Rob Wittman’s life began in Richmond with an act of extraordinary generosity.
When Rob was born, his birth mother made the difficult decision to place him for adoption. He spent the first months of his life at the Children’s Home Society of Virginia in Richmond before being adopted at eight months old by two loving parents who gave him a strong foundation and opportunities that would shape the rest of his life.
Rob’s father was a World War II Army veteran, and his mother was a public school teacher. From them, he learned early that hard work matters, service matters, character matters, and every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.
Those lessons stayed with him.
Growing up in Henrico County, Rob worked wherever he could find a job. He bagged groceries and stocked shelves, worked at Kings Dominion, flipped eggs as a short-order cook at Shoney’s, worked on fishing boats on the Chesapeake Bay, and spent summers at a tomato cannery in Westmoreland County.
None of those jobs were glamorous, but each taught him something about hard work, responsibility, and the people who make Virginia’s communities work.
Rob went on to Virginia Tech, where he studied biology and was a member of the Corps of Cadets and Army ROTC. He later earned a master’s degree in public health from the University of North Carolina and a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University.
But long before he went to Washington, Rob was serving Virginia communities.
He spent 26 years working in state government, including as an environmental health specialist in the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula and with the Virginia Department of Health’s Division of Shellfish Sanitation. His work focused on public health, water quality, shellfish safety, and the health of the Chesapeake Bay and the communities that depend on it.
His path into elected office started close to home.
Rob was first elected to the Montross Town Council in 1986 and later served as mayor. He went on to serve on the Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors, including as its chairman, before being elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. In 2007, voters sent him to the United States House of Representatives to represent Virginia’s First Congressional District.
It was never part of some grand plan. For Rob, public service grew out of a simple belief: when your community invests in you, you have a responsibility to give something back.
Today, Rob serves as Vice Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and Chairman of the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee. He also serves as Vice Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee and as a member of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.
Those roles allow Rob to bring his experience and Virginia perspective to some of the country’s most important challenges, including rebuilding America’s military, confronting the threat posed by Communist China, strengthening the defense industrial base, protecting the Chesapeake Bay and Virginia’s natural resources, and supporting the servicemembers, veterans, workers, and communities of the First District.
Some of Rob’s proudest work has also grown directly out of the communities he represents. He helped lead the years-long effort that ultimately secured federal recognition for six Virginia Indian tribes, and he has worked throughout his career to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay.
But despite the years that have passed and the positions he has held, home has remained the same.
Rob and his wife, Kathryn, still live in the Montross home they purchased in 1985. Kathryn spent more than four decades teaching elementary school students in Westmoreland County. Together, they raised their daughter, Devon, and son, Josh, and today they are proud grandparents to six grandchildren.
Rob is still an avid hunter and fisherman and enjoys spending time on the water. When Congress is in session, he makes the commute between Montross and Washington, returning home every night to the same community that first gave him the opportunity to serve.
Washington did not shape Rob’s values. His family, his faith in hard work and service, and the communities of Virginia did.
From an adopted child growing up in Richmond and Henrico, to a young man working on fishing boats and in a tomato cannery, to a public health professional, local elected official, and Member of Congress, the thread throughout Rob’s life has been gratitude and service.
He has never forgotten where he came from or the people who gave him opportunities along the way. For Rob, serving Virginia is a way to give something back to the communities that have given him so much.