Gerry Connolly, Democratic Congressman of Virginia, Dies at Age 75
Connolly defeated New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for the top Democratic post on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee in December, putting him in a position to be a prominent antagonist of President Trump during his second term.
Connolly’s decision to seek that leadership position last fall divided Democrats, reigniting a debate over age, health and the party’s preference to fill leadership pots on seniority. Those conversations have intensified in the wake of former President Joe Biden’s recent cancer diagnosis.
By late April, Connolly said that his illness was forcing him to step aside from the committee role and announced his plan to retire at the end of his congressional term.
The district is solidly Democratic and is expected to remain in the party’s hands. In one of his final public statements, Connolly endorsed James Walkinshaw, his former chief of staff, as his replacement. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, hasn’t announced a timeline for the election to fill the seat.
Connolly was elected to Congress in 2008 after more than a decade serving on the Fairfax County board of supervisors.
Born in Boston in 1950, Gerald Edward Connolly studied literature at Maryknoll College in Illinois and later graduated from Harvard with an M.A. in Public Administration in 1979.
After graduating, he spent a decade working on the staff of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, focusing on policy including the oversight of international economic issues, the Middle East and the United Nations. Connolly also worked in the nonprofit sector, primarily advocating for hunger aid and international assistance.
He is survived by his wife Cathy and daughter Caitlin.
In April, Connolly announced he would not seek re-election in 2026 and would step down from his post as the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. He first announced his diagnosis in November, shortly after easily winning a ninth term to the House.
“Gerry lived his life to give back to others and make our community better,” his family wrote in a statement. “He looked out for the disadvantaged and voiceless.”
Connolly was an outspoken advocate for federal workers, many of whom lived in his district in Fairfax County. He authored the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010 that established a framework for telework across government. He consistently introduced legislation promoting pay raises for federal employees.
He was also a harsh critic of the second Trump administration's efforts to rollback protections for federal workers.
He helped write the 2014 Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act, known as FITARA, which sought to streamline how the government buys technology. He also championed the Modernizing Government Technology Act, which established the Technology Modernization Fund.
Even with opposing many of the Trump administration’s initiatives, he leaves a legacy of bipartisanship through across the aisle on FITARA and the MGT Act.
“He got the big picture, so we worked on lot of things together,” said Tom Davis, a Republican who retired from Congress in 2008, clearing the way for Connolly to take his seat. “He was the first call I made when I decided not to run again.”
They were members of opposing parties, but Davis said Connolly picked up where he left off on issues involving federal procurement.
