Lee Carter (politician)

Lee Carter
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
from the 50th district
Assumed office
January 10, 2018
Preceded by Jackson Miller
Personal details
Born (1987-06-02) June 2, 1987
Elizabeth City, North Carolina
Political party Democratic
Other political
affiliations

Organisations:

Democratic Socialists of America
Industrial Workers of the World
Spouse(s) Stephanie
Children 1
Residence Manassas, Virginia
Occupation IT specialist
Committees Manassas City Democratic Committee
Military service
Allegiance  United States
Service/branch  United States Marine Corps
Years of service 2006–2011

Lee J. Carter is an American politician and IT specialist who was born in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.[1][2] On November 7, 2017, he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates for the 50th district.[3] He defeated Jackson Miller, the Republican House Majority Whip.[4] He is a member of the Democratic Party and a former Marine.[5] He was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), of which he is a member.[4]

Virginia House of Delegates campaign

Carter was inspired to run after receiving a shock while repairing a lighting system in the summer of 2015 and subsequently struggling to receive worker's compensation from Virginia while unable to work. Before choosing to run, Carter had long identified as "...to the left of where the Democratic party [is]..." but was further inspired by Bernie Sanders to explore democratic socialism.[4]

Carter's campaign mostly focused on issues such as single-payer healthcare and financial contributions to politicians.

Jackson Miller, the incumbent Republican, distributed a mailer campaign by comparing Carter to Communist rulers Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong,[4][6][7] an act described as fearmongering and condemned by the Democratic Party of Virginia.[7] Miller called Carter an "anti-jobs candidate" and said his "ideas are so out of the mainstream, and so incredibly expensive."[8] Carter won the race by nine percentage points,[9] one of 15 DSA members to be elected in 2017.[10]

In office

Carter has been mocked by Republicans as well as centrist Democrats for his democratic socialist ideology,[11] most notably when during Carter's remarks on a tax bill Delegate Mark Keam surreptitiously briefly displayed the hammer and sickle on a laptop behind Carter, an action for which he later apologized;[12] Keam also apologized for violating Rule 57 in regard to the legislative body's decorum (“No member shall in debate use any language or gesture calculated to wound, offend, or insult another member.”).[13] Carter dismissed the affair as “clearly [...] a joke, but [...] in very poor taste and rooted in a lack of knowledge about the history of the political left.”[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Lee Carter - Contact". www.carterforvirginia.com. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  2. ↑ "Lee J. Carter". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  3. ↑ "2017 November General". results.elections.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2017-11-09.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Vyse, Graham (8 November 2017). "How a Socialist Beat One of Virginia's Most Powerful Republicans". The New Republic. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  5. ↑ "How Democrats Won Big In The Virginia House -- And Why It Matters". HuffPost UK. 2017-11-09. Retrieved 2017-11-09.
  6. ↑ "Democratic Socialist candidate Lee Carter wins an unlikely victory in Virginia". Mic. 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-11-10.
  7. 1 2 Wilson, Patrick (2 November 2017). "GOP delegate Miller's mailer compares Democratic opponent to Stalin, communists". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  8. ↑ Koma, Alex (25 October 2017). "Miller turns to holding off Carter's challenge in 50th District". InsideNoVa. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  9. ↑ Day, Meagan (10 November 2017). "Meet Lee Carter". Jacobin. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  10. ↑ Goldberg, Michelle (10 November 2017). "Revenge of the Obama Coalition". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  11. ↑ Graham Moomaw [@gmoomaw] (2018-02-26). "I've heard several communism jokes from Va. House Republicans about DSA-friendly Del. Lee Carter. Now his fellow Democrats are doing it too" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  12. ↑ Del. Mark L. Keam [@MarkKeam] (2017-02-26). "This morning in @VaHouse Finance Committee meeting, my colleague @carterforva and I debated a tax bill. We hold divergent views on these policy issues, so I made a light-hearted visual joke about our differences. I apologize to Del. Carter for going overboard with my stupid joke" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. ↑ Bryan, Alix (2018-02-26). "Democrat delegate apologizes after he mocks peer with Communist image". WTVR.com. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  14. ↑ Moomaw, Graham (2018-02-26). "Democratic lawmaker in Virginia holds hammer-and-sickle image behind colleague aligned with Democratic Socialists". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  • "Lee Carter's campaign website". Carter for Virginia.
  • "Hammer and Sickle video 0:48". Law & Crime.
  • "DSA website".
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