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Jay Rockefeller

John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller (born 18 June 1937) was Governor of West Virginia (D) from 17 January 1977 to 14 January 1985 (interrupting Arch A. Moore Jr.'s terms) and a US Senator from 15 January 1985 to 3 January 2015 (succeeding Jennings Randolph and preceding Shelley Moore Capito).

Biography[]

Jay Rockefeller was born in New York City, New York in 1937, the great-grandson of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller. He moved to Emmons, West Virginia to serve as a VISTA worker in 1964 and was elected to the House of Delegates in 1966 as a Democrat. Rockefeller, who belonged to a prominent dynasty of Republicans, was forced to switch parties to be elected in the solidly Democratic state, and he served as Secretary of State of West Virginia from 1969 to 1973, as Governor from 1977 to 1985, and as US Senator from 1985 to 2015. Rockefeller supported Bill Clinton's 1993 healthcare reform package, supported the Iraq War, and supported gay rights, and he retired in 2015.

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