairs firm Quinn Gillespie and Associates (QGA), one of Washington, DC’s premier government relations firms.<br /> <br /> Ed served on the Board of Trustees of the Catholic University of America, the Council on Virginia’s Future, and as Chairman of the Republican State Leadership Committee.