Jay Rockefeller(I)
Jay Rockefeller is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from West Virginia (1985-2015). He was first elected to the Senate in 1984, while in office as Governor of West Virginia (1977-85). Rockefeller moved to Emmons, West Virginia, to serve as a VISTA worker in 1964 and was first elected to public office as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates (1966). Rockefeller was later elected West Virginia Secretary of State (1968) and was president of West Virginia Wesleyan College (1973-75). He became the state's senior U.S. Senator when the long-serving Sen. Robert Byrd died in June 2010.
As a great-grandson of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, who died less than a month before Rockefeller's birth, he was the only serving politician of the prominent six-generation Rockefeller family during his tenure in the United States Senate and the only one to have held office as a Democrat in what has been a traditionally Republican dynasty, though he too was originally a Republican until he decided to run for office in what was then a strictly Democratic state. Rockefeller did not seek reelection in 2014 and was succeeded by Republican U.S. Representative Shelley Moore Capito.
As a great-grandson of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, who died less than a month before Rockefeller's birth, he was the only serving politician of the prominent six-generation Rockefeller family during his tenure in the United States Senate and the only one to have held office as a Democrat in what has been a traditionally Republican dynasty, though he too was originally a Republican until he decided to run for office in what was then a strictly Democratic state. Rockefeller did not seek reelection in 2014 and was succeeded by Republican U.S. Representative Shelley Moore Capito.
