Morgan Griffith

Howard Morgan Griffith (born March 15, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician who has been the U.S. representative for Virginia's 9th congressional district since 2011.

The district covers a large swath of southwestern Virginia, including the New River Valley and the Virginia side of the Tri-Cities.

He is a member of the Republican Party and the Freedom Caucus.

He graduated from Andrew Lewis High School in 1976 and from Emory and Henry College in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts.

Griffith completed his education with a J.D. from the Washington and Lee University School of Law in 1983.

After law school, Griffith settled in Salem, where he worked as an attorney in private practice specializing in traffic violations and DUI.

Rather than run for a tenth term in the House of Delegates, Griffith opted to challenge Congressman Rick Boucher, a 13-term incumbent Democrat who had served since 1983.

His home in Salem was just outside the 9th's borders at the time, but the district included almost all of his House of Delegates district.

Griffith chose to run for Congress after Boucher voted for the cap and trade bill.

Boucher capitalized on the fact that Griffith did not live in the district, and in return Griffith branded Boucher as a rubber stamp for Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi.

Griffith won the election by less than 5% of the vote.

Griffith defeated Democratic nominee Anthony Flaccavento, 61.3% to 38.6%.

Griffith defeated Democratic nominee Derek Kitts and Independent Janice Boyd with 68.59% of the vote.

Griffith defeated two Democratic opponents, Flaccavento and Justin Santopietro, and a Whig opponent, Scott Blankenship.

Griffith ran unopposed.

He was reelected with 94.39% of the vote.

In June 2021, Griffith was one of 49 House Republicans to vote to repeal the Authorization of Military Force against Iraq.

The measure ultimately succeeded in the House and has been pending in the Senate since then.

In 2023, Griffith was among 47 Republicans to vote in favor of H.Con.Res.

21, which directed President Joe Biden to remove U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days.

Griffith has voted to allow Virginia to enforce federal immigration laws to criminalize knowingly employing illegal immigrants or undocumented workers, and also voted to criminalize possession of firearms by illegal aliens.

Griffith's first entry into electoral politics came in 1986, when he was chosen as chair of the Salem Republican Party.

He chaired the party from 1986 to 1988 and from 1991 to 1994.

In 1993, incumbent Delegate G. Steven Agee chose to run in the Republican primary for Attorney General.

Griffith ran for the open seat representing the 8th district and won.

Griffith was the majority leader of the Virginia House of Delegates and represented the 8th district from 1994 to 2011.

The district was based in his hometown of Salem and included parts of surrounding Roanoke County.

Griffith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in his infancy his family relocated to Salem, Virginia.

He was elected House Majority Leader in 2000, the first Republican to hold that position in Virginia's history.

He was elected to several terms, facing opposition only in 2001, 2003, and 2009.

He served as vice chair of the Rules Committee and on the Courts of Justice Committee, and chaired its Criminal Law Subcommittee.

He also served on the Commerce and Labor Committee, and the Committee on Militia, Police, and Public Safety.

On June 23, 2008, Albo & Oblon LLP, a law firm run by fellow Republican delegate Dave Albo, announced that Griffith had joined the firm as head of its new Roanoke/Salem office.

In 2017, Griffith voted to nullify the Stream Protection Rule, which included improvements in the protection of water supplies, water quality, streams, fish and other wildlife that can be negatively affected by surface coal mining.

The same year, he joined other members of the House of Representatives in passing an amendment to H.R. 3354, which undermined the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to enforce environmental standards in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which covers six states and the District of Columbia.

The measure was approved by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on December 10, 2019.

While serving in the Virginia House of Delegates, Griffith supported a constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriage by defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

He voted in favor of a motion to effectively kill a bill to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation for government employees in Virginia.

Griffith voted against the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 which authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to nearly double the available H-2B visas for the remainder of FY 2020.

Griffith voted against the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 1158), which effectively prohibits Immigration and Customs Enforcement from cooperating with the Department of Health and Human Services to detain or remove illegal alien sponsors of Unaccompanied Alien Children.