Coordinates	52°24′″N16°55′″N
Name	Virginia Beach
Nickname	The Resort City, Neptune City
Motto	Landmarks of Our Nation's Beginning
Image seal	City_of_Virginia_Beach_Seal.jpg
Map caption	Location in Virginia.
Pushpin map	USA
Pushpin map caption	Location in the United States
Coordinates region	US-VA
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision type1	State
Subdivision type2	County
Subdivision name	United States
Subdivision name1	Virginia
Subdivision name2	None (independent city)
Government type	Council-manager
Leader title	Mayor
Leader name	Will Sessoms (R)
Established title1	Incorporated (town)
Established date1	1906
Established title2	Incorporated (city)
Established date2	1952
Area magnitude	1 E8
Area total sq mi	497.3
Area land sq mi	248.3
Area water sq mi	249.0
Area total km2	1288.1
Area land km2	643.1
Area water km2	645.0
Population as of	2010 Census
Population total	437,994 (39th)
Population urban	1212000
Population metro	1672319
Population density km2	661.3
Timezone	EST
Utc offset	-5
Timezone dst	EDT
Utc offset dst	-4
Area code	757
Elevation ft	10
Elevation m	6
Website	http://www.vbgov.com/
Blank name	FIPS code
Blank info	51-82000
Blank1 name	GNIS feature ID
Blank1 info	1500261
Footnotes	}}

Virginia Beach is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Although Fairfax County is the most populous jurisdiction in the state of Virginia, Virginia Beach is the most populous city in the state, as well as the 39th largest city in the United States, with a population of 437,994 according to the 2010 Census.

Virginia Beach is the easternmost city of Hampton Roads that make up the core of the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA. This area, known as "America's First Region", also includes the independent cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Suffolk, as well as other smaller cities, counties and towns of Hampton Roads.

Virginia Beach is a resort city with miles of beaches and hundreds of hotels, motels, and restaurants along its oceanfront. Every year the city hosts the East Coast Surfing Championships as well as the North American Sand Soccer Championship, a beach soccer tournament. It is also home to several state parks, several long-protected beach areas, three military bases, a number of large corporations, two universities, Edgar Cayce's A.R.E. and numerous historic sites. Near the point where the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean meet, Cape Henry was the site of the first landing of the English colonists, who eventually settled in Jamestown, on April 26, 1607.

The city is listed in the ''Guinness Book of Records'' as having the longest pleasure beach in the world. It is located at the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, the longest bridge-tunnel complex in the world.

History

Chesepians were the first inhabitants of the area now known as Tidewater in Virginia about whom hardly anything is known. They occupied an area which is now the independent cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.

In 1607, after a voyage of 144 days, three ships headed by Captain Christopher Newport carrying 105 men and boys made their first landfall in the New World where the Atlantic Ocean meets the southern mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in the northeastern part of the city. They named it Cape Henry, after Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of King James I of England. However, these English colonists of the Virginia Company of London left the area, as they were under orders to seek a site further inland which would be more sheltered from ships of competing European countries. They created their first permanent settlement at Jamestown.

Adam Thoroughgood (1604–1640) of King's Lynn, Norfolk, England is one of the earliest Englishmen to settle in the area which became Virginia Beach. At the age of 18, he became an indentured servant to pay for passage to the Virginia Colony. He earned his freedom and became a leading citizen of the area. In 1629, he was elected to the House of Burgesses for Elizabeth Cittie [sic], one of four "citties" (or incorporations) which were subdivided areas established in 1619.

In 1634, the Colony was divided into the original eight shires of Virginia, soon renamed as counties. Thoroughgood is credited with using the name of his home in England when helping name "New Norfolk County" in 1637. The following year, New Norfolk County was split into Upper Norfolk County (soon renamed Nansemond County) and Lower Norfolk County. Thoroughgood's choice of residence after 1634 was along the Lynnhaven River, also named for his home in England. Lower Norfolk County was quite large, and stretched all the way from the Atlantic Ocean west past the Elizabeth River, encompassing the entire area now within the modern cities of Portsmouth, Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach.

In 1691, Lower Norfolk County was divided to form Norfolk County and Princess Anne County. Princess Anne, the easternmost county in South Hampton Roads, extended northward from the North Carolina border to Cape Henry at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, and included all of the area fronting the Atlantic Ocean. Princess Anne County was to last from 1691 to 1963, over 250 years.

The small resort area of Virginia Beach grew in Princess Anne County, beginning in the late 19th century, particularly after the 1888 arrival of rail service and electricity and the opening of the original Princess Anne Hotel at the oceanfront near the tiny community of Seatack. In 1891, guests at the new hotel watched the wreck and rescue efforts of the United States Life-Saving Service for the Norwegian bark ''Dictator''. The ship's figurehead, which washed up on the beach several days later, was erected as a modest monument to the victims and rescuers along the oceanfront for more than 50 years, and later became the inspiration for the current matching Norwegian Lady Monuments in Virginia Beach and Moss, Norway, sculpted by Ørnulf Bast.

Although the resort was initially dependent upon railroad and electric trolley service, the completion of Virginia Beach Boulevard in 1922, which extended from Norfolk to the oceanfront, opened the way for automobiles, buses, trucks, and passenger rail service, the latter of which was eventually discontinued. The growing resort of Virginia Beach became an incorporated town in 1906. Over the next 45 years, Virginia Beach continued to grow in popularity as a seasonal vacation spot, and casinos gave way to amusement parks and family-oriented attractions. In 1927 The Cavalier Hotel opened and became a popular vacation spot. Virginia Beach became politically independent of Princess Anne County as an independent city in 1952, although the numerous ties between Virginia Beach and Princess Anne remained. In 1963, after approval by referendum of the voters of the City of Virginia Beach and Princess Anne County, and with the approval of the Virginia General Assembly, the two political subdivisions were consolidated as a new, much larger independent city, retaining the better-known name of the Virginia Beach resort.

Real estate, defense, and tourism are major sectors of the Virginia Beach economy, but the city has begun to run out of clear land available for new construction above the Green Line, an urban growth boundary dividing the urban northern and rural southern sections of the city.

As such, while Virginia Beach does not have a redevelopment authority, local public and private groups have maintained a vested interest in real-estate redevelopment, resulting in a number of joint public-private projects such as commercial parks. Examples of this are the Virginia Beach Convention Center, the Oceanfront Hilton Hotel, and the Virginia Beach Town Center. Using tax increment financing through creation of special tax districts and street and infrastructure construction, the City was able to assist in financing the projects making them a reality. The Town Center opened in 2003 and still has construction taking place, while the Convention Center opened in 2005.

The Alan B. Shepard Civic Center ("The Dome"), a significant building in the city's history, was constructed in 1958, was dedicated to the career of former Virginia Beach resident and astronaut Alan Shepard, and was the first geodesic dome building constructed in the continental United States — based on the design work of Buckminster Fuller. Eventually, the Dome was frequently used as a smokey bingo hall. The building was razed in 1994 to make room for a municipal parking lot and potential future development.

Infill and development of residential neighborhoods has placed a number of operating constraints on Naval Air Station Oceana, a major fighter jet base for the U.S. Navy. While the airbase currently enjoys wide support from Virginia Beach at large, the Pentagon Base Realignment and Closure commission has proposed closure of Oceana within the next decade.

Geography and climate

Virginia Beach is located at .

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of . of it is land and of it (50.07%) is water. The average elevation is above sea level. A major portion of the city drains to the Chesapeake Bay by way of the Lynnhaven River and its tributaries.

The city is located at the southeastern corner of Virginia in the Hampton Roads area bordering the Atlantic Ocean. The Hampton Roads Metropolitan Statistical Area (officially known as the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA) is the 34th largest in the United States, with a total population of 1,576,370. The area includes the Virginia cities of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Williamsburg, and the counties of Gloucester, Isle of Wight, James City, Mathews, Surry, and York, as well as the North Carolina county of Currituck. While Virginia Beach is the most populated city within the MSA, it actually currently functions more as a suburb. The city of Norfolk is recognized as the central business district, while the Virginia Beach oceanside resort district and Williamsburg are primarily centers of tourism.

Neighborhoods

left|thumb|Virginia Beach from spaceWhen the modern city of Virginia Beach was created in 1963, by the consolidation of the Princess Anne County with the City of Virginia Beach, the newly larger city was divided into seven boroughs: Bayside, Blackwater, Kempsville, Lynnhaven, Princess Anne, Pungo, and Virginia Beach.

Virginia Beach has many distinctive communities and neighborhoods within its boundaries, including: Acredale, Aragona Village, Arrowhead, Chesapeake Beach, Bay Colony, Brigadoon, Great Neck, Kings Grant, Alanton, Green Run, Buckner Farms, Bayside, Blackwater, Brighton on the Bay, Carolanne Farm, College Park, Glenwood, Croatan Beach, Church Point, Greenwich, the North End, Kempsville, Landstown, London Bridge, Lynnhaven, Little Neck, Middle Plantation, Munden, Oceana, Ocean Lakes, Ocean Park, Pembroke Manor, Pembroke Meadows,Indian Lakes, Pembroke Shores, Hilltop, Pine Meadows, Princess Anne, Pungo, Indian River Plantation, Salem, Redwing, Sandbridge, Seatack, Shadowlawn, Thalia, Thalia Shores, Thoroughgood, Windsor Woods, Witchduck Point, Oceanfront, and Magic Hollow.

Climate

The climate of Virginia Beach is humid subtropical. Winters are very mild, and snowfall is light. Summers are hot and humid with warm evenings. The mean annual temperature is , with an average annual snowfall of and an average annual rainfall of . The wettest seasons are the spring and summer, although rainfall is fairly constant all year round. The highest recorded temperature was in August 1957, and the lowest recorded temperature was in January 1985.

Additionally, the geographic location of the city, with respect to the principal storm tracks, is especially favorable. It is south of the average path of storms originating in the higher latitudes, and north of the usual tracks of hurricanes and other major tropical storms, with the exception of Hurricane Isabel in 2003

Demographics

''According to the 2010 Census, the racial composition of Virginia Beach was as follows:

White or Caucasian: 67.7% (Non-Hispanic Whites: 64.5%)

Black or African American: 19.6%

American Indian: 0.4%

Asian: 6.1% (4.0% Filipino, 0.5% Chinese, 0.4% Indian, 0.4% Vietnamese, 0.3% Korean, 0.2% Japanese)

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 0.1%

Some other race: 2.0%

Two or more races: 4.0%

Hispanic or Latino (of any race): 6.6% (2.2% Puerto Rican, 1.9% Mexican, 0.3% Dominican, 0.2% Panamanian, 0.2% Salvadoran, 0.2% Cuban, 0.2% Colombian)

Source:

As of the census of 2000, there were 425,257 people, 154,455 households, and 110,898 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,712.7 people per square mile (661.3/km²). There were 162,277 housing units at an average density of 653.6 per square mile (252.3/km²).

The racial makeup of the city was: 78% White (72.46% non-Hispanic white), 12% African American, 0.38% Native American, 4.91% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 1.51% from other races, and 2.75% from two or more races. 4.18% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 154,455 households out of which 38.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.7% were married couples living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.2% were non-families. 20.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.14.

The age distribution was 27.5% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 34.3% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 8.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 98.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $48,705, and the median income for a family was $53,242. Virginia Beach had the 5th highest median family income among large cities in 2003. Males had a median income of $33,756 versus $25,979 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,365. About 5.1% of families and 6.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.6% of those under age 18 and 4.7% of those age 65 or over.

The city of Virginia Beach has a low crime rate compared to the other cities of the Hampton Roads, Newport News, Virginia, Norfolk, Virginia, Portsmouth, Virginia, have above the national average crime rates while Virginia Beach remains low. In 1999 Virginia Beach experienced 12 murders giving the city a murder rate of 2.7 per 100,000 people. For 2007, Virginia Beach had 16 murders giving the city a murder rate of 3.7 per 100,000 people. The National Average is 6.9. The city’s total crime index rate for 2007 was 221.2. The United States average is 320.9 per 100,000 people. According to the Congressional Quarterly Press '2008 City Crime Rankings: Crime in Metropolitan America, Virginia Beach, Virginia ranks 311th in violent crime amount 385 cities containing more than 75,000 inhabitants.

+Violent crimes per 100,000 citizens
! Crime	! Virginia Beach (2009)	! National Average
Murder	3.7	6.9
Rape	20.2	32.2
Robbery	127.3	195.4
Assault	98.6	340.1
Burglary	495.2	814.5
Automobile Theft	134.4	526.5

The city was also named the safest US city in 2004.

Religion

34.43% of the city's population is affiliated with religious congregations, compared to the 50.2% nationwide figure. There are 146,402 adherents and 184 different religious congregations in the city.

28% Catholic Church

14% Southern Baptist Convention

13% United Methodist Church

12% Charismatic Churches Independent

33% Others

Economy

Virginia Beach is best known for its tourism but the military and agribusiness sectors contribute to the City's economy. The City's economy also contains a large retail component at places such as Lynnhaven Mall. Major companies headquartered in Virginia Beach include Amerigroup, the Christian Broadcasting Network and Operation Blessing International, Lillian Vernon and Stihl (North American headquarters). Other major employers include GEICO, VT and Navy Exchange Service Command. Virginia Beach was ranked at number 45 on Forbes list of best places for business and careers.

Tourism produces a large share of Virginia Beach's economy. With an estimated $857 million spent in tourism related industries, 14,900 jobs cater to 2.75 million visitors. City coffers benefit as visitors provide $73 million in revenue. Virginia Beach opened a Convention Center in 2005 which caters to large group meetings and events. Hotels not only line the Oceanfront but also cluster around Virginia Beach Town Center and other parts of the City. Restaurants and entertainment industries also directly benefit from Virginia Beach's tourism.

Virginia Beach has a large agribusiness sector which produces $80 million for the city economy. One hundred-seventy-two farms exist in Virginia Beach, mostly below the greenline in the southern portion of the City. Farmers are able to sell their goods and products at the City's Farmer's Market. Virginia Beach is home to several United States Military bases. These include the United States Navy's NAS Oceana and FTC Dam Neck, and the United States Army's Fort Story located at Cape Henry. Additionally, NAB Little Creek is located mostly within the city of Virginia Beach but carries a Norfolk address.

NAS Oceana is the largest employer in Virginia Beach; it was decreed by the 2005 BRAC Commission that NAS Oceana must close unless the city of Virginia Beach condemns houses in areas designated as "Accident Potential Zones." This action has never been the position of the United States Navy; indeed, the Navy had not recommended NAS Oceana to the BRAC Commission for potential closure. The issue of closure of NAS Oceana remains unresolved as of May, 2008

Both NAS Oceana and FTC Dam Neck are considered to be the largest of their respective kind in the world. Furthermore, located in nearby Norfolk is the central hub of the United States Navy's Atlantic Fleet, Norfolk Navy Base.

Culture

Virginia Beach is most often associated with the larger American South. People who have grown up in the Hampton Roads area often have a unique Tidewater accent which sounds different from a stereotypical Southern accent. Vowels have a longer pronunciation than in a regular Southern accent.

The city is home to several points of interest in the historical, scientific, and performing arts areas, and has become a popular tourist destination in recent years. The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center (formerly the Virginia Marine Science Museum) is a popular aquarium near the oceanfront that features the 300,000-gallon Norfolk Canyon Aquarium, containing sand tiger, nurse and brown sharks, as well as sting rays and other large open-ocean dwellers. There is also a 70,000-gallon sea turtle aquarium, sea turtle hatchling laboratory, hands-on ocean exploration exhibits, jellyfish and octopus aquariums, and even a life-size model of a humpback whale. Other features include the Owls Creek salt marsh and a nature trail.

The Virginia Beach Amphitheater‎, built in 1996, features a wide variety of popular shows and concerts, ranging from Kenny Chesney to Taylor Swift to Coldplay to Ozzfest. The Sandler Center, a 1200-seat performing arts theatre, opened in the Virginia Beach Town Center in November, 2007. Virginia Beach is home to many sites of historical importance, and has 18 sites on the National Register of Historic Places. Such sites include the Adam Thoroughgood House (one of the oldest surviving colonial homes in Virginia), the Francis Land House (a 200-year-old plantation), the Cape Henry Lights and nearby Cape Henry Light Station (a second tower), Bayville Farm, DeWitt Cottage, Ferry Farm Plantation, Dr. John Miller-Masury House, Adam Keeling House, Old Donation Church, Pembroke Manor, Pleasant Hall, Shirley Hall (Devereaux House), Thomas Murray House, U.S. Coast Guard Station (Seatack), Upper Wolfsnare, Weblin House, and Wishart Boush House, and Wolfsnare.

The Edgar Cayce Hospital for Research and Enlightenment was established in Virginia Beach in 1928 with 60 beds. Cayce was a psychic from Kentucky who claimed healing abilities and made prophesies. Cayce is known as the father of the "New Age" movement of the 1960s. Cayce resided in Virginia Beach until he died on January 3, 1945. His followers are still active in Virginia Beach. The 67th street facility features a large private library of books on psychic matters, and is open to the public. The traditional beach-architecture headquarters building features massage therapy by appointment. Atlantic University was opened by Cayce in 1930; it closed two years later but was re-opened in 1985. Atlantic University was originally intended for study of Cayce's readings and research on spiritual subjects.

The city's largest festival, the Neptune Festival, attracts 500,000 visitors to the Oceanfront and 350,000 visitors to the air show at NAS Oceana. Celebrating the city's heritage link with Norway, events are held in September in the Oceanfront and Town Center areas. Every August, the American Music Festival provides festival attendees with live music performed on stages all over the Oceanfront, including the beach on Fifth Street. The festival ends with the Rock and Roll Half Marathon.

Sports

Since Norfolk contains the central business district of Hampton Roads, most of the major spectator sports are located there. While the Hampton Roads area has been recently considered as a viable prospect for major-league professional sports, and regional leaders have attempted to obtain Major League Baseball, NBA and NHL franchises in the recent past, no team has yet relocated to the area.

The Virginia Destroyers, a UFL expansion franchise will begin play at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex in the fall of 2011.

There are two soccer teams, the Hampton Roads Piranhas, a men's team in the USL Premier Development League, and a women's team by the same name in the W-League. The Piranhas play at the main stadium of the Virginia Wesleyan College. The Virginia Beach Sportsplex contains the central training site for the U.S. women's national field hockey team.

The city is also home to the East Coast Surfing Championships, an annual contest of more than 100 of the world's top professional surfers and an estimated 400 amateur surfers. This is North America's oldest surfing contest, and features combined cash prizes of $40,000.

There are also eleven golf courses open to the public in the city, as well as four country club layouts and 36 military holes at NAS Oceana's Aeropines course. Among the best-known public courses are Hell's Point Golf Club and Virginia Beach National, the latter of which hosts the Virginia Beach Open, a Nationwide Tour event, each April.

The North American Sand Soccer Championship is held once a year at the beach. The tournament includes the Pro/Am competition, which brings teams from all over the world to compete in the tournament.

Virginia Beach is also home of a large Beach Volleyball following, both local and from out of town. Several local organizations and companies such as Tidewater Volleyball Association and Volleyball Virginia support competitive play from Pros to Amateurs alike. Affiliations with the AVP Tour, EVP Tour, Pro Beach East, and the Spalding Corona Wide Open have driven tourism by hosting Pro and Semi-Pro Beach Tournaments.

Virginia Beach is host to a Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon each year on Labor Day weekend in conjunction with the American Music Festival. It is one of the largest Half Marathons in the world. The final are on the boardwalk.

The Pro Footvolley Tour, presented by Bud Light Lime, also has an annual event in Virginia Beach. With great local athletes and significant interest from the soccer/beach volleyball communities; Virginia Beach is a natural host for the annual event held at 31st and the Oceanfront. The top athletes in the US and International teams converge in Virginia Beach for the event.

Parks and recreation

Virginia Beach is home to 210 city parks, encompassing over , including neighborhood parks, community parks, district parks, and other open spaces. Each park is unique and offers something for everyone, from wide open spaces to playgrounds, picnic shelters, and ballfields.

Mount Trashmore Park is clearly visible from I-264 when traveling to the oceanfront. The park is . The hill is high and over long, and was created by compacting layers of solid waste and clean soil. It is the highest point in Virginia Beach. The park also features two lakes: Lake Windsor and Lake Trashmore. Lake Trashmore is stocked with fish, but is unsanitary to fish in. Residents can also take advantage of a skate park.

Another major park in the city is Great Neck Park, a park located in the Lynnhaven District. Facilities include five large group shelters, mini-shelters, family picnic tables and grills, three playgrounds, horseshoe pits, volleyball courts, vending machines, walking trails, four baseball fields, as well as a gazebo located at the end of a scenic walkway overlooking the Lynnhaven River.

The Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1938, is an fresh water refuge that borders the Atlantic Ocean on the east and Back Bay on the west. The barrier islands feature large sand dunes, maritime forests, fresh water marshes, ponds, ocean beach, and large impoundments for wintering wildfowl. It is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

First Landing State Park and False Cape State Park are both located in coastal areas within the city's corporate limits as well. Both offer camping facilities, cabins, and outdoor recreation activities in addition to nature and history tours.

Munden Point is a rural park located in the deep southern end of the city.

Additionally, the famous boardwalk at the oceanfront is often packed with fascinating entertainment, outdoor cafes, concerts and people. Made of concrete, the boardwalk links forty hotels and other attractions and has a bike path.

Naval Aviation Monument Park was formally dedicated on May 6, 2006, by the Hampton Roads Squadron of the Naval Aviation Foundation Association. Planned since 1997 in partnership with the City of Virginia Beach, the park features heroic-scale statuary and reliefs to tell the history of Naval Aviation.

Government

Virginia Beach was chartered as a municipal corporation by the General Assembly of Virginia on January 1, 1963. The city currently operates under the council-manager form of government. The city does not fall under the jurisdiction of a county government, due to state law. Rather, it functions as an independent city and operates as a political subdivision of the state.

The city's legislative body consists of an 11 member city council. The city manager is appointed by the council and acts as the chief executive officer. Through his staff, he implements policies established by the council.

Members of the city council normally serve four-year terms and are elected on a staggered basis in non-partisan elections. Beginning in 2008, general elections are held the first Tuesday in November in even-numbered years. In previous years, elections were held the first Tuesday in May in even-numbered years. All registered voters are eligible to vote for all council members. Three council members and the mayor serve on an ''"at large"'' basis with no district residency requirement. All others are required to reside in their respective district constituencies: Bayside, Beach, Centerville, Kempsville, Lynnhaven, Princess Anne, and Rose Hall.

The mayor is elected to a four-year term through direct election. The mayor presides over council meetings, and serves as the ceremonial head and spokesperson of the city. A vice mayor is also elected by the city council at the first meeting following a council election.

In addition to the city council, residents elect members of the school board of the city's public school district, Virginia Beach City Public Schools. The board consists of 11 members and is headed by a chairman. In addition to formulating local educational policy, the board appoints a Superintendent of Schools. School board elections are held concurrently and in the same manner as city council elections, with four at-large seats and seven seats with district residency requirements. The chairman and vice chairman are elected by the members of the board, and may be either at-large or district members.

Citizens of Virginia Beach also elect five constitutional officers, and candidates for these offices are permitted to run with an affiliated political party. Three of these offices deal substantially with public safety and justice: the Sheriff, Commonwealth's Attorney, and the Clerk of the Circuit Court. The two other offices are concerned with fiscal policy: the City Treasurer and the Commissioner of the Revenue.

Virginia Beach has a Housing and Neighborhood Preservation division which aims to promote healthy neighborhoods and allow access to affordable housing. This division provides assistance to area neighborhoods including federal and state resources, support for neighborhood groups, training seminars, code enforcement assistance, and youth activities. The City police also offer resources and networking for the neighborhoods.

In the 2008 United States Presidential Election, 49.13% of Virginia Beach residents voted for Barack Obama and 49.84% for John McCain.

The current Mayor of Virginia Beach is Will Sessoms, a long time veteran of the city's political scene and a conservative Republican representative.

Education

According to the U.S. Census, 28.1% of the population over twenty-five (vs. a national average of 24%) hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and 90.4% (vs. 80% nationally) have a high school diploma or equivalent.

The city of Virginia Beach is home to Virginia Beach City Public Schools, one of the largest school systems in the state and among the 50 largest school divisions in the United States (based on student enrollment). Virginia Beach City Public Schools currently serves 69,735 students, and includes 56 elementary schools, 14 middle schools, 11 high schools which include Landstown, Princess Anne, Cox, Tallwood, Salem, First Colonial, Kellam, Green Run, Kempsville, Bayside, and Ocean Lakes High Schools as well as a number of secondary/post-secondary specialty schools and centers such as the Advanced Technology Center (ATC), which provides excellent courses for those trying to gain a place in the technology field. Ocean Lakes maintains a rigorous math and science academy; Bayside houses a health sciences academy, with courses in medical microbiology, genetic medicine, and pathophysiology. Salem High school houses the Visual and Performing Arts Academy, preparing students for jobs in the Fine and Performing Arts. Landstown High School contains a Technology Academy, which helps prepare students for jobs in Business Marketing, Information Technology, and/or Engineering. First Colonial High School is home to the Legal Studies Academy, with courses such as Forensic Science, Intro to Law, and Legal Research and Writing, preparing students for jobs in the law field. Tallwood High School has recently founded a world studies academy, and Princess Anne, the oldest high school in the city, is an International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme school. Specialized courses are offered at all these academies, even though they occasionally overlap courses offered at other specialized centers, such as Landstown and the ATC — less than away.

There are also a number of private, independent schools in the city, including Norfolk Academy, Hampton Roads Academy, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic School and Parish, The Hebrew Academy of Tidewater, Cape Henry Collegiate School, Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School (formerly Norfolk Catholic), Baylake Pines School, and Virginia Beach Friends School.

Virginia Beach is home to two universities: Regent University, a private university founded by Christian Evangelist and Leader Pat Robertson which has historically focused on graduate education but has recently established an undergraduate program as well. Atlantic University, associated with the Edgar Cayce organization, the Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE), offers M.A. degrees in Transpersonal Studies, with many New Age subjects thanks to its Edgar Cayce link. Old Dominion University and Norfolk State University are in nearby Norfolk and both the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech operate satellite campuses in Virginia Beach. Tidewater Community College, a major junior college, also has its largest campus located in the city. Virginia Wesleyan College, a private liberal arts college, is located on the border with Norfolk with the physical address of the school being in Norfolk, but the majority of the campus being in Virginia Beach. ECPI College of Technology main campus is located here as well. Additional institutions of higher education are located in other communities of greater Hampton Roads.

The Virginia Beach Public Library System provides free access to accurate and current information and materials to all individuals, and promotes reading as a critical life skill. The library supports the educational and leisure needs of Virginia Beach citizens with a system of area libraries, a Central Library, a Bookmobile, a virtual library, the South Rosemont Youth Library, the Wahab Public law Library, the Municipal Reference Library and the Special Services for the Blind and Visually Handicapped. The Library has a collection of more than 1,000,000 items including special subject collections.

Media

Virginia Beach's daily newspaper is the ''Virginian-Pilot''. Alternative papers include the ''Port Folio Weekly'' and the ''New Journal and Guide''. The ''Hampton Roads Business Journal'' focuses on local business news.

Virginia Wesleyan College publishes its own newspaper, ''The Marlin Chronicle''. Hampton Roads Magazine serves as a bi-monthly regional magazine for Virginia Beach and the Hampton Roads area. Virginia Beach is served by a variety of radio stations on the AM and FM dials, with towers located around the Hampton Roads area.

Virginia Beach is also served by several television stations. The Hampton Roads designated market area (DMA) is the 42nd largest in the U.S. with 712,790 homes (0.64% of the total U.S.). The major network television affiliates are WTKR-TV 3 (CBS), WAVY 10 (NBC), WVEC-TV 13 (ABC), WGNT 27 (CW), WTVZ 33 (MyNetworkTV), WVBT 43 (Fox), and WPXV 49 (ION Television). The Public Broadcasting Service station is WHRO-TV 15. Virginia Beach residents also can receive independent stations, such as WSKY broadcasting on channel 4 from Camden County, North Carolina and WGBS broadcasting on channel 7 from Hampton. Virginia Beach is served by Cox Cable. DirecTV and Dish Network are also popular as an alternative to cable television in Virginia Beach.

Virginia Beach serves as the headquarters for the Christian Broadcasting Network, located adjacent to Regent University. CBN's most notable program, The 700 Club originates from the Virginia Beach studios. In 2008, Virginia Beach became the home to the Reel Dreams Film Festival.

Films shot in and around Virginia Beach include ''Psycho Kickboxer'' (1997), ''Hearts in Atlantis'' (2001), ''Call This a Cry for Help'' (2007), ''Judges'' (2005), ''The Killing Kind'' (2004), ''Moving'' (2002), '' Navy SEALs'' (1990), ''The Satan Killer'' (1993) and ''Too Young the Hero'' (1988; TV film). ''Mission Impossible 3'' (2006) was filmed at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, which is connects the Delmarva Peninsula to Virginia Beach.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Virginia Beach is primarily served by the Norfolk International Airport , which is now the region's major commercial airport. The airport is located near Chesapeake Bay, along the city limits straddling neighboring Norfolk. Seven airlines provide nonstop services to twenty five destinations. ORF had 3,703,664 passengers take off or land at its facility and 68,778,934 pounds of cargo were processed through its facilities. Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport also provides commercial air service for the Hampton Roads area. The Chesapeake Regional Airport provides general aviation services and is located five miles (8 km) outside the city limits.

Virginia Beach is served by Amtrak through the Newport News station, via connecting buses. The line runs west along the Virginia Peninsula to Richmond and points beyond. A high speed rail connection at Richmond to both the Northeast Corridor and the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor are also under study.

Greyhound/Trailways provides service from a central bus terminal in adjacent Norfolk. The Greyhound station in Virginia Beach is located on Laskin Road, about a mile west of the oceanfront. Bus services to New York City via the Chinatown bus, Today's Bus, is located on Newtown Road.

The city is connected to I-64 via I-264, which runs from the oceanfront, intersects with I-64 on the east side of Norfolk, and continues through downtown Norfolk and Portsmouth until rejoining I-64 at the terminus of both roads in Chesapeake where Interstate 664 completes the loop which forms the Hampton Roads Beltway. Travelers to and from Virginia Beach can access the Hampton Roads Beltway in either direction from I-264 in Norfolk to use a choice of the two bridge-tunnel facilities to cross Hampton Roads to reach the Peninsula, Williamsburg, Richmond and points north. Other major roads include Virginia Beach Boulevard (U.S. Route 58), Shore Drive (U.S. Route 60), which connects to Atlantic Avenue at the oceanfront, Northampton Blvd (U.S. Route 13), Princess Anne Road (State Route 165), Indian River Road (former State Route 603), Lynnhaven Parkway, Independence Boulevard, General Booth Boulevard, and Nimmo Parkway. Streets in the oceanfront hotel and entertainment district are arranged in a fairly regular, grid like pattern, with Atlantic Avenue parallel to the shoreline, then Pacific Avenue, and Arctic Avenue going further inland.

The city is also connected to Virginia's Eastern Shore region via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT), which is the longest bridge-tunnel complex in the world and known as one of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World. The CBBT, a tolled facility carries U.S. Route 13.

Transportation within the city, as well as the rest of Hampton Roads is served by a regional bus service, Hampton Roads Transit. An extension of The Tide light rail system from Norfolk to the oceanfront is currently being studied.

Walkability

A 2011 study by Walk Score ranked Virginia Beach 39th most walkable of fifty largest U.S. cities.

Utilities

Water and sewer services are provided by the City's Department of Utilities. Virginia Beach receives its electricity from Dominion Virginia Power which has local sources including the Chesapeake Energy Center (a gas power plant), coal-fired plants in Chesapeake and Southampton County, and the Surry Nuclear Power Plant. Norfolk headquartered Virginia Natural Gas, a subsidiary of AGL Resources, distributes natural gas to the City from storage plants in James City County and Chesapeake.

Virginia Beach receives its water from Lake Gaston. The Virginia Tidewater area has grown faster than the local freshwater supply. The river water has always been salty, and fresh groundwater is no longer available in most areas. Currently, water for the Tidewater area is pumped from Lake Gaston, which straddles the Virginia-North Carolina border along with the Blackwater and Nottoway rivers. The pipeline is long and in diameter. Much of its follows the former right-of-way of an abandoned portion of the Virginian Railway. It is capable of pumping 60 million gallons of water per day(60MGD), Norfolk and Chesapeake are partners in the project.

The City provides wastewater services for residents and transports wastewater to the regional Hampton Roads Sanitation District treatment plants.

Healthcare

Virginia Beach is served by Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital, Sentara Bayside Hospital, and by the newly created Sentara Princess Anne Medical Campus. Sentara Leigh Hospital is just across the city line in Norfolk.

Sister cities

Virginia Beach has three Sister Cities:

Bangor, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom Miyazaki, Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyūshū, Japan Moss, Norway

See also

List of people from Virginia Beach

National Register of Historic Places listings in Virginia Beach, Virginia

Norwegian Lady Statues

Wash Woods at False Cape, one of the lost towns of Virginia

Virginia Beach Fire Department

Virginia Beach Police Department

Department of EMS, City of Virginia Beach

References

External links

Official Government Website

Official Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau Website

Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance

Virginia Beach City Page

First Landing State Park

Alan B. Sheppard Civic Center (aka Virginia Beach Convention Center).

Official Ice Sculpture web site

Virginia Beach

Category:Beaches of Virginia Category:Cities in Virginia Category:Seaside resorts in the United States Category:Surfing locations in the United States Category:Populated coastal places in Virginia Category:Hampton Roads

ar:فيرجينيا بيتش، فيرجينيا zh-min-nan:Virginia Beach bg:Вирджиния Бийч (Вирджиния) ca:Virginia Beach cs:Virginia Beach da:Virginia Beach de:Virginia Beach et:Virginia Beach es:Virginia Beach eu:Virginia Beach fa:ویرجینیابیچ fr:Virginia Beach ko:버지니아비치 id:Virginia Beach it:Virginia Beach he:וירג'יניה ביץ' pam:Virginia Beach, Virginia ka:ვირჯინია-ბიჩი sw:Virginia Beach, Virginia ht:Vijini Beach, Vijini mrj:Вирджини-Бич la:Litus Virginiae lt:Virdžinija Byčas lmo:Virginia Beach mk:Вирџинија Бич (Вирџинија) ms:Virginia Beach ro:Virginia Beach nl:Virginia Beach ja:バージニアビーチ no:Virginia Beach nds:Virginia Beach pl:Virginia Beach pt:Virginia Beach qu:Virginia Beach (Virginia) ru:Вирджиния-Бич simple:Virginia Beach, Virginia sk:Virginia Beach sl:Virginia Beach, Virginija sr:Вирџинија Бич fi:Virginia Beach sv:Virginia Beach tl:Virginia Beach, Virginia tr:Virginia Beach uk:Вірджинія-Біч vi:Virginia Beach vo:Virginia Beach war:Virginia Beach, Virginia zh:維珍尼亞海灘

Coordinates	52°24′″N16°55′″N
Name	Virginia
Fullname	Commonwealth of Virginia
Flag	Flag of Virginia.svg
Flaglink	Flag
Seal	Seal of Virginia.svg
Seallink	Seal
Map	Map of USA VA2.svg
Flagalt	Navy blue flag with the circular Seal of Virginia centered on it.
Sealalt	A circular seal with the words "Virginia" on the top and "Sic Semper Tyrannis" on the bottom. In the center, a woman wearing a blue toga and Athenian helmet stands on the chest of dead man wearing a purple breastplate and skirt. The woman holds a spear and sheathed sword. The man holds a broken chain while his crown lies away from the figures. Orange leaves encircle the seal.
Mapalt	Virginia is located on the Atlantic coast along the line that divides the Northern and Southern halves of the United States. It runs mostly east to west. It includes a small peninsula across a bay which is discontinuous with the rest of the state.
Nickname	Old Dominion; Mother of Presidents
Motto	Sic Semper Tyrannis (Latin)
Mottoenglish	Thus always to tyrants
Former	Colony of Virginia
Capital	Richmond
Largestcity	Virginia Beach
Largestmetro	Northern Virginia
Demonym	Virginian
Governor	Bob McDonnell (R)
Lieutenant governor	Bill Bolling (R)
Legislature	General Assembly
Upperhouse	Senate
Lowerhouse	House of Delegates
Senators	Jim Webb (D)Mark Warner (D)
Representative	8 Republicans, 3 Democrats
Electoralvotes	13
Postalabbreviation	VA
Officiallang	English
Languages	English 94.6%, Spanish 5.9%
Arearank	35th
Totalareaus	42,774.2
Totalarea	110,785.67
Pcwater	7.4
Poprank	12th
2000pop	8,001,024
Densityrank	16th
2000densityus	202.6
2000density	78
Medianhouseholdincome	$61,044
Incomerank	8th
Admittanceorder	10th
Admittancedate	June 25, 1788
Timezone	Eastern: UTC−5/−4
Latitude	36° 32′ N to 39° 28′ N
Longitude	75° 15′ W to 83° 41′ W
Widthus	200
Width	320
Lengthus	430
Length	690
Highestpoint	Mount Rogers
Highestelevus	5,729
Highestelev	1,747
Meanelevus	950
Meanelev	290
Lowestpoint	Atlantic Ocean
Lowestelevus	0
Lowestelev	0
Isocode	US-VA
Website	www.virginia.gov }}

The Commonwealth of Virginia () is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most populous city and Fairfax County the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's population is over eight million.

The area's history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony. Slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colony's early politics and plantation economy. Virginia was one of the 13 Colonies in the American Revolution and joined the Confederacy in the American Civil War, during which Richmond was made the Confederate capital and Virginia's northwestern counties separated to form the state of West Virginia. Although the Commonwealth was under conservative single party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, both major national parties are competitive in modern Virginia.

The Virginia General Assembly is the oldest legislature in the Americas. The state government has been repeatedly ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States. It is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginia's economy has many sectors: agriculture in the Shenandoah Valley; federal agencies in Northern Virginia, including the headquarters of the Department of Defense and CIA; and military facilities in Hampton Roads, the site of the region's main seaport. Virginia's public schools and many colleges and universities have contributed to growing media and technology sectors. As a result, computer chips have become the state's leading export.

Geography

Virginia has a total area of , including of water, making it the 35th-largest state by area. Virginia is bordered by Maryland and Washington, D.C. to the north and east; by the Atlantic Ocean to the east; by North Carolina and Tennessee to the south; by Kentucky to the west; and by West Virginia to the north and west. Virginia's boundary with Maryland and Washington, D.C. extends to the low-water mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, though surveyor error led to deviations of as much as three arcminutes.

Geology and terrain

The Chesapeake Bay separates the contiguous portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginia's Eastern Shore. The bay was formed following a meteoroid impact crater during the Eocene. Many of Virginia's rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, which create three peninsulas in the bay. Geographically and geologically, Virginia is divided into five regions from east to west: Tidewater, Piedmont, Blue Ridge Mountains, Ridge and Valley, and Cumberland Plateau.

The Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay. The Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic. The region, known for its heavy clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the chain of Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state, the tallest being Mount Rogers at . The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains, and includes the Great Appalachian Valley. The region is carbonate rock based, and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the south-west corner of Virginia, below the Allegheny Plateau. In this region rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin.

The state's carbonate rock is filled with more than 4,000 caves, ten of which are open for tourism. The Virginia seismic zone has not had a history of regular activity. Earthquakes are rarely above 4.5 on the Richter magnitude scale because Virginia is located away from the edges of the North American Plate. The largest earthquake, at an estimated 5.9 magnitude, was in 1897 near Blacksburg. A 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck central Virginia on August 23, 2011, near Mineral. The earthquake was reportedly felt as far away as New York City and Toronto, Canada. Coal mining takes place in the three mountainous regions at 40 distinct coal beds near Mesozoic basins. Other resources such as slate, kyanite, sand, and gravel are mined, with an annual value over $2 billion .

Climate

The climate of Virginia becomes increasingly warmer and more humid farther south and east. Seasonal extremes vary from average lows of in January to average highs of in July. The Atlantic ocean has a strong effect on eastern and southeastern coastal areas of the state. Influenced by the Gulf Stream, coastal weather is subject to hurricanes, most pronouncedly near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay.

Virginia has an annual average of 35–45 days of thunderstorm activity, particularly in the western part of the state, and an average annual precipitation of . Cold air masses arriving over the mountains in winter can lead to significant snowfalls, such as the Blizzard of 1996 and winter storms of 2009–2010. The interaction of these elements with the state's topography creates distinct microclimates in the Shenandoah Valley, the mountainous southwest, and the coastal plains. Virginia averages seven tornadoes annually, most F2 or lower on the Fujita scale.

In recent years, the expansion of the southern suburbs of Washington, D.C. into Northern Virginia has introduced an urban heat island primarily caused by increased absorption of solar radiation in more densely populated areas. In the American Lung Association's 2011 report, 11 counties received failing grades for air quality, with Fairfax County having the worst in the state, due to automobile pollution. Haze in the mountains is caused in part by coal power plants.

Flora and fauna

Forests cover 65% of the state, primarily with deciduous, broad leaf trees. Lower altitudes are more likely to have small but dense stands of moisture-loving hemlocks and mosses in abundance, with hickory and oak in the Blue Ridge. However since the early 1990s, Gypsy moth infestations have eroded the dominance of oak forests. Other common trees and plants include chestnut, maple, tulip poplar, mountain laurel, milkweed, daisies, and many species of ferns. The largest areas of wilderness are along the Atlantic coast and in the western mountains, where the largest populations of trillium wildflowers in North America are found. The Atlantic coast regions are host to flora commonly associated with the South Atlantic pine forests and lower Southeast Coastal Plain maritime flora, the latter found primarily in southeastern Virginia.

Mammals include White-tailed deer, black bear, beaver, bobcat, coyote, raccoon, skunk, groundhog, Virginia Opossum, gray fox, and eastern cottontail rabbit. Birds include cardinals, barred owls, Carolina chickadees, Red-tailed Hawks, and Wild Turkeys. The Peregrine Falcon was reintroduced into Shenandoah National Park in the mid-1990s. Walleye, brook trout, Roanoke bass, and blue catfish are among the 210 known species of freshwater fish. Running brooks with rocky bottoms are often inhabited by a plentiful amounts of crayfish and salamanders. The Chesapeake Bay is host to many species, including blue crabs, clams, oysters, and rockfish (also known as striped bass).

Virginia has 30 National Park Service units, such as Great Falls Park and the Appalachian Trail, and one national park, the Shenandoah National Park. Shenandoah was established in 1935 and encompasses the scenic Skyline Drive. Almost 40% of the park's area (79,579 acres/322 km²) has been designated as wilderness under the National Wilderness Preservation System. Additionally, there are 34 Virginia state parks and 17 state forests, run by the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Department of Forestry. The Chesapeake Bay, while not a national park, is protected by both state and federal legislation, and the jointly run Chesapeake Bay Program which conducts restoration on the bay and its watershed. The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge extends into North Carolina. The Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge marks the beginning of the Outer Banks which also extends into North Carolina.

History

Jamestown 2007 marked Virginia's quadricentennial year, celebrating 400 years since the establishment of the Jamestown Colony. The celebrations highlighted contributions from Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans, each which had a significant part in shaping Virginia's history. Warfare, including among these groups, has also had an important role. Virginia was a focal point in conflicts from the French and Indian War, the American Revolution and the Civil War, to the Cold War and the War on Terrorism. Stories about historic figures, such as those surrounding Pocahontas and John Smith, George Washington's childhood, or the plantation elite in the slave society of the antebellum period, have also created potent myths of state history, and have served as rationales for Virginia's ideology. The legacy of slavery in the state has also continued to affect the society's racial politics.

Colony

The first people are estimated to have arrived in Virginia over 12,000 years ago. By 5,000 years ago more permanent settlements emerged, and farming began by 900 AD. By 1500, the Algonquian peoples had founded towns such as Werowocomoco in the Tidewater region, which they referred to as ''Tsenacommacah''. The other major language groups in the area were the Siouan to the west, and the Iroquoians, who included the Nottoway and Meherrin, to the north and south. After 1570, the Algonquians consolidated under Chief Powhatan in response to threats from these other groups on their trade network. Powhatan controlled more than 30 smaller tribes and over 150 settlements, who shared a common Virginia Algonquian language. In 1607, the native Tidewater population was between 13,000 to 14,000.

In 1583, Queen Elizabeth I of England granted Walter Raleigh a charter to explore and plant a colony north of Spanish Florida. In 1584, Raleigh sent an expedition to the Atlantic coast of North America. The name "Virginia" may have been suggested then by Raleigh or Elizabeth, perhaps noting her status as the "Virgin Queen", and may also be related to a native phrase, "Wingandacoa", or name, "Wingina". Initially the name applied to the entire coastal region from South Carolina to Maine, plus the island of Bermuda. The London Company was incorporated as a joint stock company by the proprietary Charter of 1606, which granted land rights to this area. The Company financed the first permanent English settlement in the "New World", Jamestown. Named for King James I, it was founded in May 1607 by Christopher Newport. In 1619, colonists took greater control with an elected legislature called the House of Burgesses. With the bankruptcy of the London Company in 1624, the settlement was taken into royal authority as a British crown colony.

Life in the colony was perilous, and many died during the "starving time" in 1609 and the Anglo-Powhatan Wars, including the Indian massacre of 1622, which fostered the colonists' negative view of all tribes. By 1624, only 3,400 of the 6,000 early settlers had survived. However, European demand for tobacco fueled the arrival of more settlers and servants. The headright system tried to solve the labor shortage by providing colonists with land for each indentured servant they transported to Virginia. African workers were first imported in 1619, and their slavery was codified after a 1654 lawsuit over the servant John Casor. Tensions between the working and ruling classes led to Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, by when current and former indentured servants made up as much as 80% of the population. Colonists appropriated land from Virginia Indians by force and treaty, including the Treaty of 1677, which made the signatory tribes tributary states. Williamsburg became the colonial capital in 1699, following the founding of The College of William & Mary in 1693.

Statehood

The British Parliament's efforts to levy new taxes following the French and Indian War (1754–1763) were deeply unpopular in the colonies. In the House of Burgesses, opposition to taxation without representation was led by Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, among others. Virginians began to coordinate their actions with other colonies in 1773, and sent delegates to the Continental Congress the following year. After the House of Burgesses was dissolved by the royal governor in 1774, Virginia's revolutionary leaders continued to govern via the Virginia Conventions. On May 15, 1776, the Convention declared Virginia's independence from the British Empire and adopted George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was then included in a new constitution. Another Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, drew upon Mason's work in drafting the national Declaration of Independence.

When the American Revolutionary War began, George Washington, who had commanded Virginia's forces in the French and Indian War, was selected to head the colonial army. During the war, the capital was moved to Richmond at the urging of Governor Thomas Jefferson, who feared that Williamsburg's location would make it vulnerable to British attack. In 1781, the combined action of Continental and French land and naval forces trapped the British army on the Virginia Peninsula, where troops under George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau defeated British General Cornwallis in the Siege of Yorktown. His surrender on October 19, 1781, led to peace negotiations in Paris and secured the independence of the colonies.

Virginians were instrumental in writing the United States Constitution. James Madison drafted the Virginia Plan in 1787 and the Bill of Rights in 1789. Virginia ratified the Constitution on June 25, 1788. The three-fifths compromise ensured that Virginia, with its large number of slaves, initially had the largest bloc in the House of Representatives. Together with the Virginia dynasty of presidents, this gave the Commonwealth national importance. In 1790, both Virginia and Maryland ceded territory to form the new District of Columbia, though the Virginian area was retroceded in 1846. Virginia is sometimes called "Mother of States" because of its role in being carved into states like Kentucky, which became the 15th state in 1792, and for the numbers of American pioneers born in Virginia.

Civil War and aftermath

In addition to agriculture, slave labor was increasingly used in mining, shipbuilding and other industries. Nat Turner's slave rebellion in 1831 and John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859 showed deep social discontent about slavery and its role in the plantation economy. By 1860, almost half a million people, roughly 31% of the total population of Virginia, were enslaved. This division contributed to the start of the American Civil War.

Virginia voted to secede from the United States on April 17, 1861, after the Battle of Fort Sumter and Abraham Lincoln's call for volunteers. On April 24, Virginia joined the Confederate States of America, which chose Richmond as its capital. After the 1863 Wheeling Convention, 48 counties in the northwest separated to form a new state of West Virginia, which chose to remain loyal to the Union. During the war, more battles were fought in Virginia than anywhere else, including Bull Run, the Seven Days Battles, Chancellorsville, and the concluding Battle of Appomattox Court House. After the capture of Richmond in 1865, the capital was briefly moved to Danville. Virginia was formally restored to the United States in 1870, due to the work of the Committee of Nine.

During the post-war Reconstruction era, Virginia adopted a constitution which provided for free public schools, and guaranteed political, civil, and voting rights. The populist Readjuster Party ran an inclusive coalition until the conservative white Democratic Party gained power after 1883. It passed segregationist Jim Crow laws and in 1902 rewrote the Constitution of Virginia to include a poll tax and other voter registration measures that effectively disfranchised most African Americans and many poor whites until passage of federal legislation in the 1960s. Though their schools were segregated and underfunded, as were services, due to a lack of political representation, African Americans were able to create their own communities.

Contemporary era

Protests started by Barbara Rose Johns in 1951 in Farmville against segregated schools led to the lawsuit ''Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County''. This case, filed by Richmond natives Spottswood Robinson and Oliver Hill, was decided in 1954 with ''Brown v. Board of Education'', which rejected the segregationist doctrine of "separate but equal". However in 1958, under the policy of "massive resistance" spearheaded by the influential segregationist Senator Harry F. Byrd and his Byrd Organization, the Commonwealth prohibited desegregated local schools from receiving funding.

The Civil Rights Movement gained many participants in the 1960s and achieved the moral force to gain national legislation for protection of suffrage and civil rights for African Americans. In 1964 the United States Supreme Court ordered Prince Edward County and others to integrate schools. In 1967, the Court also struck down the state's ban on interracial marriage. From 1969 to 1971, state legislators under Governor Mills Godwin rewrote the constitution, after goals such as the repeal of Jim Crow laws had been achieved. In 1989, Douglas Wilder became the first African American elected as governor in the United States.

New economic forces also changed the Commonwealth. In 1926, Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin, rector of Williamsburg's Bruton Parish Church, began restoration of colonial-era buildings in the historic district with financial backing of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.; their work led to the development of Colonial Williamsburg, the state's most popular tourism site. World War II and the Cold War led to massive expansion of national government programs housed in offices in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., and correlative population growth. Among the federal developments was the Pentagon, which was later targeted in the September 11 attacks, during which 189 people died.

Cities and towns

Virginia is divided into 95 counties and 39 independent cities, which both operate the same way since independent cities are considered to be county-equivalent. This method of treating cities and counties equally is unique to Virginia, with only three other independent cities in the United States outside Virginia. Virginia limits the authority of cities and counties to countermand laws expressly allowed by the Virginia General Assembly under what is known as Dillon's Rule. In addition to independent cities, there are also incorporated ''towns'' which operate under their own governments, but are part of a county. Finally there are hundreds of unincorporated communities within the counties. Virginia does not have any further political subdivisions, such as villages or townships.

Virginia has 11 Metropolitan Statistical Areas; Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and Richmond-Petersburg are the three most populous. Richmond is the capital of Virginia, and its metropolitan area has a population of over 1.2 million. , Virginia Beach is the most populous city in the Commonwealth, with Norfolk and Chesapeake second and third, respectively. Norfolk forms the urban core of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, which has a population over 1.6 million people and is the site of the world's largest naval base, Naval Station Norfolk. Suffolk, which includes a portion of the Great Dismal Swamp, is the largest city by area at .

Fairfax County is the most populous locality in Virginia, with over one million residents, although that does not include its county seat Fairfax, which is one of the independent cities. Fairfax County has a major urban business and shopping center in Tysons Corner, Virginia's largest office market. Neighboring Loudoun County, with the county seat at Leesburg, is both the fastest-growing county in Virginia and has the highest median household income ($114,204) in the country . Arlington County, the smallest self-governing county in the United States by land area, is an urban community organized as a county. The Roanoke area, with an estimated population of 300,399, is the largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in western Virginia.

Demographics

{|style="float:right;" |- | |} , Virginia had a population of 8,001,024 which is an increase of 118,434, or about 1.5%, from the prior year's estimate and an increase of 922,509, or 13%, since 2000. This includes an increase from net migration of 314,832 people into the Commonwealth. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 159,627 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 155,205 people. The center of population is located in Goochland County outside of Richmond.

English was passed as the Commonwealth's official language by statutes in 1981 and again in 1996, though the status is not mandated by the Constitution of Virginia. English is the only language spoken by , though it is spoken "very well" by an additional 570,638 (7.9%) for a total of 94.6% of the Commonwealth. Among speakers of other languages, Spanish is the most common with 424,381 (5.9%). Asian and Pacific Islander languages, including Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino.

Ethnicity

, the five largest reported ancestry groups in Virginia are: African (19.6%), German (11.7%), unspecified American (11.4%), English (11.1%), and Irish (9.8%). People of English heritage settled throughout the Commonwealth during the colonial period, and others of British and Irish heritage have since immigrated. Those who self-identify as having "American" ancestry are predominantly of English descent, but have ancestry that has been in North America for so long that they choose to identify simply as American. Of the English immigrants to Virginia in the 1600s, 75% came as indentured servants. The western mountains have many settlements that were founded by Scotch-Irish immigrants before the American Revolution. There are also sizable numbers of people of German descent in the northwestern mountains and Shenandoah Valley.

Most African American Virginians have been descendants of enslaved Africans who worked on tobacco, cotton, and hemp plantations. These men, women and children were brought from west-central Africa, primarily from Angola and the Bight of Biafra. The Igbo ethnic group of what is now southern Nigeria were the single largest African group among slaves in Virginia. Though the black population was reduced by the Great Migration, since 1965 there has been a reverse migration of blacks returning south.

More recent immigration in the late 20th century and early 21st century has fueled new communities of Hispanics, particularly Central Americans, and Asians. , 7.9% of Virginians are Hispanic, 5.5% are Asian, and 0.9% are American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. The state's Hispanic population rose by 92% from 2000 to 2010, with two-thirds of Hispanics living in Northern Virginia. Hispanics in Virginia have higher median household incomes and educational attainment than the general United States or Virginia population.

Northern Virginia has some of the largest populations nationwide of Vietnamese Americans, whose major wave of immigration followed the Vietnam War, and Korean Americans, whose migration has been more recent and was induced in part by the quality school system. The Filipino American community has about 45,000 in the Hampton Roads area, many of whom have ties to the U.S. Navy and armed forces. Virginia has extended state recognition to eight Native American tribes resident in the state, though all lack federal recognition status. Most Native American groups are located in the Tidewater region.

{|class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto 1em auto" |

! colspan="2" style="background:#ccf;"		Largest Ancestries by County	! colspan="3" style="background:#ccf;"
Non-Hispanic White		rowspan="5" style="text-align:center; width:280px;"|270px|alt=Virginia counties colored either red, blue, yellow, green, or purple based on the populations most common ancestry. The south-east is predominately purple for African American, while the west is mostly red for American. The north has yellow for German, with two small areas green for Irish. Yellow is also found in spots in the west. A strip in the middle is blue for English.U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 special tabulation. American Factfinder provides census data and maps.
Black or African American
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
Asian
American Indian and Alaska Native

|}

Religion

{|class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin-left:15px; margin-top:0;" |- ! style="background:#ccf;" colspan="3"|Religion (2008) |- |colspan="2" style="border-bottom:0;"|Christian |align=right|76% |- |rowspan="5" style="border-top:0; border-bottom:0;"| |Baptist |align=right|27% |- |Roman Catholic  |align=right|11% |- |Methodist |align=right|8% |- |Lutheran |align=right|2% |- |Other Christian |align=right|28% |- |colspan="3" style="border-top:0;"| |- |colspan=2|Buddhism |align=right|1% |- |colspan=2|Hinduism |align=right|1% |- |colspan=2|Judaism |align=right|1% |- |colspan=2|Islam |align=right|0.5% |- |colspan=2|Unaffiliated |align=right|18% |}

Virginia is predominantly Christian and Protestant; Baptists are the largest single group with 27% of the population . Baptist denominational groups in Virginia include the Baptist General Association of Virginia, with about 1,400 member churches, which supports both the Southern Baptist Convention and the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship; and the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia with more than 500 affiliated churches, which supports the Southern Baptist Convention. Roman Catholics are the second-largest religious group, and the group which grew the most in the 1990s. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington includes most of Northern Virginia's Catholic churches, while the Diocese of Richmond covers the rest.

The Virginia Conference is the regional body of the United Methodist Church and the Virginia Synod is responsible for the congregations of the Lutheran Church. Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Congregationalists, and Episcopalians each composed 1–3% of the population . The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, Southern Virginia, and Southwestern Virginia support the various Episcopal churches.

In November 2006, 15 conservative Episcopal churches voted to split from the Diocese of Virginia over the ordination of openly gay bishops and clergy in other dioceses of the Episcopal Church; these churches continue to claim affiliation with the larger Anglican Communion through other bodies outside the United States. Though Virginia law allows parishioners to determine their church's affiliation, the diocese claims the secessionist churches' properties. The resulting property law case is a test for Episcopal churches nationwide.

Among other religions, adherents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints constitute 1% of the population, with 190 congregations in Virginia . Fairfax Station is the site of the Ekoji Buddhist Temple, of the Jodo Shinshu school, and the Hindu Durga Temple. While the state's Jewish population is small, organized Jewish sites date to 1789 with Congregation Beth Ahabah. Muslims are a growing religious group throughout the Commonwealth through immigration. Megachurches in the Commonwealth include Thomas Road Baptist Church, Immanuel Bible Church, and McLean Bible Church. Several Christian universities are also based in the state, including Regent University, Liberty University, and Lynchburg College.

Economy

Virginia's economy is balanced, with diverse sources of income, including government and military, farming, and business. Virginia has 4.1 million civilian workers, and one-third of the jobs are in the service sector. The unemployment rate was 6.3% . The Gross Domestic Product of Virginia was $363 billion in 2009. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Virginia had the most counties in the top 100 wealthiest in the United States based upon median income in 2007.

Virginia has the highest concentration of technology workers of any state. Computer chips became the state's highest-grossing export in 2006, surpassing its traditional top exports of coal and tobacco combined. Northern Virginia, once considered the state's dairy capital, now hosts software, communication technology, and consulting companies, particularly in the Dulles Technology Corridor. Northern Virginia's data centers currently carry more than 50% of the nation's internet traffic, and by 2012 Dominion Power expects that 10% of all its electricity in Northern Virginia will be used by data centers. Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Northern Virginia have the highest and second highest median household income, respectively, of all counties in the United States .

Virginia companies received the fourth-highest amount of venture capital funding in the first half of 2011 after California, Massachusetts, and New York. In 2009, ''Forbes Magazine'' named Virginia the best state in the nation for business for the fourth year in a row, while CNBC named it the top state for business in 2007, 2009, and 2011. Virginia has 20 Fortune 500 companies, ranking the state eighth nationwide.

Virginia has the highest defense spending of any state per capita, providing the Commonwealth with around 900,000 jobs, and 10% of all U.S. federal procurement money is spent in Virginia. Virginia has over 800,000 veterans, more than any other state, and is second to California in total Department of Defense employees. Many Virginians work for federal agencies in Northern Virginia, which include the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense, as well as the National Science Foundation, the United States Geological Survey and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Many others work for government contractors, including defense and security firms, which hold more than 15,000 federal contracts. The Hampton Roads area has the largest concentration of military bases and facilities of any metropolitan area in the world. The largest of the bases is Naval Station Norfolk.

Agriculture occupies 24% of the land in Virginia. , about 357,000 Virginian jobs were in agriculture, with over 47,000 farms, averaging , in a total farmland area of 8.1 million acres (12,656 sq mi; 32,780 km²). Though agriculture has declined significantly since 1960 when there were twice as many farms, it remains the largest single industry in Virginia. Tomatoes surpassed soy as the most profitable crop in Virginia in 2006, with peanuts and hay as other agricultural products. Although it is no longer the primary crop, Virginia is still the fifth-largest producer of tobacco nationwide. Eastern oyster harvests are an important part of the Chesapeake Bay economy, but declining oyster populations from disease, pollution, and overfishing have diminished catches. Wineries and vineyards in the Northern Neck and along the Blue Ridge Mountains also have begun to generate income and attract tourists.

Virginia collects personal income tax in five income brackets, ranging from 3.0% to 5.75%. The state sales and use tax rate is 4%, while the tax rate on food is 1.5%. There is an additional 1% local tax, for a total of a 5% combined sales tax on most Virginia purchases and 2.5% on most food. Virginia's property tax is set and collected at the local government level and varies throughout the Commonwealth. Real estate is also taxed at the local level based on 100% of fair market value. Tangible personal property also is taxed at the local level and is based on a percentage or percentages of original cost.

Culture

Virginia's historic culture was popularized and spread across America and the South by figures such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Robert E. Lee. Their homes in Virginia represent the birthplace of America and the South. Modern Virginia culture has many sources, and is part of the culture of the Southern United States. The Smithsonian Institution divides Virginia into nine cultural regions. The Piedmont region is one of the most famous for its dialect's strong influence on Southern American English. While a more homogenized American English is found in urban areas, various accents are also used, including the Tidewater accent, the Old Virginia accent, and the anachronistic Elizabethan of Tangier Island.

Literature in Virginia often deals with the state's extensive and sometimes troubled past. The works of Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Glasgow often dealt with social inequalities and the role of women in her culture. Glasgow's peer and close friend James Branch Cabell wrote extensively about the changing position of gentry in the Reconstruction era, and challenged its moral code with ''Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice''. William Styron approached history in works such as ''The Confessions of Nat Turner'' and ''Sophie's Choice''. Tom Wolfe has occasionally dealt with his southern heritage in bestsellers like ''I Am Charlotte Simmons''. Virginia also names a state Poet Laureate, currently Kelly Cherry of Halifax County, who will serve until 2012.

Besides the general cuisine of the Southern United States, Virginia maintains its own particular traditions. Virginia wine is made in many parts of the state. Smithfield ham, sometimes called "Virginia ham", is a type of country ham which is protected by state law, and can only be produced in the town of Smithfield. Virginia furniture and architecture are typical of American colonial architecture. Thomas Jefferson and many of the state's early leaders favored the Neoclassical architecture style, leading to its use for important state buildings. The Pennsylvania Dutch and their style can also be found in parts of the state.

Fine and performing arts

Though rich in cultural heritage, Virginia ranks near the bottom of U.S. states in terms of public spending on the arts, at nearly half of the national average. The state government does fund some institutions, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Science Museum of Virginia. Other museums include the popular Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum and the Chrysler Museum of Art. Besides these sites, many open-air museums are located in the Commonwealth, such as Colonial Williamsburg, the Frontier Culture Museum, and various historic battlefields. The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities works to improve the Commonwealth's civic, cultural, and intellectual life.

Theaters and venues in the Commonwealth are found both in the cities and suburbs. Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts is located in Vienna and is the only national park intended for use as a performing arts center. The Harrison Opera House, in Norfolk, is home of the Virginia Opera. The Virginia Symphony Orchestra operates in and around Hampton Roads. Resident and touring theater troupes operate from the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton. The Barter Theatre in Abingdon won the first ever Regional Theatre Tony Award in 1948, while the Signature Theatre in Arlington won it in 2009. There's also a Children's Theater of Virginia, Theatre IV, which is the second largest touring troupe nationwide. Virginia has launched many award-winning traditional musical artists and internationally successful popular music acts, as well as Hollywood actors. Notable performance venues include The Birchmere, the Landmark Theater, and Jiffy Lube Live.

Festivals

Many counties and localities host county fairs and festivals. The Virginia State Fair is held at the Meadow Event Park every September. Also in September is the Neptune Festival in Virginia Beach, which celebrates the city, the waterfront, and regional artists. Norfolk's Harborfest, in June, features boat racing and air shows. Fairfax County also sponsors Celebrate Fairfax! with popular and traditional music performances. The Virginia Lake Festival is held during the third weekend in July in Clarksville. Wolf Trap hosts the Wolf Trap Opera Company, which produces an opera festival every summer.

On the Eastern Shore island of Chincoteague the annual Pony Swim & Auction of feral Chincoteague ponies at the end of July is a unique local tradition expanded into a week-long carnival. The Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival is a six-day festival held annually in Winchester that includes parades and bluegrass concerts. The Old Time Fiddlers' Convention in Galax, begun in 1935, is one of the oldest and largest such events worldwide. Two important film festivals, the Virginia Film Festival and the VCU French Film Festival, are held annually in Charlottesville and Richmond, respectively.

Media

The Hampton Roads area is the 43rd-largest media market in the United States as ranked by Nielsen Media Research, while the Richmond-Petersburg area is 57th and Roanoke-Lynchburg is 66th . Northern Virginia is part of the much larger Washington, D.C. media market.

There are 36 television stations in Virginia, representing each major U.S. network, part of 42 stations which serve Virginia viewers. More than 720 FCC-licensed FM radio stations broadcast in Virginia, with about 300 such AM stations. The nationally available Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is headquartered in Arlington. The Arlington PBS member station WETA-TV produces programs such as the ''PBS NewsHour'' and ''Washington Week''. A wide range of independent PBS affiliates exist throughout Virginia; there is no common state-wide PBS organization, unlike neighboring states (e.g. Maryland, North Carolina).

The most circulated native newspapers in the Commonwealth are Norfolk's ''The Virginian-Pilot'' (156,968 daily subscribers), the ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'' (118,489), ''The Roanoke Times'' (75,740), and Newport News' ''Daily Press'' (63,366), . Several Washington, D.C. papers are based in Northern Virginia, such as ''The Washington Examiner'' and ''Politico''. The paper with the nation's widest circulation, ''USA Today'', with 1.83 million daily subscriptions, is headquartered in McLean. Besides traditional forms of media, Virginia is the home base for telecommunication companies such as Voxant and XO Communications. In Northern Virginia, The Washington Post is the dominant newspaper, since Northern VA is located in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

Education

Virginia's educational system consistently ranks in the top ten states on the U.S. Department of Education's National Assessment of Educational Progress, with Virginia students outperforming the average in all subject areas and grade levels tested. The 2011 ''Quality Counts'' report ranked Virginia's K–12 education fourth best in the country. All school divisions must adhere to educational standards set forth by the Virginia Department of Education, which maintains an assessment and accreditation regime known as the Standards of Learning to ensure accountability. In 2010, 85% of high school students graduated on-time after four years. Between 2000 and 2008, school enrollment increased 5%, the number of teachers 21%.

Public K–12 schools in Virginia are generally operated by the counties and cities, and not by the state. , a total of 1,267,063 students were enrolled in 1,873 local and regional schools in the Commonwealth, including three charter schools, and an additional 109 alternative and special education centers across 132 school divisions. Besides the general public schools in Virginia, there are Governor's Schools and selective magnet schools. The Governor's Schools are a collection of more than 40 regional high schools and summer programs intended for gifted students. The Virginia Council for Private Education oversees the regulation of 320 state accredited and 130 non-accredited private schools. An additional 24,682 students receive homeschooling.

, there are 176 colleges and universities in Virginia. In the ''U.S. News and World Report'' ranking of public colleges, the University of Virginia is second and The College of William & Mary is sixth. Virginia Commonwealth University is ranked the top public graduate school in fine arts, while James Madison University has been recognized as the top regional public master's program in The South since 1993. The Virginia Military Institute is the oldest state military college and a top ranked public liberal arts college. George Mason University is the largest university in Virginia with over 32,000 students. Virginia Tech and Virginia State University are the state's land-grant universities. Virginia also operates 23 community colleges on 40 campuses serving over 260,000 students. There are 129 private institutions, including Washington and Lee University, Hampden–Sydney College, Emory & Henry College, Roanoke College, Stratford University and the University of Richmond.

Health

Virginia has a mixed health record, and is ranked as the 22nd overall healthiest state according to the 2010 United Health Foundation's Health Rankings. Virginia also ranks 21st among the states in the rate of premature deaths, 7,104 per 100,000. In 2008, Virginia reached its lowest ever rate of infant mortality, at 6.7 deaths per 1,000. There are however racial and social health disparities, with African Americans experiencing 27.9% more premature deaths than whites, while 12.7% of Virginians lack any health insurance. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2009 survey, 25.5% of Virginians are obese and another 35.1% are overweight. 78.1% of residents claim to have exercised once in the past three months. About 30% of Virginia's 10- to 17-year-olds are overweight or obese. Virginia banned smoking in bars and restaurants in January 2010. 19% of Virginians smoke tobacco.

There are 89 hospitals in Virginia listed with the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Notable examples include Inova Fairfax Hospital, the largest hospital in the Washington Metropolitan Area, and the VCU Medical Center, located on the medical campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. The University of Virginia Medical Center, part of the University of Virginia Health System, is highly ranked in endocrinology according to ''U.S.News & World Report''. Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, part of the Hampton Roads based Sentara Health System and a teaching institution of Eastern Virginia Medical School, was the site of the first successful in-vitro fertilization birth. Virginia has a ratio of 124 primary care physicians per 10,000 residents, which is the 13th highest nationally. Virginia was one of five states to receive a perfect score in disaster preparedness according to a 2008 report by the Trust for America's Health, based on criteria such as detecting pathogens and distributing vaccines and medical supplies.

Transportation

Because of the 1932 Byrd Road Act, the state government controls most of Virginia's roads, instead of a local county authority as is usual in other states. , the Virginia Department of Transportation owns and operates of the total of roads in the state, making it the third largest state highway system in the United States. Although the Washington Metropolitan Area, which includes Northern Virginia, has the second worst traffic in the nation, Virginia as a whole has the 21st-lowest congestion and the average commute time is 26.9 minutes.

Virginia has Amtrak passenger rail service along several corridors, and Virginia Railway Express (VRE) maintains two commuter lines into Washington, D.C. from Fredericksburg and Manassas. VRE is one of the nation's fastest growing commuter rail services, handling nearly 20,000 passengers a day. The Washington Metro rapid transit system serves Northern Virginia as far west as communities along I-66 in Fairfax County, with expansion plans to reach Tysons Corner by 2013, and Loudoun County by 2017. Major freight railroads in Virginia include Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation. Commuter buses include the Fairfax Connector and the Shenandoah Valley Commuter Bus. The Virginia Department of Transportation operates several free ferries throughout Virginia, the most notable being the Jamestown-Scotland ferry which crosses the James River in Surry County.

Virginia has five major airports: Washington Dulles International handling over 23 million passengers a year, Reagan Washington National, Norfolk International serving the Hampton Roads area, Richmond International, and Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport. Several other airports, for example ''Charlottesville/Albemarle Airport (CHO)'', offer limited commercial passenger service. Sixty-six public airports serve the state's aviation needs. The Virginia Port Authority's main seaports are those in Hampton Roads, which carried of bulk cargo in 2007, the sixth most of United States ports. The Eastern Shore of Virginia is the site of Wallops Flight Facility, a rocket testing center owned by NASA, and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, a commercial spaceport. Space tourism is also offered through Vienna-based Space Adventures.

Law and government

In colonial Virginia, free men elected the lower house of the legislature, called the House of Burgesses, which together with the Governor's Council, made the "General Assembly". Founded in 1619, the Virginia General Assembly is still in existence as the oldest legislature in the Western Hemisphere. The modern government is ranked by the Pew Center on the States with an A− in terms of its efficiency, effectiveness, and infrastructure. This is the second time Virginia received the highest grade in the nation, which it shares with two others.

Since 1971, the government has functioned under the seventh Constitution of Virginia, which provides for a strong legislature and a unified judicial system. Similar to the federal structure, the government is divided in three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislature is the General Assembly, a bicameral body whose 100-member House of Delegates and 40-member Senate write the laws for the Commonwealth. The Assembly is stronger than the executive, as it selects judges and justices. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor are elected every four years in separate elections. Incumbent governors cannot run for re-election, however the Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General can, and governors may serve non-consecutive terms. The judicial system, the oldest in America, consists of a hierarchy from the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Court of Appeals of Virginia to the lower general district and circuit courts.

The Code of Virginia is the statutory law, and consists of the codified legislation of the General Assembly. The Virginia State Police is the largest law enforcement agency in Virginia. The Virginia Capitol Police is the oldest police department in the United States. The Virginia National Guard consists of 7,500 soldiers in the Virginia Army National Guard and 1,200 airmen in the Virginia Air National Guard. Since the resumption of capital punishment in Virginia in 1982, 107 people have been executed, the second highest number in the nation. The "total crime risk" is 28% lower than the national average. Since Virginia ended prisoner parole in 1995, the rate of recidivism has fallen to 28.3%, among the lowest nationwide.

Politics

Over the 20th century, Virginia shifted from a largely rural, politically Southern and conservative state to a more urbanized, pluralistic, and politically moderate environment. Up until the 1970s, Virginia was a racially divided single-party state dominated by the Byrd Organization. African Americans were effectively disfranchised until after passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s. Enfranchisement and immigration of other groups, especially Hispanics, have placed growing importance on minority voting. Regional differences play a large part in Virginia politics. Rural southern and western areas moved to support the Republican Party in response to its "southern strategy", while urban and growing suburban areas, including much of Northern Virginia, form the Democratic Party base. Democratic support also persists in union-influenced parts of Southwest Virginia, college towns such as Charlottesville and Blacksburg, and the southeastern Black Belt Region.

Political party strength in Virginia has likewise been in flux. In the 2007 state elections, Democrats regained control of the State Senate, and narrowed the Republican majority in the House of Delegates to eight seats. Yet elections in 2009 resulted in the election of Republican Robert McDonnell as governor by a 17 point margin, the election of a Republican Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General, as well as Republican gains of six seats in the House of Delegates. State election seasons traditionally start with the annual Shad Planking event in Wakefield.

In federal elections since 2006, both parties have seen success. In the 2006 Senate election, Democrat Jim Webb won on a populist platform over the Republican incumbent following a very close race. The party took both U.S. Senate seats with the election of former Governor Mark Warner to replace retiring Republican John Warner. Virginia, which has 13 electoral votes, was won by Democrat Barack Obama in 2008, after being won by Republican candidates in the previous ten presidential elections. In the 2010 elections, Republicans picked up three House seats from Democrats. Of the state's 11 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans hold eight and Democrats hold three. Virginia may be considered a "swing state" in future presidential elections.

Sports

Virginia is the most populous U.S. state without a major professional sports league franchise. The reasons for this include the lack of any dominant city or market within the state and the proximity of teams in Washington, D.C. Virginia has several minor league clubs, especially in baseball and soccer, and the Virginia Destroyers of the United Football League are set to start play in 2011. Additionally, the Washington Redskins have Redskins Park, their headquarters and training facility, in Ashburn and the Washington Capitals train at Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Ballston. Virginia has many professional caliber golf courses including the Greg Norman course at Lansdowne Resort and Kingsmill Resort, home of the Michelob ULTRA Open. NASCAR currently schedules Sprint Cup races on two tracks in Virginia: Martinsville Speedway and Richmond International Raceway. Current Virginia drivers in the series include Jeff Burton, Denny Hamlin, and Elliott Sadler.

The Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles also have followings due to their proximity, and both are broadcast in the state on MASN. When the New York Mets ended their long affiliation with the Norfolk Tides in 2007, the Orioles adopted the minor league club as their top level (AAA) minor league affiliate. The San Francisco Giants' AA team, the Richmond Flying Squirrels, began play at The Diamond in 2010, replacing the AAA Richmond Braves, who relocated after 2008. Additionally, the Nationals, Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, Chicago White Sox, and Atlanta Braves also have Single-A and Rookie-level farm teams in Virginia.

Virginia does not allow state appropriated funds to be used for either operational or capital expenses for intercollegiate athletics. Despite this, both the Virginia Cavaliers and Virginia Tech Hokies have been able to field competitive teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference and maintain modern facilities. Their rivalry is followed statewide. Several other universities compete in NCAA Division I, particularly in the Colonial Athletic Association. Three historically black schools compete in the Division II Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, and two others compete in the Division I Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Several smaller schools compete in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and the USA South Athletic Conference of NCAA Division III. The NCAA currently holds its Division III championships in football, men's basketball, volleyball and softball in Salem.

State symbols

The state nickname is its oldest symbol, though it has never been made official by law. Virginia was given the title "Dominion" by King Charles II of England at the time of The Restoration, because it had remained loyal to the crown during the English Civil War, and the present moniker, "Old Dominion" is a reference to that title. The other nickname, "Mother of Presidents", is also historic, as eight Virginians have served as President of the United States, including four of the first five.

The state's motto, ''Sic Semper Tyrannis'', translates from Latin as "Thus Always to Tyrants", and is used on the state seal, which is then used on the flag. While the seal was designed in 1776, and the flag was first used in the 1830s, both were made official in 1930. The majority of the other symbols were made official in the late 20th century. The Virginia reel is among the square dances classified as the state dance. Virginia currently has no state song. In 1940, Virginia made "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" the state song, but it was retired in 1997 and reclassified as the state song emeritus. Various alternatives, including a version of "Oh Shenandoah", have met with resistance in the Virginia House of Delegates. {|border="0" style="margin:auto;" |- |valign="top"|

Mammal: Virginia Big-Eared Bat

Beverage: Milk

Boat: Chesapeake Bay deadrise

Bird: Cardinal

Dance: Square dancing

|valign="top"|

Dog: American Foxhound

Fish: Brook trout, Striped bass

Flower/Tree: Dogwood

Fossil: Chesapecten jeffersonius

Insect: Tiger swallowtail

|valign="top"|

Motto: Sic Semper Tyrannis

Nickname: The Old Dominion

Shell: Eastern oyster

Slogan: Virginia is for Lovers

Tartan: Virginia Quadricentennial

|}

See also

List of National Register of Historic Places in Virginia

U.S. state

References

Bibliography

External links

General

Encyclopedia Virginia

Government

State Government website

Virginia General Assembly

Virginia's Judicial system

Constitution of Virginia

Virginia State and County Government Websites

Tourism and recreation

Virginia Tourism Website

Virginia State Parks

Virginia Main Street Communities Travel

WikiTravel guide

Culture and history

Virginia Historical Society

Virginia's First People

WPA Guide to the Old Dominion

Library of Virginia

Maps and Demographics

USGS geographic resources of Virginia

Virginia State Climatology Office

Virginia State Fact Sheet

==Related information==

Category:Former British colonies Category:States and territories established in 1607 Category:States and territories established in 1788 Category:States of the Confederate States of America Category:States of the Southern United States Category:States of the United States

af:Virginië ang:Virginia ar:فيرجينيا an:Virchinia arc:ܒܪܓܝܢܝܐ frp:Virginia ast:Virxinia az:Virciniya bn:ভার্জিনিয়া zh-min-nan:Virginia be:Штат Вірджынія be-x-old:Вірджынія bcl:Virginia (estado) bi:Virginia bo:ཝིར་ཇི་ནི་ཡ། bs:Virginia br:Virginia bg:Вирджиния ca:Virgínia cv:Вирджини cs:Virginie cy:Virginia da:Virginia de:Virginia nv:Bijíniyah Hahoodzo et:Virginia el:Βιρτζίνια es:Virginia eo:Virginio (ŝtato) eu:Virginia fa:ویرجینیا hif:Virginia fo:Virginia fr:Virginie fy:Firginia ga:Virginia gv:Yn Virjeeney gag:Virginia gd:Virginia gl:Virxinia - Virginia hak:Vì-kit-nì-â xal:Виирҗин ko:버지니아 주 haw:Wilikinia hy:Վիրջինիա hr:Virginia io:Virginia ig:Végíníyà bpy:ভার্জিনিয়া id:Virginia ik:Virginia os:Вирджини is:Virginía (fylki) it:Virginia he:וירג'יניה jv:Virginia kn:ವರ್ಜೀನಿಯ pam:Virginia ka:ვირჯინია ks:वर्जिनिया kw:Virjynni sw:Virginia ht:Vijini ku:Virginia mrj:Виргини lad:Virginia la:Virginia lv:Virdžīnija lb:Virginia lt:Virdžinija lij:Virginn-ia li:Virginia lmo:Virginia hu:Virginia mk:Вирџинија mg:Virjinia ml:വിർജീനിയ mi:Virginia mr:व्हर्जिनिया arz:فيرجينيا ms:Virginia mn:Виржини nah:Virginia nl:Virginia (staat) nds-nl:Virginia (stoat) ja:バージニア州 frr:Virginia no:Virginia nn:Virginia oc:Virgínia uz:Virjiniya pnb:ورجینیا pms:Virginia nds:Virginia pl:Wirginia pt:Virgínia ro:Virginia rm:Virginia qu:Virginia suyu ru:Виргиния sa:वर्जिनिया sq:Virginia scn:Virginia simple:Virginia sk:Virgínia sl:Virginija szl:Wirgińijo ckb:ڤێرجینیا sr:Вирџинија sh:Virginia fi:Virginia sv:Virginia tl:Virginia (estado) ta:வர்ஜீனியா tt:Виргиния te:వర్జీనియా th:รัฐเวอร์จิเนีย tr:Virjinya uk:Вірджинія ur:ورجینیا ug:Wirginiye Shitati vi:Virginia vo:Virginia war:Virginia yi:ווירזשיניע yo:Virginia zh-yue:維珍尼亞州 diq:Virginia bat-smg:Virdžinėjė zh:弗吉尼亚州

{| style="float:right;" |

Coordinates	52°24′″N16°55′″N
Name	Joe Biden
Office	47th Vice President of the United States
Term start	January 20, 2009
Predecessor	Dick Cheney
President	Barack Obama
Order2	Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Term start2	January 4, 2007
Term end2	January 3, 2009
Predecessor2	Richard Lugar
Successor2	John Kerry
Term start3	June 6, 2001
Term end3	January 3, 2003
Predecessor3	Jesse Helms
Successor3	Richard Lugar
Term start4	January 3
Term end4	January 20, 2001
Predecessor4	Jesse Helms
Successor4	Jesse Helms
Order5	Chairman of the International Narcotics Control Caucus
Term start5	January 4, 2007
Term end5	January 3, 2009
Predecessor5	Chuck Grassley
Successor5	Dianne Feinstein
Order6	Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Term start6	January 6, 1987
Term end6	January 3, 1995
Predecessor6	Strom Thurmond
Successor6	Orrin Hatch
Jr/sr7	United States Senator
State7	Delaware
Term start7	January 3, 1973
Term end7	January 15, 2009
Predecessor7	Caleb Boggs
Successor7	Ted Kaufman
Office8	Member of the New Castle County Council
Term start8	January 4, 1971
Term end8	January 3, 1973
Birthname	Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.
Birth date	November 20, 1942
Birth place	Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States
Spouse	Neilia Hunter (1966–1972)Jill Jacobs (1977–present)
Children	Beau Biden (b.1969) Robert Biden (b.1970) Naomi Biden (1971-1972) Ashley Biden (b.1981)
Party	Democratic Party
Residence	Number One Observatory Circle (Official)Wilmington, Delaware (Private)
Alma mater	University of Delaware (B.A.)Syracuse University (J.D.)
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature	Joe Biden Signature.svg
Signature alt	Cursive signature in ink
Website	whitehouse.gov/vicepresident}}

|- | |- | |} Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. (; born November 20, 1942) is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama. A Democrat, he was a United States Senator from Delaware from January 3, 1973 until his resignation on January 15, 2009, following his election to the Vice Presidency.

Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and lived there for ten years before moving to Delaware. He became an attorney in 1969, and was elected to a county council in 1970. Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972 and became the sixth-youngest senator in U.S. history. He was re-elected to the Senate six times, was the fourth most senior senator at the time of his resignation, and is the 14th-longest serving Senator in history. Biden was a long-time member and former chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. His strong advocacy helped bring about U.S. military assistance and intervention during the Bosnian War. He opposed the Gulf War in 1991. He voted in favor of the Iraq War Resolution in 2002, but later proposed resolutions to alter U.S. strategy there. He has also served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, dealing with issues related to drug policy, crime prevention, and civil liberties, and led creation of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and Violence Against Women Act. He chaired the Judiciary Committee during the contentious U.S. Supreme Court nominations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.

Biden unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and 2008, both times dropping out early in the race. Barack Obama selected Biden to be the Democratic Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Biden is the first Roman Catholic and the first Delawarean to become Vice President of the United States. As Vice President, Biden has been heavily involved in Obama's decision-making process and held the oversight role for infrastructure spending from the Obama stimulus package aimed at counteracting the late-2000s recession. His ability to negotiate with Congressional Republicans played a key role in bringing about the bipartisan deals that resulted in the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 that resolved a taxation deadlock and the Budget Control Act of 2011 that resolved the United States debt ceiling crisis.

Early life and education

Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of Joseph Robinette Biden Sr. (1915–2002) and Catherine Eugenia "Jean" Finnegan (1917–2010). He was the first of four siblings in a Catholic family, of Irish and English descent (with roots in County Londonderry). He has two brothers, James Brian Biden and Francis W. Biden, and a sister, Valerie (Biden) Owens. His great-grandfather, Edward F. Blewitt, was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate.

Biden's father had been very well-off earlier in his life, but had suffered several business reverses by the time Biden was born, and for several years the family had to live with Biden's maternal grandparents, the Finnegans. When the Scranton area went into economic decline during the 1950s, Biden's father could not find enough work. In 1953, the Biden family moved to an apartment in Claymont, Delaware, where they lived for a few years before moving to a house in Wilmington, Delaware. Joe Biden Sr. then did better as a used car salesman, and the family's circumstances were middle class.

Biden attended the Archmere Academy in Claymont, where he was a standout halfback/wide receiver on the high school football team; he helped lead a perennially losing team to an undefeated season in his senior year. He played on the baseball team as well. During these years, he participated in an anti-segregation sit-in at a Wilmington theatre. Academically, Biden was undistinguished, but he was a natural leader among the students. He graduated in 1961.

Biden attended the University of Delaware in Newark, where he was more interested in sports and socializing than in studying, although his classmates were impressed by his cramming abilities. He played halfback with the Blue Hens freshman football team, but he dropped a junior year plan to play for the varsity team as a defensive back, enabling him to spend more time with his out-of-state girlfriend. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in history and political science in 1965, ranked 506th of 688 in his class.

He went on to receive his Juris Doctor from Syracuse University's College of Law in 1968, where by his own description he found it to be "the biggest bore in the world" and pulled many all-nighters to get by. During his first year there, he was accused of having plagiarized 5 of 15 pages of a law review article. Biden said it was inadvertent due to his not knowing the proper rules of citation, and he was permitted to retake the course after receiving a grade of F, which was subsequently dropped from his record. He was admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1969.

Biden received five student draft deferments during this period, with the first coming in late 1963 and the last in early 1968, at the peak of the Vietnam War. In April 1968, he was reclassified by the Selective Service System as not available for service due to having had asthma as a teenager. Biden was not a part of the anti-Vietnam War movement; he would later say that at the time he was preoccupied with marriage and law school, and that he "wore sports coats ... not tie-dyed".

Negative impressions of drinking alcohol in the Biden and Finnegan families and in the neighborhood led to Joe Biden becoming a teetotaler. Biden suffered from stuttering through much of his childhood and into his twenties; he overcame it via long hours spent reciting poetry in front of a mirror.

Family and early political career

On August 27, 1966, Biden, then a law student, married Neilia Hunter, who was from an affluent background in Skaneateles, New York and had attended Syracuse University. They had met in 1964 while on spring break in the Bahamas, and he had overcome her parents' initial reluctance for her to be dating a Roman Catholic. They had three children, Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III (born 1969), Robert Hunter (born 1970), and Naomi Christina (born 1971).

In 1969, Biden began practicing law in Wilmington, Delaware, first as a public defender and then with his own firm, Biden and Walsh. Corporate law, however, did not appeal to him and criminal law did not pay well. He supplemented his income by managing properties. He ran as a Democrat for the New Castle County Council on a liberal platform that included support for public housing in the suburban area. He won by a solid margin in the usually Republican district, and served from 1970 to 1972 while continuing his private law practice as well.

His entry into the 1972 U.S. Senate election in Delaware presented Biden with a unique circumstance. Longtime Delaware political figure and Republican incumbent Senator J. Caleb Boggs was considering retirement, which would likely have left U.S. Representative Pete du Pont and Wilmington Mayor Harry G. Haskell, Jr. in a divisive primary fight. To avoid that, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon helped convince Boggs to run again with full party support. No other Democrat wanted to run against Boggs. Biden's campaign had virtually no money and was given no chance of winning. It was managed by his sister Valerie Biden Owens (who would go on to manage his future campaigns as well) and staffed by other members of his family, and relied upon handed-out newsprint position papers and meeting voters face-to-face; the small size of the state and lack of a major media market made the approach feasible. Biden did receive some assistance from the AFL-CIO and Democratic pollster Patrick Caddell. Biden's campaign issues focused on withdrawal from Vietnam, the environment, civil rights, mass transit, more equitable taxation, health care, the public's dissatisfaction with politics-as-usual, and "change". During the summer Biden trailed by almost 30 percentage points, but his energy level, his attractive young family, and his ability to connect with voters' emotions gave the surging Biden an advantage over the ready-to-retire Boggs. Biden won the November 7, 1972 election in an upset by a margin of 3,162 votes.

On December 18, 1972, a few weeks after the election, Biden's wife and one-year-old daughter were killed in an automobile accident while Christmas shopping in Hockessin, Delaware. Neilia Biden's station wagon was hit by a tractor-trailer as she pulled out from an intersection; the truck driver was cleared of any wrongdoing. Biden's two sons, Beau and Hunter, were critically injured in the accident, but both eventually made full recoveries. Biden considered resigning to care for them; he was persuaded not to by Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield and others and was sworn into office from one of their bedsides. The accident left Biden filled with both anger and religious doubt: "I liked to [walk around seedy neighborhoods] at night when I thought there was a better chance of finding a fight ... I had not known I was capable of such rage ... I felt God had played a horrible trick on me."

To be at home every day for his young sons, Biden began the practice of commuting every day by Amtrak train for 1½ hours each way from his home in the Wilmington suburbs to Washington, D.C., which he continued to do throughout his Senate career. In the aftermath of the accident, he had trouble focusing on work, and appeared to just go through the motions of being a senator. In his memoirs, Biden notes that staffers were taking bets on how long he would last. A single father for five years, Biden left standing orders that he be interrupted in the Senate at any time if his sons called. In remembrance of his wife and daughter, Biden does not work on December 18, the anniversary of the accident. Biden's elder son, Beau, later became Delaware Attorney General and an Army Judge Advocate serving in Iraq; his younger son, Hunter, became a Washington attorney and lobbyist.

In 1975, Biden met Jill Tracy Jacobs, who grew up in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, and would become a teacher in Delaware. They had met on a blind date with the help of Biden's brother, although it turned out that Biden had already noticed her in a local advertisement. Biden would credit her with renewing his interest in both politics and life. On June 17, 1977, Biden and Jacobs married. They have one daughter, Ashley Blazer (born 1981), who later became a social worker. The Bidens are Roman Catholics and regularly attend Mass at St. Joseph on the Brandywine in Greenville, Delaware.

United States Senator

When Biden took office on January 3, 1973, at age 30 (the minimum age to become a U.S. Senator), he became the sixth-youngest senator in U.S. history. In 1974, freshman Senator Biden was named one of the ''200 Faces for the Future'' by ''Time'' magazine.

Biden was subsequently elected to six additional terms, in the elections of 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996, 2002, and 2008, usually getting about 60 percent of the vote. He did not face strong opposition; Governor Pierre S. du Pont, IV chose not to run against him in 1984. Biden spent 28 years as a junior senator due to the two-year seniority of his Republican colleague William V. Roth, Jr.. After Roth was defeated for re-election by Tom Carper in 2000, Biden became Delaware's senior senator. He then became the longest-serving senator in Delaware history. In May 1999, Biden set the mark for youngest senator to cast 10,000 votes.

In February 1988, after suffering from several episodes of increasingly severe neck pain, Biden was taken by long-distance ambulance to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and given lifesaving surgery to correct an intracranial berry aneurysm that had begun leaking; the situation was serious enough that a priest had administered last rites at the hospital. While recuperating, he suffered a pulmonary embolism, which represented a major complication. Another operation to repair a second aneurysm, which had caused no symptoms but was also at risk from bursting, was performed in May 1988. The hospitalization and recovery kept Biden from his duties in the U.S. Senate for seven months. Biden has had no recurrences or effects from the aneurysms since then.

Judiciary Committee

Biden was a long-time member of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, which he chaired from 1987 until 1995 and on which he served as ranking minority member from 1981 until 1987 and again from 1995 until 1997. In this capacity, he dealt with issues related to drug policy, crime prevention, and civil liberties.

While chairman, Biden presided over the two most contentious U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings in history, those for Robert Bork in 1987 and Clarence Thomas in 1991. In the Bork hearings, Biden stated his opposition to Bork soon after the nomination, reversing an approval in an interview of a hypothetical Bork nomination he had made the previous year and angering conservatives who thought he could not conduct the hearings dispassionately. At the close, Biden won praise for conducting the proceedings fairly and with good humor and courage, as his 1988 presidential campaign collapsed in the middle of the hearings. Rejecting some of the less intellectually honest arguments that other Bork opponents were making, Biden framed his discussion around the belief that the U.S. Constitution provides rights to liberty and privacy that extend beyond those explicitly enumerated in the text, and that Bork's strong originalism was ideologically incompatible with that view. Bork's nomination was rejected in the committee by a 9–5 vote, and then rejected in the full Senate by a 58–42 margin.

In the Thomas hearings, Biden's questions on constitutional issues were often long and convoluted, sometimes such that Thomas forgot the question being asked. Thomas later wrote that despite earlier private assurances from the senator, Biden's questions had been akin to a beanball. The nomination came out of the committee without a recommendation, with Biden opposed. In part due to his own bad experiences in 1987 with his presidential campaign, Biden was reluctant to let personal matters enter into the hearings. Biden initially shared with committee, but not the public, Anita Hill's sexual harassment charges, on the grounds she was not yet willing to testify. After she did, Biden did not permit other witnesses to testify further on her behalf, such as Angela Wright (who made a similar charge) and experts on harassment. Biden said he was striving to preserve Thomas's right to privacy and the decency of the hearings. The nomination was approved by a 52–48 vote in the full Senate, with Biden again opposed. During and afterwards, Biden was strongly criticized by liberal legal groups and women's groups for having mishandled the hearings and having not done enough to support Hill. Biden subsequently sought out women to serve on the Judiciary Committee and emphasized women's issues in the committee's legislative agenda.

Biden was involved in crafting many federal crime laws. In 1984, he was Democratic floor manager for the successful passage of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act; civil libertarians praised him for modifying some of the Act's provisions, and it was his most important legislative accomplishment at that point in time. He later spearheaded the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, also known as the Biden Crime Law, and the landmark Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA), which contains a broad array of measures to combat domestic violence and provides billions of dollars in federal funds to address gender-based crimes. In 2000, the Supreme Court ruled in ''United States v. Morrison'' that the section of VAWA allowing a federal civil remedy for victims of gender-motivated violence exceeded Congress's authority and therefore was unconstitutional. Congress reauthorized VAWA in 2000 and 2005. Biden has said, "I consider the Violence Against Women Act the single most significant legislation that I’ve crafted during my 35-year tenure in the Senate." In 2004 and 2005, Biden enlisted major American technology companies in diagnosing the problems of the Austin, Texas-based National Domestic Violence Hotline, and to donate equipment and expertise to it in a successful effort to improve its services.

Biden was critical of the actions of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr during the 1990s Whitewater controversy and Lewinsky scandal investigations, and said "it's going to be a cold day in hell" before another Independent Counsel is granted the same powers. Biden voted to acquit on both charges during the impeachment of President Clinton.

As chairman of the International Narcotics Control Caucus, Biden wrote the laws that created the U.S. "Drug Czar", who oversees and coordinates national drug control policy. In April 2003, he introduced the controversial Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act, also known as the RAVE Act. He continued to work to stop the spread of "date rape drugs" such as flunitrazepam, and drugs such as Ecstasy and Ketamine. In 2004, he worked to pass a bill outlawing steroids like androstenedione, the drug used by many baseball players.

Biden's legislation to promote college aid and loan programs allows families to deduct on their annual income tax returns up to $10,000 per year in higher education expenses. His "Kids 2000" legislation established a public/private partnership to provide computer centers, teachers, Internet access, and technical training to young people, particularly to low-income and at-risk youth.

Foreign Relations Committee

Biden was also a long-time member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. In 1997, he became the ranking minority member and chaired the committee in January 2001 and from June 2001 through 2003. When Democrats re-took control of the Senate following the 2006 elections, Biden again assumed the top spot on the committee in 2007. Biden was generally a liberal internationalist in foreign policy. He collaborated effectively with important Republican Senate figures such as Richard Lugar and Jesse Helms and sometimes went against elements of his own party. Biden was also co-chair of the NATO Observer Group in the Senate. A partial list covering this time showed Biden meeting with some 150 leaders from nearly 60 countries and international organizations. Biden held frequent hearings as chair of the committee, as well as holding many subcommittee hearings during the three times he chaired the Subcommittee on European Affairs.

During his first decade in the Senate, Biden focused on arms control issues. In response to the refusal of the U.S. Congress to ratify the SALT II Treaty signed in 1979 by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and President Jimmy Carter, Biden took the initiative to meet the Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, educated him about American concerns and interests, and secured several changes to address objections of the Foreign Relations Committee. When the Reagan administration wanted to interpret the 1972 SALT I Treaty loosely in order to allow the Strategic Defense Initiative to proceed, Biden argued for strict adherence to the treaty's terms. Biden clashed again with the Reagan administration in 1986 over economic sanctions against South Africa, leading to a heated exchange between the senator and Secretary of State George P. Shultz.

Biden became interested in the Yugoslav Wars after hearing about Serbian abuses during the Croatian War of Independence in 1991. Once the Bosnian War broke out, Biden was among the first to call for the "lift and strike" policy of lifting the arms embargo, training Bosnian Muslims and supporting them with NATO air strikes, and investigating war crimes. Both the George H. W. Bush administration and Clinton administration were reluctant to implement the policy, fearing Balkan entanglement. In April 2003, Biden spent a week in the Balkans and held a tense three-hour meeting with Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević. Biden related that he told Milošević, "I think you're a damn war criminal and you should be tried as one." Biden wrote an amendment in 1992 to compel the Bush administration to arm the Bosnians, but deferred in 1994 to a somewhat softer stance preferred by the Clinton administration, before signing on the following year to a stronger measure sponsored by Bob Dole and Joe Lieberman. The 1995 NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina then led to the Dayton Agreement and a successful NATO peacekeeping effort. Biden has called his role in affecting Balkans policy in the mid-1990s his "proudest moment in public life" that related to foreign policy. In 1999, during the Kosovo War, Biden supported the NATO bombing campaign against Serbia and Montenegro, and co-sponsored with his friend John McCain the McCain-Biden Kosovo Resolution, which called on President Clinton to use all necessary force, including ground troops, to confront Milosevic over Serbian actions in Kosovo. In 1998, ''Congressional Quarterly'' named Biden one of "Twelve Who Made a Difference" for playing a lead role in several foreign policy matters, including NATO enlargement and the successful passage of bills to streamline foreign affairs agencies and punish religious persecution overseas.

Biden had voted against authorization for the Gulf War in 1991, siding with 45 of the 55 Democratic senators; he said the U.S. was bearing almost all the burden in the anti-Iraq coalition. Biden was a strong supporter of the 2001 war in Afghanistan, saying "Whatever it takes, we should do it." Regarding Iraq, Biden stated in 2002 that Saddam Hussein was a threat to national security, and that there was no option but to eliminate that threat. The Bush administration rejected an effort Biden undertook with Senator Richard Lugar to pass a resolution authorizing military action only after the exhaustion of diplomatic efforts. In October 2002, Biden voted in favor of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq, justifying the Iraq War. While he soon became a critic of the war and viewed his vote as a "mistake", he did not push to require a U.S. withdrawal. He supported the appropriations to pay for the occupation, but argued repeatedly that the war should be internationalized, that more soldiers were needed, and that the Bush administration should "level with the American people" about the cost and length of the conflict.

By late 2006, Biden's stance had shifted, and he opposed the troop surge of 2007, saying General David Petraeus was "dead, flat wrong" in believing the surge could work. Biden was instead a leading advocate for dividing Iraq into a loose federation of three ethnic states. In November 2006, Biden and Leslie H. Gelb, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, released a comprehensive strategy to end sectarian violence in Iraq. Rather than continuing the present approach or withdrawing, the plan called for "a third way": federalizing Iraq and giving Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis "breathing room" in their own regions. In September 2007, a non-binding resolution passed the Senate endorsing such a scheme. However, the idea was unfamiliar, had no political constituency, and failed to gain traction. Iraq’s political leadership united in denouncing the resolution as a ''de facto'' partitioning of the country, and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad issued a statement distancing itself.

In March 2004, Biden secured the brief release of Libyan democracy activist and political prisoner Fathi Eljahmi, after meeting with leader Muammar al-Gaddafi in Tripoli. In May 2008, Biden sharply criticized President George W. Bush for his speech to Israel's Knesset in which he suggested that some Democrats were acting in the same way some Western leaders did when they appeased Hitler in the runup to World War II. Biden stated: "This is bullshit. This is malarkey. This is outrageous. Outrageous for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, sit in the Knesset ... and make this kind of ridiculous statement." Biden later apologized for using the expletive. Biden further stated, "Since when does this administration think that if you sit down, you have to eliminate the word 'no' from your vocabulary?"

Delaware matters

Biden was a familiar figure to his Delaware constituency, by virtue of his daily train commuting from there, and generally sought to attend to state needs. Biden was a strong supporter of increased Amtrak funding and rail security; he hosted barbecues and an annual Christmas dinner for the Amtrak crews, and they would sometimes hold the last train of the night a few minutes so he could catch it. (He earned the nickname "Amtrak Joe" as a result, and in 2011, Amtrak's Wilmington Station was named the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Railroad Station, in honor of the over 7,000 trips he made from there.) He was an advocate for Delaware military installations, including Dover Air Force Base and New Castle Air National Guard Base.

In 1975, Biden broke from liberal orthodoxy when he took legislative action to limit desegregation busing. In doing so, he said busing was a "bankrupt idea [that violated] the cardinal rule of common sense," and that his opposition would make it easier for other liberals to follow suit. Three years later, Wilmington's federally-mandated cross-district busing plan generated much turmoil, and in trying to legislate a compromise solution Biden found himself alienating both black and white voters for a while.

Since 1991, Biden has served as an adjunct professor at the Widener University School of Law, Delaware's only law school, where he has taught a seminar on constitutional law. The seminar has been one of Widener's most popular, often with a waiting list for enrollment. Biden has typically co-taught the course with another professor, taking on at least half the course minutes and sometimes flying back from overseas to make one of the classes.

Biden was a sponsor of bankruptcy legislation during the 2000s, which was sought by MBNA, one of Delaware's largest companies, and other credit card issuers. Biden fought for certain amendments to the bill that would indirectly protect homeowners and forbid anti-abortion felons from using bankruptcy to discharge fines; the overall bill was vetoed by Bill Clinton in 2000 but then finally passed as the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act in 2005, with Biden supporting. The downstate Sussex County region is the nation's top chicken-producing area, and Biden held up trade agreements with Russia when that country stopped importing U.S. chickens.

In 2007, Biden requested and gained $67 million worth of projects for his constituents through congressional earmarks.

Biden sits on the board of advisors of the Close Up Foundation, which brings high school students to Washington for interaction with legislators on Capitol Hill.

Characteristics as senator

With a net worth between $59,000 and $366,000, and almost no outside income or investment income, he was consistently ranked as one of the least wealthy members of the Senate. Biden stated that he was listed as the second poorest member in Congress, a distinction that he was not proud of, but attributed to being elected early in his career. Biden realized early in his senatorial career how vulnerable poorer public officials are to offers of financial contributions in exchange for policy support, and he pushed campaign finance reform measures during his first term.

During his years as a senator, Biden amassed a reputation for loquaciousness, with his questions and remarks during Senate hearings being especially known for being long-winded. He has been a strong speaker and debater and a frequent and effective guest on the Sunday morning talk shows. In public appearances, he is known to deviate from prepared remarks at will. According to political analyst Mark Halperin, he has shown "a persistent tendency to say silly, offensive, and off-putting things"; ''The New York Times'' writes that Biden's "weak filters make him capable of blurting out pretty much anything". Nor is Biden known for modesty; journalist James Traub has written that "Biden’s vanity and his regard for his own gifts seem considerable even by the rarefied standards of the U.S. Senate."

Political writer Howard Fineman has said that, "Biden is not an academic, he’s not a theoretical thinker, he’s a great street pol. He comes from a long line of working people in Scranton—auto salesmen, car dealers, people who know how to make a sale. He has that great Irish gift." Political columnist David S. Broder has viewed Biden as having grown since he came to Washington and since his failed 1988 presidential bid: "He responds to real people—that’s been consistent throughout. And his ability to understand himself and deal with other politicians has gotten much much better." Traub concludes that "Biden is the kind of fundamentally happy person who can be as generous toward others as he is to himself."

Final year

After ending his second presidential bid in January 2008, Biden focused instead on running for a seventh Senate term against Republican Christine O'Donnell. In late August 2008, he was picked by Obama to be his running mate. Biden nevertheless continued to run for Senate re-election as well as Vice President, as permitted by Delaware state law. On November 4, 2008, Biden was re-elected as senator, in addition to winning the vice presidency.

Having won both races, Biden made a point of holding off his resignation from the Senate so that he could be sworn in for his seventh term on January 6, 2009. He became the youngest senator ever to be sworn in for a seventh full term, and said, "In all my life, the greatest honor bestowed upon me has been serving the people of Delaware as their United States senator." Biden cast his last Senate vote on January 15, supporting the release of the second $350 billion for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Biden resigned from the Senate later that day; in emotional farewell remarks on the Senate floor, where he had spent most of his adult life, Biden said, "Every good thing I have seen happen here, every bold step taken in the 36-plus years I have been here, came not from the application of pressure by interest groups, but through the maturation of personal relationships."

Delaware's Democratic governor, Ruth Ann Minner, announced on November 24, 2008, that she would appoint Biden's longtime senior adviser Ted Kaufman to succeed Biden in the Senate. Kaufman said he would only serve two years, until Delaware's special senate election in 2010. Biden's son Beau ruled himself out of the 2008 selection process due to his impending tour in Iraq with the Delaware Army National Guard. He was a possible candidate for the 2010 special election, but in early 2010 said he would not run for the seat.

Political positions

A method that political scientists use for gauging ideology is to compare the annual ratings by the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) with the ratings by the American Conservative Union (ACU). Biden has a lifetime liberal 72 percent score from the ADA through 2004, while the ACU awarded Biden a lifetime conservative rating of 13 percent through 2008. Using another metric, Biden has a lifetime average liberal score of 77.5 percent, according to a ''National Journal'' analysis that places him ideologically among the center of Senate Democrats. ''The Almanac of American Politics'' rates congressional votes as liberal or conservative on the political spectrum, in three policy areas: economic, social, and foreign. For 2005–2006, Biden's average ratings were as follows: the economic rating was 80 percent liberal and 13 percent conservative, the social rating was 78 percent liberal and 18 percent conservative, and the foreign rating was 71 percent liberal and 25 percent conservative. This has not changed much over time; his liberal ratings in the mid-1980s were also in the 70–80 percent range.

Various advocacy groups have given Biden scores or grades as to how well his votes align with the positions of each group. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) gives him an 86 percent lifetime score, with a 91 percent score for the 110th Congress. Biden received a 91 percent voting record from the National Education Association (NEA) showing a pro-teacher union voting record. Biden opposes drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and supports governmental funding to find new energy sources. Biden believes action must be taken on global warming. He co-sponsored the Sense of the Senate resolution calling on the United States to be a part of the United Nations climate negotiations and the Boxer-Sanders Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act, the most stringent climate bill in the United States Senate. Biden cites high health care and energy costs as two major threats to the prosperity of American businesses, and believes that addressing these issues will improve American economic competitiveness. Biden was given a 100 percent approval rating from AFL-CIO indicating a heavily pro-union voting record. Biden is opposed to the privatization of Social Security and was given an 89 percent approval rating from the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), an organization of retired union members.

Presidential campaigns

Biden has twice run for the Democratic nomination for President, first in 1988, and again in 2008. He first considered running in 1984, after he gained notice for giving speeches to party audiences that simultaneously scolded and encouraged Democrats. He chose not to run in 1992 in part because he had voted against the resolution authorizing the Gulf War. He considered joining the Democratic field of candidates for the 2004 presidential race but in August 2003 decided otherwise, saying he did not have enough time and any attempt would be too much of a long shot. In May 2004, Biden urged Republican Senator John McCain to run as vice president with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, saying the cross-party ticket would help heal the "vicious rift" in U.S. politics. During this time, Biden was also widely discussed as a possible Secretary of State in a Democratic administration.

1988

In 1987, Biden ran as a Democratic presidential candidate, formally declaring his candidacy at the Wilmington train station on June 9, 1987. When the campaign began, Biden was considered a potentially strong candidate because of his moderate image, his speaking ability on the stump, his appeal to Baby Boomers, his high profile position as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the upcoming Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination hearings, and his fundraising appeal. He raised $1.7 million in the first quarter of 1987, more than any other candidate. Biden received considerable attention in the summer of 1986 when he excoriated Secretary of State George P. Shultz at a Senate hearing because of the Reagan administration's support of South Africa, which continued to practice the apartheid system.

By August 1987, Biden's campaign, whose messaging was confused due to staff rivalries, had begun to lag behind those of Michael Dukakis and Dick Gephardt, although he had still raised more funds than all candidates but Dukakis, and was seeing an upturn in Iowa polls. In September 1987, the campaign ran into trouble when he was accused of plagiarizing a speech that had been made by Neil Kinnock, leader of the British Labour Party. Kinnock’s speech included the lines:

"Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? [Then pointing to his wife in the audience] Why is Glenys the first woman in her family in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Was it because all our predecessors were thick?"

While Biden’s speech included the lines:

"I started thinking as I was coming over here, why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university? [Then pointing to his wife in the audience] Why is it that my wife who is sitting out there in the audience is the first in her family to ever go to college? Is it because our fathers and mothers were not bright? Is it because I'm the first Biden in a thousand generations to get a college and a graduate degree that I was smarter than the rest?"

Though Biden had cited Kinnock as the source for the formulation many times before, he made no reference to the original source at the August 23 Iowa State Fair debate in question or in another appearance. While political speeches often appropriate ideas and language from each other, Biden's use came under more scrutiny because he somewhat distorted his own family's background to match Kinnock's.

A few days later, Biden's plagiarism incident in law school came to public light. It was also revealed that when earlier questioned by a New Hampshire resident about his grades in law school, Biden had falsely stated that he had graduated in the "top half" of his class, that he had attended law school on a full scholarship, and that he had received three degrees in college. He had in fact earned a single B.A. with a double major in history and political science, had received a half scholarship to law school based on financial need with some additional assistance based in part upon academics, and had graduated 76th of 85 in his law school class.

The Kinnock and school revelations were magnified by the limited amount of other news about the nomination race at the time, when most of the public were not yet paying attention to any of the campaigns; Biden thus fell into what ''The Washington Post'' writer Paul Taylor described as that year's trend, a "trial by media ordeal". Biden lacked a strong demographic or political group of support to help him survive the crisis. He withdrew from the nomination race on September 23, 1987, saying his candidacy had been overrun by "the exaggerated shadow" of his past mistakes. After Biden withdrew from the race, it was revealed that the Dukakis campaign had secretly made a video highlighting the Biden–Kinnock comparison and distributed it to news outlets. Also later in 1987, the Delaware Supreme Court's Board of Professional Responsibility cleared Biden of the law school plagiarism charges regarding his standing as a lawyer, saying Biden had "not violated any rules".

2008

Biden declared his candidacy for president on January 31, 2007, although he had discussed running for months prior, and first made a formal announcement to Tim Russert on ''Meet the Press'' on January 7, stating he would "be the best Biden I can be." In January 2006, Delaware newspaper columnist Harry F. Themal wrote that Biden "occupies the sensible center of the Democratic Party." Themal concludes that this is the position Biden desires, and that in a campaign "he plans to stress the dangers to the security of the average American, not just from the terrorist threat, but from the lack of health assistance, crime, and energy dependence on unstable parts of the world."

During his campaign, Biden focused on the war in Iraq and his support for the implementation of the Biden-Gelb plan to achieve political success. He touted his record in the Senate as the head of major congressional committees and his experience on foreign policy. Despite speculation to the contrary, Biden rejected the notion of accepting the position of Secretary of State, focusing only on the presidency. At a 2007 campaign event, Biden said, "I know a lot of my opponents out there say I'd be a great Secretary of State. Seriously, every one of them. Do you watch any of the debates? 'Joe's right, Joe's right, Joe's right.'" Other candidates' comments that "Joe is right" in the Democratic debates were converted into a Biden campaign theme and ad. In mid-2007, Biden stressed his foreign policy expertise compared to Obama's, saying of the latter, "I think he can be ready, but right now I don't believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training." Biden also said that Obama was copying some of his foreign policy ideas. Biden was noted for his one-liners on the campaign trail, saying of Republican then-frontrunner Rudy Giuliani at the October 30, 2007, debate in Philadelphia, "There's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, and a verb and 9/11." Overall, Biden's debate performances were an effective mixture of humor and sharp and surprisingly disciplined comments.

Biden made remarks during the campaign that attracted controversy. On the day of his January 2007 announcement, he spoke of fellow Democratic candidate and Senator Barack Obama: "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy, I mean, that's a storybook, man." This comment undermined his campaign as soon as it began and significantly damaged his fund-raising capabilities; it later took second place on ''Time'' magazine's list of Top 10 Campaign Gaffes for 2007. Biden had earlier been criticized in July 2006 for a remark he made about his support among Indian Americans: "I've had a great relationship. In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking." Biden later said the remark was not intended to be derogatory.

Overall, Biden had difficulty raising funds, struggled to draw people to his rallies, and failed to gain traction against the high-profile candidacies of Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton; he never rose above single digits in the national polls of the Democratic candidates. In the initial contest on January 3, 2008, Biden placed fifth in the Iowa caucuses, garnering slightly less than one percent of the state delegates. Biden withdrew from the race that evening, saying "There is nothing sad about tonight.... I feel no regret."

Despite the lack of success, Biden's stature in the political world rose as the result of his campaign. In particular, it changed the relationship between Biden and Obama. Although the two had served together on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, they had not been close, with Biden having resented Obama's quick rise to political stardom and Obama having viewed Biden as garrulous and patronizing. Now, having gotten to know each other during 2007, Obama appreciated Biden's campaigning style and appeal to working class voters, and Biden was convinced that Obama was "the real deal".

2008 vice-presidential candidacy

Since shortly following Biden's withdrawal from the presidential race, Obama had been privately telling Biden that he was interested in finding an important place for him in a possible Obama administration. Biden declined Obama's first request to vet him for the vice presidential slot, fearing the vice presidency would represent a loss in status and voice from his senate position, but subsequently changed his mind. In a June 22, 2008, interview on NBC's ''Meet the Press'', Biden confirmed that, although he was not actively seeking a spot on the ticket, he would accept the vice presidential nomination if offered. In early August, Obama and Biden met in secret to discuss a possible vice-presidential relationship, and the two hit it off well personally. On August 22, 2008, Barack Obama announced that Biden would be his running mate. ''The New York Times'' reported that the strategy behind the choice reflected a desire to fill out the ticket with someone who has foreign policy and national security experience—and not to help the ticket win a swing state or to emphasize Obama's "change" message. Other observers pointed out Biden's appeal to middle class and blue-collar voters, as well as his willingness to aggressively challenge Republican nominee John McCain in a way that Obama seemed uncomfortable doing at times. In accepting Obama's offer, Biden ruled out to him the possibility of running for president again in 2016 (although comments by Biden a year later seemed to back off that stance).

After his selection as a vice presidential candidate, Biden was criticized by his own Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington Bishop Michael Saltarelli over his stance on abortion, which goes against the church's pro-life beliefs and teachings. The diocese confirmed that even if elected vice president, Biden would not be allowed to speak at Catholic schools. Biden was soon barred from receiving Holy Communion by the bishop of his original hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, because of his support for abortion rights; however, Biden did continue to receive Communion at his local Delaware parish. Scranton became a flash point in the competition for swing state Catholic voters between the Democratic campaign and liberal Catholic groups, who stressed that other social issues should be considered as much or more than abortion, and many bishops and conservative Catholics, who maintained abortion was paramount. Biden said he believed that life began at conception but that he would not impose his personal religious views on others. Bishop Saltarelli had previously stated regarding stances similar to Biden's: "No one today would accept this statement from any public servant: ‘I am personally opposed to human slavery and racism but will not impose my personal conviction in the legislative arena.’ Likewise, none of us should accept this statement from any public servant: ‘I am personally opposed to abortion but will not impose my personal conviction in the legislative arena.'"

Biden's vice presidential campaigning gained little media visibility, as far greater press attention was focused on the Republican running mate, Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin. During one week in September 2008, for instance, the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism found that Biden was only included in five percent of the news coverage of the race, far less than for the other three candidates on the tickets. Biden nevertheless focused on campaigning in economically challenged areas of swing states and trying to win over blue-collar Democrats, especially those who had supported Hillary Rodham Clinton. Biden attacked McCain heavily, despite a long-standing personal friendship; he would say, "That guy I used to know, he’s gone. It literally saddens me." As the financial crisis of 2007–2010 reached a peak with the liquidity crisis of September 2008 and the proposed bailout of United States financial system became a major factor in the campaign, Biden voted in favor of the $700 billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which passed the Senate 74–25.

On October 2, 2008, Biden participated in the campaign's one vice presidential debate with Palin. Polling from CNN, Fox and CBS found that while Palin exceeded many voters' expectations, Biden had won the debate overall. On October 5, Biden suspended campaign events for a few days after the death of his mother-in-law. During the final days of the campaign, Biden focused on less-populated, older, less well-off areas of battleground states, especially in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, where polling indicated he was popular and where Obama had not campaigned or performed well in the Democratic primaries. He also campaigned in some normally Republican states, as well as in areas with large Catholic populations. Under instructions from the Obama campaign, Biden kept his speeches succinct and tried to avoid off-hand remarks, such as one about Obama being tested by a foreign power soon after taking office, which had attracted negative attention. Privately, Obama was frustrated by Biden's remarks, saying "How many times is Biden gonna say something stupid?" Relations between the two campaigns became strained for a month, until Biden apologized on a call to Obama and the two built a stronger partnership. Publicly, Obama strategist David Axelrod said that any unexpected comments had been outweighed by Biden's high popularity ratings. Nationally, Biden had a 60 percent favorability rating in a Pew Research Center poll, compared to Palin's 44 percent.

On November 4, 2008, Obama was elected President and Biden Vice President of the United States. The Obama-Biden ticket won 365 Electoral College votes to McCain-Palin's 173, and had a 53–46 percent edge in the nationwide popular vote.

Vice Presidency

Biden became the 47th Vice President of the United States on January 20, 2009, when he was inaugurated alongside President Barack Obama. He succeeded Dick Cheney. Biden is the first United States Vice President from Delaware and the first Roman Catholic to attain that office. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens administered the oath of office to Biden.

As Biden headed to Delaware's Return Day tradition following the November 2008 election, and the transition process to an Obama administration began, Biden said he was in daily meetings with Obama and that McCain was still his friend. The U.S. Secret Service codename given to Biden is "Celtic", referencing his Irish roots.

Biden chose veteran Democratic lawyer and aide Ron Klain to be his vice-presidential chief of staff, and ''Time'' Washington bureau chief Jay Carney to be his director of communications. Biden intended to eliminate some of the explicit roles assumed by the vice presidency of Cheney, who had established himself as an autonomous power center. Otherwise, Biden said he would not model his vice presidency on any of the ones before him, but instead would seek to provide advice and counsel on every critical decision Obama would make. Biden said he had been closely involved in all the cabinet appointments that were made during the transition. Biden was also named to head the new White House Task Force on Working Families, an initiative aimed at improving the economic well being of the middle class. As his last act as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Biden went on a trip to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan during the second week of January 2009, meeting with the leadership of those countries.

In the early months of the Obama administration, Biden assumed the role of an important behind-the-scenes counselor. One role was to adjudicate disputes between Obama's "team of rivals". The president compared Biden's efforts to a basketball player "who does a bunch of things that don’t show up in the stat sheet." Biden played a key role in gaining Senate support for several major pieces of Obama legislation, and was a main factor in convincing Senator Arlen Specter to switch from the Republican to Democratic party. Biden lost an internal debate to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton regarding his opposition to sending 21,000 new troops to the war in Afghanistan. His skeptical voice was still considered valuable within the administration, however, and later in 2009 Biden's views achieved more prominence within the White House as Obama reconsidered his Afghanistan strategy. Biden made visits to Iraq about once every two months, including trips to Baghdad in August and September 2009 to listen to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and reiterate U.S. stances on Iraq's future; by this time he had become the administration's point man in delivering messages to Iraqi leadership about expected progress in the country. Biden's January 2010 visit to Iraq in the midst of turmoil over banned candidates from the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary election resulted in 59 of the several hundred candidates being reinstated by the Iraqi government two days later. Biden was in charge of the oversight role for infrastructure spending from the Obama stimulus package intended to help counteract the ongoing recession, and stressed that only worthy projects should get funding. During this period, Biden was satisfied that no major instances of waste or corruption had occurred (and when he gave up the role in February 2011, he said that the number of fraud incidents with stimulus monies had been less than one percent).

In late April 2009, Biden's off-message response to a question during the beginning of the swine flu outbreak, that he would advise family members against travelling on airplanes or subways, led to a swift retraction from the White House. The remark revived Biden's reputation for gaffes, and led to a spate of late-night television jokes themed on him being a loose-talking buffoon. In the face of persistently rising unemployment through July 2009, Biden acknowledged that the administration had "misread how bad the economy was" but maintained confidence that the stimulus package would create many more jobs once the pace of expenditures picked up. The same month, Secretary of State Clinton quickly disavowed Biden's remarks disparaging Russia as a power, but despite any missteps, Biden still retained Obama's confidence and was increasingly influential within the administration. On March 23, 2010, a microphone picked up Biden telling the president that his signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was "a big fucking deal" during live national news telecasts. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs replied via Twitter "And yes Mr. Vice President, you're right..." Senior Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett said that Biden's loose talk "[is] part of what makes the vice president so endearing ... We wouldn't change him one bit." Former Senate colleague Lindsey Graham said, "If there were no gaffes, there'd be no Joe. He's someone you can't help but like."

Biden's most important role within the administration has been to question assumptions and playing a contrarian role. Obama said that, "The best thing about Joe is that when we get everybody together, he really forces people to think and defend their positions, to look at things from every angle, and that is very valuable for me." Another senior Obama advisor said Biden "is always prepared to be the skunk at the family picnic to make sure we are as intellectually honest as possible." On June 11, 2010, Biden represented the United States at the opening ceremony of the World Cup, attended the England v. U.S. game which was tied 1-1, and visited Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa. Throughout, Joe and Jill Biden maintained a relaxed atmosphere at their official residence in Washington, often entertaining some of their grandchildren, and regularly returned to their home in Delaware.

Biden campaigned heavily for Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections, maintaining an attitude of optimism in the face of general predictions of large-scale losses for the party. In October 2010, Biden stated that Obama had asked him to remain as his running mate for the 2012 presidential election. Following large-scale Republican gains in the elections and the departure of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Biden's past relationships with Republicans in Congress became more important. He led the successful administration effort to gain Senate approval for the New START treaty. In December 2010, Biden's advocacy within the White House for a middle ground, followed by his direct negotiations with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, were instrumental in producing the administration's compromise tax package that revolved around a temporary extension of the Bush tax cuts. Biden then took the lead in trying to sell the agreement to a reluctant Democratic caucus in Congress, which was passed as the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010.

In March 2011, Obama detailed Biden to lead negotiations between both houses of Congress and the White House in resolving federal spending levels for the rest of the year and avoid a government shutdown. By May 2011, a "Biden panel" with six congressional members was trying to reach a bipartisan deal on raising the U.S. debt ceiling as part of an overall deficit reduction plan. The U.S. debt ceiling crisis developed over the next couple of months, but it was again Biden's relationship with McConnell that proved to be a key factor in breaking a deadlock and finally bringing about a bipartisan deal to resolve it, in the form of the Budget Control Act of 2011, signed on August 2, 2011, the same day that an unprecedented U.S. default had loomed. Biden had spent the most time bargaining with Congress on the debt question of anyone in the administration, and one Republican staffer said, "Biden’s the only guy with real negotiating authority, and [McConnell] knows that his word is good. He was a key to the deal."

Awards and honors

Biden has received honorary degrees from the University of Scranton (1976), Saint Joseph's University (1981), Widener University School of Law (2000), Emerson College (2003), his alma mater the University of Delaware (2004), Suffolk University Law School (2005), and his other alma mater Syracuse University (2009).

Biden received the Chancellor Medal from his alma mater, Syracuse University, in 1980. In 2005, he received the George Arents Pioneer Medal—Syracuse's highest alumni award—"for excellence in public affairs."

In 2008, Biden received the Best of Congress Award, for "improving the American quality of life through family-friendly work policies," from ''Working Mother'' magazine. Also in 2008, Biden shared with fellow Senator Richard Lugar the Hilal-i-Pakistan award from the Government of Pakistan, "in recognition of their consistent support for Pakistan." In 2009, Biden received The Golden Medal of Freedom award from Kosovo, that region's highest award, for his vocal support for their independence in the late 1990s.

Biden is an inductee of the Delaware Volunteer Firemen's Association Hall of Fame. He was named to the Little League Hall of Excellence in 2009.

Almanac

U.S. Senators are popularly elected and take office January 3 for a six year term (except when appointed to fill existing vacancies).

{|class="wikitable" style="width:100%; text-align: center;" |- ! colspan="7" | Public offices |- ! Office ! Type ! Location ! Began office ! Ended office ! notes |- |County Council |Legislature |Wilmington |January 4, 1971 |January 3, 1973 |New Castle County |- |U.S. Senator |Legislature |Washington, D.C. |January 3, 1973 |January 3, 1979 | |- |U.S. Senator |Legislature |Washington, D.C. |January 3, 1979 |January 3, 1985 | |- |U.S. Senator |Legislature |Washington, D.C. |January 3, 1985 |January 3, 1991 | |- |U.S. Senator |Legislature |Washington, D.C. |January 3, 1991 |January 3, 1997 | |- |U.S. Senator |Legislature |Washington, D.C. |January 3, 1997 |January 3, 2003 | |- |U.S. Senator |Legislature |Washington, D.C. |January 3, 2003 |January 3, 2009 | |- |U.S. Senator |Legislature |Washington, D.C. |January 6, 2009 |January 15, 2009 |resigned to be sworn in as Vice President |- |Vice President |Executive |Washington, D.C. |January 20, 2009 | — || — |}

{|class="wikitable" style="width:100%; text-align: center;" |- ! colspan="7" style="background:#ccf;"| United States Congressional service |- ! Dates ! Congress ! Majority ! President ! Committees ! Class/District |- |1973–1975 |93rd |Democratic |Richard M. NixonGerald R. Ford |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |1975–1977 |94th |Democratic |Gerald R. Ford |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |1977–1979 |95th |Democratic |Jimmy Carter |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |1979–1981 |96th |Democratic |Jimmy Carter |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |1981–1983 |97th |Republican |Ronald W. Reagan |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |1983–1985 |98th |Republican |Ronald W. Reagan |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |1985–1987 |99th |Republican |Ronald W. Reagan |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |1987–1989 |100th |Democratic |Ronald W. Reagan |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |1989–1991 |101st |Democratic |George H. W. Bush |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |1991–1993 |102nd |Democratic |George H. W. Bush |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |1993–1995 |103rd |Democratic |William J. Clinton |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |1995–1997 |104th |Republican |William J. Clinton |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |1997–1999 |105th |Republican |William J. Clinton |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |1999–2001 |106th |Republican |William J. Clinton |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |2001–2003 |107th |RepublicanDemocratic |George W. Bush |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |2003–2005 |108th |Republican |George W. Bush |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |2005–2007 |109th |Republican |George W. Bush |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |2007–2009 |110th |Democratic |George W. Bush |Judiciary, Foreign Relations |''class 2'' |- |2009 |111th |Democratic |George W. Bush | |''class 2'' |} Even though at the time he was the Vice President-elect, Biden was sworn in for his seventh term in office as the senior senator from Delaware on January 6, 2009. Fourteen days later he was sworn in as Vice President of the United States. Although the 111th Congress' President is Barack Obama, Biden did not serve as a Senator under Obama due to him serving as Vice President instead.

{|class="wikitable" style="width:100%; text-align: center;" |- ! colspan="12" | Election results |- !Year !Office !Election !Votes for Biden !% !Opponent !Party !Votes !% |- |1970 |County Councilman |General | |10,573 | |55% | |Lawrence T. Messick | |Republican | |8,192 | |43% |-|- |1972 |U.S. Senator |General | |116,006 | |50% | |J. Caleb Boggs | |Republican | |112,844 | |49% |- |1978 |U.S. Senator |General | |93,930 | |58% | |James H. Baxter, Jr. | |Republican | |66,479 | |41% |- |1984 |U.S. Senator |General | |147,831 | |60% | |John M. Burris | |Republican | |98,101 | |40% |- |1990 |U.S. Senator |General | |112,918 | |63% | |M. Jane Brady | |Republican | |64,554 | |36% |- |1996 |U.S. Senator |General | |165,465 | |60% | |Raymond J. Clatworthy | |Republican | |105,088 | |38% |- |2002 |U.S. Senator |General | |135,253 | |58% | |Raymond J. Clatworthy | |Republican | |94,793 | |41% |- |2008 |U.S. Senator |General | |257,484 | |65% | |Christine O'Donnell | |Republican | |140,584 | |35% |- |2008 |Vice President |General | |69,456,897 | |53% | |Sarah Palin | |Republican | |59,934,786 | |46% |}

Writings by Biden

Also paperback edition, Random House 2008, ISBN 978-0-8129-7621-2.

See also

USA Congressional staff edits to Wikipedia

References

Books referenced

External links

White House biography

Vice Presidential campaign website, via barackobama.com

Senate campaign website (archived)

In the Words of Joe Biden - slideshow by ''Life magazine''

Category:1942 births Category:American legal scholars Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American Roman Catholics Category:Delaware Democrats Category:Delaware Fighting Blue Hens football players Category:Delaware lawyers Category:Democratic Party United States Senators Category:Democratic Party Vice Presidents of the United States Category:Living people Category:People from New Castle County, Delaware Category:People from Scranton, Pennsylvania Category:Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class Category:Recipients of the Order of the Three Stars, 2nd Class Category:Syracuse University College of Law alumni Category:United States presidential candidates, 1988 Category:United States presidential candidates, 2008 Category:United States Senators from Delaware Category:United States vice-presidential candidates, 2008 Category:University of Delaware alumni Category:Vice Presidents of the United States Category:Widener University faculty

ar:جو بايدن az:Co Bayden bn:জো বাইডেন be:Джозеф Рабінет Байдэн bcl:Joe Biden br:Joe Biden bg:Джо Байдън ca:Joe Biden cs:Joe Biden cy:Joe Biden da:Joe Biden de:Joe Biden dsb:Joseph Biden et:Joe Biden el:Τζο Μπάιντεν es:Joe Biden eo:Joe Biden eu:Joe Biden fa:جو بایدن fo:Joe Biden fr:Joe Biden fy:Joe Biden ga:Joe Biden gl:Joe Biden ko:조 바이든 hy:Ջոզեֆ Բայդեն hsb:Joseph Biden hr:Joe Biden id:Joe Biden is:Joe Biden it:Joe Biden he:ג'ו ביידן jv:Joe Biden ka:ჯო ბაიდენი la:Iosephus Biden lv:Džo Baidens lt:Joe Biden hu:Joe Biden mr:जोसेफ बायडेन arz:چو بايدن ms:Joe Biden nl:Joe Biden ja:ジョー・バイデン no:Joe Biden nn:Joe Biden uz:Joe Biden nds:Joe Biden pl:Joe Biden pt:Joe Biden ksh:Joe Biden ro:Joe Biden ru:Байден, Джо sq:Joe Biden simple:Joe Biden sk:Joseph Biden so:Jow Bayden sr:Џо Бајден sh:Joe Biden fi:Joe Biden sv:Joe Biden tl:Joe Biden ta:ஜோ பைடன் tt:Джозеф Байден th:โจ ไบเดิน tg:Ҷозеф Байден tr:Joe Biden uk:Джо Байден vi:Joe Biden war:Joe Biden wuu:Joe Biden yi:דזשאו ביידען yo:Joe Biden zh:乔·拜登