Republican William Howell is retiring after 15 years as Speaker of the Virginia House, having thwarted much of the agenda of Democratic governor Terry McAuliffe.
When McAuliffe was elected in 2013, his top initiative was the expansion of Medicaid, the health care plan for the uninsured and a key provision of Obamacare. Howell, 73, built what he called a “firewall” against the governor’s effort and it held.
McAuliffe tried four times to enact the Medicaid bill. Each time it was rejected overwhelmingly in the House by Howell and Republicans. The defeats were an embarrassment to McAuliffe and undermined his ambitions as a national Democrat. He is a close friend of the Clintons and was seen as a potential Cabinet member if Hillary Clinton had won the presidency.
Howell’s success made him one of the most renowned state legislative leaders in the country. He took over as speaker in 2003 amid a sexual harassment scandal that forced his predecessor, Vance Wilkins, to retire and weakened the party.
His low-key style was deceptive. Howell transformed the House into a reliably conservative body even as Virginia was becoming more Democratic in statewide elections. Republicans had a narrow majority in 2003. Today they control the House 66-34. They have a one-vote margin in the state Senate.
Howell is enormously popular among House Republicans. His leadership has never been challenged inside the House. But he faced a primary opponent four years ago who claimed Howell had made a secret deal to pass the Medicaid proposal. He won easily, and the Medicaid proposal is dead. He is not seeking re-election in Virginia’s odd-year election in November.
A foe of tax hikes, Howell was beaten only once on taxes. In 2004, then-governor Mark Warner won approval of a $1.4-billion tax hike over Howell’s opposition. In 2013, Howell backed transportation funding legislation that called for $6 billion in taxes for road and transit projects.
Howell, who lives in Stafford County, just under an hour’s drive south of Washington, D.C., is the second longest-serving speaker. Edgar Blackburn (Blackie) Moore was speaker from 1950 to 1967, the era in which Virginia waged “massive resistance” against desegregation and lost.
