Alex Mooney | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2015 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWest Virginia's2nd district | |
| In office January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Shelley Moore Capito |
| Succeeded by | Riley Moore |
| Chair of theMaryland Republican Party | |
| In office December 11, 2010 – March 1, 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Audrey Scott |
| Succeeded by | Diana Waterman |
| Member of theMaryland Senate from the3rd district | |
| In office January 13, 1999 – January 12, 2011 | |
| Preceded by | John W. Derr |
| Succeeded by | Ronald N. Young |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Alexander Xavier Mooney (1971-06-07)June 7, 1971 (age 54) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Grace Mooney |
| Children | 3 |
| Relatives | Xavier Suarez (uncle) Francis Suarez (cousin) |
| Education | Dartmouth College (BA) |
Alexander Xavier Mooney (born June 7, 1971)[1] is an American lobbyist and former politician who served as theU.S. representative forWest Virginia's 2nd congressional district from 2015 to 2025.[2] A member of theRepublican Party, he represented the 3rd district in theMaryland State Senate from 1999 to 2011 and is a former chair of theMaryland Republican Party.[3][4][5] He is the first Hispanic person elected to Congress from West Virginia.[6]
In November 2022, Mooney filed to run forU.S. Senate in 2024 for the West Virginia seat occupied by outgoing DemocratJoe Manchin.[7] Mooney was defeated in a landslide in the Republican primary byGovernorJim Justice.
Mooney's mother, Lala, was a Cuban refugee who escaped political imprisonment at age 21, shortly after theBay of Pigs Invasion.[8] Her older brother is former Miami mayorXavier Suarez, and Mooney is the cousin of Miami's current mayor,Francis Suarez.[9] His great-grandparents on his father's side were Irish-born. His father, Vincent, grew up inLong Island, New York. Mooney was born in 1971 inWashington, D.C., and raised inFrederick, Maryland. He graduated fromFrederick High School, where he was elected president of the student government.[8]
In 1993, Mooney received his B.A. in philosophy fromDartmouth College. While attending Dartmouth, he ran for theNew Hampshire House of Representatives inGrafton County's 10th district. He finished in last place with 8% of the vote.[10] In 2007, Mooney was elected to the Dartmouth College Association of Alumni's executive committee.[11] In early 2008, he traveled to New Hampshire to testify in support of a state bill that would require legislative approval for amendments that the privateBoard of Trustees of Dartmouth College wished to make to its charter.[12]
After college, Mooney interned for U.S. RepresentativeEd Royce and then served as staff assistant to U.S. RepresentativeRoscoe Bartlett. In 1995, he became a legislative analyst for theHouse Republican Conference.[9][13]
From 1999 to 2011, Mooney represented Maryland's 3rd district, which covers parts ofWashington andFrederick counties, in theMaryland Senate. He served as theNational Journalism Center's executive director from 2005 to 2012.
In 1998, Mooney defeated incumbent RepublicanJohn W. Derr in the primary election and Democrat Ronald S. Bird in the general election.[14] In 2002, he was reelected, defeating Democrat Sue Hecht with 55% of the vote.[15] In 2006, he won reelection with 52% of the vote against Candy Greenway.[16] In 2010, DemocratRonald N. Young, Mayor ofFrederick, defeated him 51%–49%.[17][18]
In the Maryland State Senate, Mooney was a member of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, the Joint Committee on Investigation, the Joint Committee on Federal Relations, and the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee. He served on the Maryland Rural Caucus, the Taxpayers Protection Caucus, and the Maryland Veterans Caucus.
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On December 11, 2010, Mooney was elected chair of theMaryland Republican Party. He was chair until early 2013.
Maryland's redistricting based on the 2010 census significantly redrew the boundaries of incumbentRoscoe Bartlett's 6th district. The district lost all of heavily Republican Carroll County, as well as some Republican-leaning parts of Baltimore, Frederick and Harford counties, while gaining a heavily Democratic spur of Montgomery County.[19] In 2008,Barack Obama took 40% of the vote in the old 6th, but would have won 56% in the new 6th.[20] After creating an exploratory committee to challenge Bartlett in the Republican primary,[21] Mooney decided not to run against him.[22]
In March 2012, Mooney filed as a candidate in the 2014 Republican primary for Maryland's 6th congressional District. He subsequently had to withdraw his candidacy because he was still Bartlett's part-time outreach director at the time he filed to run. House ethics rules do not allow congressional staffers to remain employed in a congressional office while campaigning.[23][24]
Mooney subsequently moved toCharles Town, West Virginia, a small town on the state's eastern tip, and declared his candidacy forWest Virginia's 2nd congressional district.[25] The district includes most of the West Virginia portion of the Washington media market. Seven-term Republican incumbentShelley Moore Capito was giving up the seat to run for theUnited States Senate.[26] During his campaign, some West Virginia Democrats accused Mooney of being acarpetbagger since he had recently moved to West Virginia.[27]
Mooney received the Republican nomination on May 13, 2014, beating six other candidates. He finished first in 15 of the 17 counties in the congressional district, with 36.02% of the vote.[28]
Mooney defeated DemocratNick Casey in the 2014 general election,[29] 47% to 44%. He wonBerkeley County, in the state'sEastern Panhandle, by 5,000 votes, which was more than his overall margin of 4,900 votes. Like Charles Town, Berkeley is part of the Washington media market.[30] Mooney was also helped by long coattails from Capito, who carried every county in the state.[31]
Mooney became the first Latino elected to West Virginia's congressional delegation in the state's history.[6]
In 2016, Mooney defeated Republican primary challenger Marc Savitt, 72.9%-27.1%.[32][33] In the general election, Mooney defeated Democratic state delegateMark Hunt, 58.2%-41.8%.[34][35]
In 2018, Mooney defeated former U.S. State Department official Talley Sergent, 53.9%-43.0%.[36]
In 2020, Mooney defeated Republican primary challenger Matt Hann, 71.7%-28.3%. In the general election, he defeated energy policy analyst Cathy Kunkel, 63.1%-36.9%.[37]
West Virginia lost a congressional seat as a result of the2020 United States census. The legislature dismantled Mooney's old district and divided the state into northern and southern districts, and abandoned its longtime practice of starting the numbering in the north. Instead, most of the western portion of the old 2nd, including Charleston, was combined with the bulk of the old3rd district to form a new 1st district. Meanwhile, most of the eastern portion of the old 2nd, including Mooney's home, was merged with the old 1st district, represented by six-term RepublicanDavid McKinley, to form the new 2nd district. Both McKinley and Mooney announced plans to run for reelection. Although the new 2nd was geographically more McKinley's district than Mooney's, Mooney won the Republican primary on May 10, 2022.[38]
Mooney was sworn in on January 3, 2015. On March 26, 2015, he introduced H.R. 1644, the Supporting Transparent Regulatory and Environmental Actions in Mining Act (STREAM Act). The House passed the bill on January 19, 2016, by a vote of 235–188.[39]
In two May 2022 reports, theOffice of Congressional Ethics determined that Mooney had "likely violated House rules and federal law" by accepting impermissible gifts and using official resources for personal purposes.[40] The reports found that Mooney and his family had accepted more than $10,800 from a company tied to Mooney on a vacation toAruba; that Mooney had stayed at aCapitol Hill home owned by the same company's founders for free approximately 20 times from 2015 to 2021, using it for lodging, congressional business, and campaign events; that Mooney had regularly diverted official resources (including staff time) for personal and family matters, and sometimes for campaign activities; and that Mooney had "likely" provided false testimony and withheld evidence in the course of an OCE investigation against him.[40] The OCE transmitted the reports to theHouse Ethics Committee, which opened an investigation into Mooney's conduct.[40][41] Mooney denied any misconduct.[40]
On November 15, 2022, Mooney announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 2024, seeking to challenge incumbent Democratic senatorJoe Manchin.[46]
In the Republican party primary, Mooney drew support from the right wing faction of the party, notably by influential SenatorsTed Cruz,Rand Paul, andMike Lee, as well as formerFreedom Caucus chairJim Jordan.[47] His main opponent was incumbent governor Jim Justice, who gained support from the establishment wing of the party including endorsements from incumbent Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and, ultimately, former President Donald Trump.[48] Justice ultimately defeated Mooney, 61.8% to 26.5%.[49]
In February 2025, Mooney became a senior advisor toNumbersUSA.[50]
Mooney supports a return to thegold standard.[51][52][53]
Mooney was among 60 Republicans to oppose condemningTrump's action of withdrawing forces from Syria.[54] Along withMatt Gaetz and a handful of Republicans, Mooney broke with his party and voted to end assistance to Saudi Arabia in theWar in Yemen.[55]
In 2021, Mooney was one of 14 Republican representatives to vote against a resolution condemning theMyanmar coup d'état. It was unclear why Mooney voted against the measure.[56]
In June 2021, Mooney was one of 49 House Republicans to vote to repeal the2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq.[57][58]
In 2023, Mooney was among 47 Republicans to vote in favor of H.Con.Res. 21, which directed PresidentJoe Biden to remove U.S. troops fromSyria within 180 days.[59][60]
Mooney has a "B" rating fromNORML for his voting record oncannabis-related matters.[61]
Mooney voted against the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 1158),[62] which effectively prohibits ICE from cooperating with Health and Human Services to detain or remove illegal alien sponsors of unaccompanied alien children (UACs).[citation needed]
In 2022,NumbersUSA, which seeks to reduce both legal and illegal immigration, gave him a 98% score; in 2019–20, theFederation for American Immigration Reform, which also supports immigration controls, gave him a 100% rating.[63]
In December 2020, Mooney was one of 126 Republican members of theHouse of Representatives to sign anamicus brief in support ofTexas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at theUnited States Supreme Court contesting the results of the2020 presidential election, in whichJoe Biden defeated[64] incumbentDonald Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lackedstanding underArticle III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.[65][66][67]
In the days leading up to the2021 United States Electoral College vote count, he said he had not decided whether he would vote to certify, choosing to decide on the House Floor after listening to debate.[68] Mooney did not support the objection to Arizona's electoral votes, which was sponsored by SenatorTed Cruz.[69] Mooney was in the House Chamber listening to the certification debate when Trump supportersattacked the United States Capitol. He hid in the gallery with other members of Congress before being removed to a safe place.[70]
After the Capitol was secure and Congress returned to certify the results, Mooney supported the objection to certifying Pennsylvania's electoral votes, as sponsored by SenatorJosh Hawley. Mooney claimed that Pennsylvania violated election laws, ignored its constitution and that the "legislature was subverted."[69] In response to his decision, theCharleston Gazette-Mail editorial board charged him with "subverting democracy" and said that he and RepresentativeCarol Miller were complicit in the Capitol attack by their unwavering support of Trump.[71]
On January 11, 2021, the Democrats introduced a resolution to call on Vice PresidentMike Pence to invoke theTwenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution to remove Trump in response to the attack on the Capitol. When the resolution was presented, Mooney objected, saying that Congress "should not adopt a resolution of this magnitude without any debate on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. It is wrong to have sent members of Congress home and then try to adopt without any debate a precedent-setting resolution that could imperil our Republic."[72]
Mooney was among the 71 Republicans who voted against final passage of theFiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 in the House.[73]
| Year | Republican | Votes | Pct | Democratic | Votes | Pct | Third party | Party | Votes | Pct | Third party | Party | Votes | Pct | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Alex Mooney | 72,619 | 47.1% | Nick Casey | 67,687 | 43.9% | Davy Jones | Libertarian | 7,682 | 5.0% | Ed Rabel | Independent | 6,250 | 4.0% | ||||
| 2016 | 140,807 | 58.2% | Mark Hunt | 101,207 | 41.8% | |||||||||||||
| 2018 | 110,504 | 53.9% | Talley Sergent | 88,011 | 43.0% | Daniel Lutz | Mountain | 6,277 | 3.1% | |||||||||
| 2020 | 172,195 | 63.1% | Cathy Kunkel | 100,799 | 36.9% | |||||||||||||
| 2022 | 160,493 | 65.6% | Barry Wendell | 84,278 | 34.4% |
| Name | Votes | Percent | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ronald N. Young, Dem. | 22,710 | 51.1% | Won |
| Alex X. Mooney, Rep. | 21,666 | 48.7% | Lost |
| Other Write-Ins | 75 | 0.2% | Lost |
| Name | Votes | Percent | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alex X. Mooney, Rep. | 21,844 | 51.9% | Won |
| Candy O. Greenway, Dem. | 20,111 | 47.8% | Lost |
| Other Write-Ins | 104 | 0.2% | Lost |
| Name | Votes | Percent | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alex X. Mooney, Rep. | 21,617 | 55.0% | Won |
| C. Sue Hecht, Dem. | 17,654 | 44.9% | Lost |
| Other Write-Ins | 66 | 0.2% | Lost |
| Name | Votes | Percent | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alex X. Mooney, Rep. | 18,399 | 56% | Won |
| Ronald S. Bird, Dem. | 14,212 | 44% | Lost |
| Name | Votes | Percent | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sharon Nordgren, Dem. | 3,540 | 18.96% | Won |
| Marion L. Copenhaver, Dem. | 3,484 | 18.66% | Won |
| Elizabeth L. Crory, Dem. | 3,286 | 17.60% | Won |
| Robert Guest, Dem. | 3,219 | 17.24% | Won |
| Linde McNamara, Rep. | 1,820 | 9.75% | Lost |
| Fred Carleton, Rep. | 1,742 | 9.33% | Lost |
| Alex X. Mooney, Rep. | 1,580 | 8.46% | Lost |
Mooney and his wife, Grace Mooney, live inCharles Town, West Virginia, with their three children.[77] Mooney isRoman Catholic.[78]
Media related toAlex Mooney at Wikimedia Commons| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Audrey Scott | Chair of theMaryland Republican Party 2010–2013 | Succeeded by Diana Waterman |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWest Virginia's 2nd congressional district 2015–2025 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
| People | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
