Dave Brat facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dave Brat
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 7th district
In office November 12, 2014 – January 3, 2019
Preceded by	Eric Cantor
Succeeded by	Abigail Spanberger
Personal details
Born	David Alan Brat (1964-07-27) July 27, 1964 (age 60) Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Laura Sonderman ​ (m. 1996)​
Children	2
Education	Hope College (BA) Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv) American University (PhD)

David Alan Brat (born July 27, 1964) is an American professor and former politician. He was a member of the Republican Party. Brat served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 7th congressional district from 2014 to 2019. A U.S. representative is someone elected to speak for their local area in the U.S. Congress.

Brat became well-known across the country when he won against Eric Cantor in 2014. Cantor was the U.S. House Majority Leader, a very powerful position in Congress. Brat's win was a big surprise because no sitting House Majority Leader had lost a primary election since 1899. He had support from the Tea Party movement, a group of conservative activists.

After winning the primary, Brat also won the main election in 2014 and was re-elected in 2016. While in Congress, he was known as a conservative Republican and was part of the Freedom Caucus, a group of very conservative lawmakers. He lost his re-election bid in 2018 to Democrat Abigail Spanberger. In 2019, Brat became the dean of the School of Business at Liberty University.

Early Life and Education

David Alan Brat was born in Detroit, Michigan, on July 27, 1964. His father, Paul, was a doctor who specialized in internal medicine, which means he treated adult illnesses. His mother, Nancy, worked as a social worker in Alma, Michigan, where Brat grew up.

His family moved to Minnesota when he was in junior high. Brat graduated from Park Center Senior High School in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. He went on to earn a bachelor's degree in business from Hope College in 1986. He also earned a master's degree in divinity (a religious studies degree) from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1990. Later, he received a Ph.D. in economics from American University in 1995.

Academic Career and Ideas

After college, Brat worked for a company called Arthur Andersen and as a helper for the World Bank. The World Bank is an international organization that helps countries with their economic development. In 1996, Brat became an economics professor at Randolph–Macon College. For six years, he led the college's department of ethics and business. He taught classes on topics like international economics and business ethics.

From 2010 to 2012, Brat led a program at Randolph-Macon focused on the moral foundations of capitalism. This program explored how business and money systems connect with ethics and values. In 2006, the governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine, asked Brat to join a group of economic advisors. He also served on other boards, including one for the Richmond Metropolitan Authority.

In January 2019, after leaving Congress, Brat became the dean of the School of Business at Liberty University. In May 2023, he took on a new role as Vice Provost for Engagement and Public Relations at the university.

Scholarship and Economic Ideas

Brat believes that culture and values play a big role in how economies work. He has suggested that the ideas of Adam Smith, a famous economist, are connected to Christian moral thinking. Smith's idea of the "invisible hand" in markets, where individual actions can lead to good for everyone, is something Brat connects to faith.

Brat has written that things like religion and democracy can help a country's economy grow over a long time. He believes that countries with a history of Protestantism (a branch of Christianity) often have economic advantages. He thinks this is because Protestantism can encourage good business practices and economic growth. Brat also believes that if people follow Christian teachings and act morally, markets will improve.

Early Political Steps

From 2005 to 2011, Brat worked as a special assistant for Virginia state senator Walter Stosch. He helped with issues related to higher education. In 2006, he was appointed by the Democratic governor, Tim Kaine, to a group that advised on the economy.

2011 Virginia House of Delegates Campaign

In 2011, Brat announced he wanted to run for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, which is part of Virginia's state legislature. However, Republican leaders chose another person, Peter Farrell, to be their candidate for that election.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2014 Election

In 2014, Dave Brat decided to challenge Eric Cantor, who was the House Majority Leader, in the Republican primary election. This was a very unusual move because it's rare for a powerful leader like Cantor to be challenged.

Brat's campaign was very different from Cantor's. Cantor spent over $5 million, while Brat only raised about $200,000 and didn't even use all of it. This means Cantor spent 40 times more money than Brat! Brat's campaign didn't get any money from big political action committees (PACs), which are groups that raise money for political campaigns.

On June 10, 2014, Brat won against Cantor with 55.5% of the votes. This was a huge surprise and made national news. It was the first time a sitting House Majority Leader had lost a primary election since 1899. Many people saw Brat's win as a sign of a big disagreement within the Republican Party between its more traditional members and the newer Tea Party movement activists.

Brat received support from local Tea Party groups in Virginia. He ran his campaign by criticizing Cantor's views on immigration and government spending. He often talked about God and the United States Constitution in his speeches. Cantor, on the other hand, tried to say Brat was too liberal. Brat argued that Cantor cared more about big businesses than small ones.

Even though the national news was shocked by Brat's win, local news in Virginia had seen signs that Cantor was in trouble. They reported that many people in Cantor's area felt he didn't pay enough attention to them.

General Election

After winning the primary, Brat ran against Jack Trammell, a Democrat, and James Carr, a Libertarian, in the November 2014 general election. Brat was expected to win because his district usually voted Republican.

Cantor resigned from Congress early to help Brat. This meant that the winner of the November election would start their term a couple of months earlier than other new members of Congress. Brat won the special election on November 4, getting 60.83% of the votes.

2016 Election

Before the 2016 election, the boundaries of Brat's district changed. It no longer included parts of Richmond. Brat won re-election against Democrat Eileen Bedell with 57.7% of the votes on November 8, 2016.

2018 Election

Brat ran for a third term in 2018 against Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer. At first, experts thought Brat would easily win, but as the election got closer, it became a very close race.

During a debate in October 2018, Brat often called Spanberger a follower of Nancy Pelosi, a leader of the Democratic Party. Spanberger famously replied, "Abigail Spanberger is my name," which got a lot of attention.

Brat lost to Spanberger, with 48.4% of the votes compared to her 50.4%. This was partly because Spanberger won by a lot in Henrico and Chesterfield counties, which were usually Republican areas.

Brat with Donald Trump and supporters in 2015

Time in Congress

Brat was sworn into Congress on November 12, 2014. He was a member of the Freedom Caucus, a group of very conservative Republican members of the House.

On January 6, 2015, Brat was one of 25 Republicans who voted against John Boehner becoming the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives again. The Speaker is the leader of the House. Brat changed his mind about supporting Boehner because he felt the House leadership didn't let him propose an important change to a spending bill.

In February 2017, Brat faced a lively crowd at a town hall meeting in Blackstone, Virginia. Some people questioned him about the border wall, health care, and President Trump's policies. Brat was criticized for not meeting with his constituents more often, and he claimed there were paid protesters among them. He also made a comment about women being "in my grill" about health care, which caused some controversy.

In November 2017, it was reported that one of Brat's campaign staff members was using her personal Facebook page to argue with people who posted negative comments about him. She didn't say she worked for his campaign. Brat said her job was to explain his policies, not to argue. In March 2018, his campaign's Twitter account "liked" some controversial tweets. Brat's office said a staffer accidentally liked them while logged into the wrong account and that they would put rules in place to prevent it from happening again.

Committee Assignments

While in Congress, Dave Brat served on several important committees:

• Committee on the Budget: This committee helps create the government's spending plan.
• Committee on Education and the Workforce: This committee deals with laws about schools, colleges, and jobs.
  • Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education
  • Subcommittee on Workforce Protections
• Committee on Small Business: This committee focuses on issues affecting small businesses.
  • Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy and Trade
  • Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access (He was the leader of this subcommittee.)

Political Views

Economy

Brat promised not to vote to raise the United States debt ceiling for his first five years in Congress. The debt ceiling is the total amount of money the U.S. government can borrow. He also wanted to end many tax credits and deductions, aiming for a simpler tax system. He said he was "not against business" but "against big business in bed with big government."

Brat supported President Trump's trade policies. He believed that re-negotiating trade deals like NAFTA would help Americans. He thought that even though tariffs (taxes on imported goods) on China might cause problems at first, they would eventually lead to lower tariffs overall.

Education

Brat was against federal government policies that tried to control education, like the Common Core curriculum. However, he had supported the No Child Left Behind Act in his earlier writings.

Ethics Reform

One reason Brat ran for Congress in 2014 was because he felt Eric Cantor had weakened rules about ethics in Congress. He pointed to changes made to the STOCK Act, a law meant to stop members of Congress from using secret information for their own financial gain.

Healthcare

Brat was against the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. In 2017, he voted to repeal Obamacare and pass the American Health Care Act. He said this new bill would protect people with existing health conditions and lower prices. However, some analyses showed that the bill might allow insurers to charge more for people with pre-existing conditions and could increase average health care costs for older Americans.

During his 2018 re-election campaign, Brat wrongly claimed that a fact-checking group had given his opponent, Abigail Spanberger, a bad rating for her statements about his healthcare views.

Foreign Policy and Security

Brat wanted the National Security Agency (NSA) to stop collecting large amounts of phone records from Americans. He believed that domestic intelligence activities had "spun out of control" and violated Americans' right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

In 2015, Brat mistakenly claimed that the terrorist group ISIS had set up a base in Texas. His office later clarified that he meant Mexico, citing a conservative group's report that had no proof.

Immigration

Brat supported President Trump's 2017 executive order that temporarily stopped immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. He said this was a temporary measure to put better screening procedures in place. He believed these countries were a threat to national security because they had a history of supporting terrorism.

In 2017, Brat also said that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protected young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, could lead to millions more immigrants entering the country. Fact-checkers disagreed with his numbers.

Social Security and Medicare

Brat criticized both major political parties for how they handled Medicare and Social Security. These are government programs that provide health care for older Americans and income for retirees. He believed that people should not receive more from these programs than they have paid into them. He suggested "market-based reforms" for these programs.

Electoral History

Personal Life

Brat moved to Virginia in 1996 with his wife, Laura. They have two children.

Brat was raised in a Presbyterian church, and his wife is a Roman Catholic. They attend St. Mary Catholic Church in Richmond. Brat also identifies as a Calvinist, which is a branch of Protestantism.

Images for kids

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  Dave Brat speaking at an event in February 2016.