Mark Warner

Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Virginia, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Warner served as the 69th governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006. He is vice chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus and vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Warner was widely expected to pursue the Democratic nomination in the 2008 United States presidential election, but he announced in October 2006 that he would not run, citing a desire not to disrupt his family life. Warner delivered the keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and was considered to be a potential vice presidential candidate until he took himself out of consideration after winning the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate.

Warner was elected to the Senate in 2008 and reelected in 2014 and 2020. He became Virginia's senior senator in 2013, when Senator Jim Webb retired. He is the honorary chairman of Forward Together PAC.

Before entering politics, Warner became involved in telecommunications-related venture capital during the 1980s. He founded and led the Columbia Capital firm. He also co-founded Capital Cellular Corporation. With a net worth of $214.1 million, Warner is the seventh-wealthiest member of Congress and its wealthiest Democrat.

Warner was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of Marjorie (née Johnston) and Robert F. Warner. He has a younger sister, Lisa. He grew up in Illinois, and later in Vernon, Connecticut, where he graduated from Rockville High School, a public secondary school. He has credited his interest in politics to his eighth grade social studies teacher, Jim Tyler, who "inspired him to work for social and political change during the tumultuous year of 1968." He was class president at Rockville High School and hosted a weekly pick-up basketball game at his house, "a tradition that continues today."

Warner graduated from George Washington University, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1977. He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and graduated valedictorian, with a 4.0 grade point average. Warner was the first in his family to graduate from college. GWU later initiated him into Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society, as an alumnus member in 1995. While at George Washington University, he worked on Capitol Hill to pay for his tuition, riding his bike early mornings to the office of U.S. Senator Abraham Ribicoff. His sophomore year, Warner took time off from school to serve as the youth coordinator on Ella Grasso's successful gubernatorial bid in Connecticut. Upon returning to Washington, Warner took a part-time job in the office of then-Representative Chris Dodd. He went on to serve as Dodd's senatorial campaign manager during his freshman year of law school. When his parents visited him at college, he got two tickets for them to tour the White House; when his father asked him why he didn't get a ticket for himself, he replied, "I'll see the White House when I'm president."

Warner then graduated from Harvard Law School with a Juris Doctor in 1980 and coached the law school's first intramural women's basketball team. Warner then took a job raising money for the Democratic Party based in Atlanta from 1980 to 1982. Warner has never practiced law.

Warner founded two ultimately unsuccessful businesses before becoming a general contractor for cellular businesses and investors. As founder and managing director of Columbia Capital, a venture capital firm, he helped found or was an early investor in a number of technology companies, including Nextel. He co-founded Capital Cellular Corporation in 1989, using his knowledge of federal telecommunications law to trade pieces of cellular spectrum, and built up an estimated net worth of more than $215 million. As of 2025, he is the second wealthiest U.S. senator.

Warner involved himself in public efforts related to health care, transportation, telecommunications, information technology and education. He managed Douglas Wilder's successful 1989 gubernatorial campaign and served as chairman of the state Democratic Party from 1993 to 1995. Warner also served, in the early 1990s, on the Virginia Commonwealth Transportation Board and sat in on monthly committee meetings of the Rail and Public Transportation Division (headed by Robert G. Corder).

He unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1996 against incumbent Republican John Warner (no relation) in a "Warner versus Warner" election. Mark Warner performed strongly in the state's rural areas, making the contest much closer than many pundits expected. He lost to the incumbent, 52% to 47%, losing most parts of the state including the north.

In 2001, Warner campaigned for governor as a moderate Democrat after years of slowly building up a power base in rural Virginia, particularly Southwest Virginia. His opponents were Republican Mark Earley, the state's attorney general, and the Libertarian candidate William B. Redpath. Warner won with 52.16 percent of the votes, 96,943 votes ahead of the next opponent. Warner had a significant funding advantage, spending $20 million compared with Earley's $10 million.

After he was elected in 2002, Warner drew upon a $900 million "rainy day fund" left by his predecessor, Jim Gilmore. Warner campaigned in favor of two regional sales tax increases, especially in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, to fund transportation. Virginians rejected both regional referendums to raise the sales tax.

In 2004, Warner worked with Democratic and moderate Republican legislators and the business community to reform the tax code, lowering food and some income taxes while increasing the sales and cigarette taxes. His tax package effected a net tax increase of approximately $1.5 billion annually. Warner credited the additional revenues with saving the state's AAA bond rating, held at the time by only five other states, and allowing the single largest investment in K-12 education in Virginia history. Warner also entered into an agreement with Democrats and moderate Republicans in the Virginia Senate to cap state car tax reimbursements to local governments.

During his tenure as governor, Warner influenced the world of college athletics. "Warner used his power as Virginia's governor in 2003 to pressure the Atlantic Coast Conference into revoking an invitation it had already extended to Syracuse University. Warner wanted the conference, which already included the University of Virginia, to add Virginia Tech instead — and he got his way."

Warner's popularity may have helped Democrats gain seats in the Virginia House of Delegates in 2003 and again in 2005, reducing the majorities built up by Republicans in the 1990s. Warner chaired the National Governors Association in 2004-2005 and led a national high school reform movement. He chaired the Southern Governors' Association and was a member of the Democratic Governors Association. In January 2005, a two-year study, the Government Performance Project, in conjunction with Governing magazine and the Pew Charitable Trust graded each state in four management categories: money, people, infrastructure and information. Virginia and Utah received the highest ratings average with both states receiving an A− rating overall, prompting Warner to dub Virginia "the best managed state in the nation."

Warner was believed to be preparing to run for the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, and had "done everything but announce his candidacy" before suddenly announcing in October 2006 he would not run for president, citing family reasons. On September 13, 2007, he announced that he would run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring John Warner (no relation) in 2008.

Warner immediately gained the endorsement of most national Democrats. He held a wide lead over his Republican opponent, fellow former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore (and Warner's predecessor), for virtually the entire campaign. Warner delivered the keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

In a Washington Post/ABC News Poll dated September 24, 2008, Warner held a 30-point lead over Gilmore.

In the November election, Warner defeated Gilmore with 65% of the vote to Gilmore's 34%. He carried all but four counties in the state—Rockingham, Augusta, Powhatan and Hanover. In many cases, he ran up huge margins in areas of the state that had traditionally voted Republican. This was the most lopsided margin for a contested Senate race in Virginia since Chuck Robb took 72% of the vote in 1988. As a result of Warner's victory, Virginia had two Democratic U.S. senators for the first time since Harry Byrd, Jr. left the Democrats to become an independent (while still caucusing with the Democrats) in 1970.

In 2014, Warner faced Ed Gillespie, who had previously served as Counselor to the President under George W. Bush and chairman of the Republican National Committee. Warner's margin of victory—only 17,727 votes—was much narrower than expected.

Warner is pro-choice and supports Roe v. Wade.

On a video in his Senate office, Warner promised Virginians, "I would not vote for a health-care plan that doesn't let you keep health insurance you like."

He voted for the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly called Obamacare, helping the Senate reach the required sixty votes to prevent it from going to a filibuster. He and 11 Senate freshmen discussed adding an amendment package aimed at addressing health care costs by expanding health IT and wellness prevention.

In January 2019, Warner was one of six Democratic senators to introduce the American Miners Act of 2019, a bill that would amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to swap funds in excess of the amounts needed to meet existing obligations under the Abandoned Mine Land fund to the 1974 Pension Plan as part of an effort to prevent its insolvency as a result of coal company bankruptcies and the 2008 financial crisis. It also increased the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund tax and ensured that miners affected by the 2018 coal company bankruptcies would not lose their health care.

In September 2019, amid discussions to prevent a government shutdown, Warner was one of six Democratic senators to sign a letter to congressional leadership advocating for the passage of legislation that would permanently fund health care and pension benefits for retired coal miners as "families in Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming, Alabama, Colorado, North Dakota and New Mexico" would start to receive notifications of health care termination by the end of the following month.

Warner is married to Lisa Collis. While on their honeymoon in 1989 in Egypt and Greece, Warner became ill; when he returned home, doctors discovered he had suffered a near-fatal burst appendix. Warner spent two months in the hospital recovering from the illness. During her husband's tenure as governor, Collis was the first Virginia first lady to use her birth name. Warner and Collis have three daughters, one of whom died in April 2026 of Type 1 diabetes and other health issues.

Warner is involved in farming and winemaking at his Rappahannock Bend farm. There, he grows 15 acres (61,000 m2) of grapes for Ingleside Vineyards; Ingleside bottles a private label that Warner offers at charity auctions. He has an estimated net worth of $215 million as of 2018.

Mark Warner has received several honorary degrees, including: