Sen. Mark Warner (D), one of Virginia’s two U.S. senators, announced on March 16 that he is running for a fourth, six-year term.
Warner, who was born in Indianapolis and was the first in his blue-collar family to attend college, invested heavily in early cell phone technology, which made him tremendously wealthy. Warner has publicly stated he knew he needed to have a large personal fortune if he wanted to fulfill his dream to go into politics someday.
It’s estimated Warner is the wealthiest Democrat in the US Senate, with a personal fortune north of $200 million.
Warner first ran for the US Senate in 1996 against incumbent Republican John Warner (no relation), but lost. In a debate that year, challenger Mark Warner made this claim and promise, which you can watch here:
“I don’t want to be a lifelong politician. My view of public service is something you do for part of your life, not all of your life. If I’m elected to the US Senate, I will serve no more than two terms. Because I think the value of our system is that it’s constantly renewed by new ideas and fresh people.”
Then, with a smug, critical tone, the younger Warner turned and rebuked the elder Warner with: “So Senator, don’t lecture me about what the role of the United States Senator is, I know that role.”
Even though he lost that 1996 contest, Mark Warner went on to win the Virginia Governor’s Mansion in 2001, less than two months after the 9-11 Islamist terrorist attacks.
In 2008, the year of the massive Obama Blue Wave, Mark Warner ran for the US Senate again, when incumbent John Warner had retired, and won handily. Warner was re-elected in 2014 to what was to be his second and final term. However, he ran again in the anomaly-riddled election year of 2020 and won a third term, so he is now finishing Year 18 in the Senate.
On March 16, Sen. Warner announced on his Twitter/X page that he had gathered over 18,000 signatures and was running for a fourth term.
If Warner wins again this fall and serves out another six-year term, he will have been in the Senate for twenty-four years.
Within just over 24 hours, his post had garnered over 600 comments on Twitter, the vast majority of which were negative and mentioned his broken two-term pledge. A small sampling:
@EllyKayUSA “Virginia Dems promising their unscrupulous gerrymander is “temporary,” reminds me of Mark Warner promising he’d serve no more than 2 terms. Yet here’s Warner, announcing his run for a 4th.”
@jtva9 “Mark’s priority – Reelection.
“Constituents Priority – Fund The Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS has been unfunded since February 14, 2026.”
Virginia’s other U.S. senator is Tim Kaine, also a Democrat. Because Senate elections are staggered to avoid vast pendulum swings, Sen. Kaine does not need to run for re-election this year.
Sen. Warner’s broken pledge to serve two terms only may remind some of Pete Seeger’s 1963 protest song “That’s what I learned in School.”
I learned our government must be strong
It’s always right and never wrong
Our leaders are the finest men
And we elect them again and again
And that’s what I learned in school today
That’s what I learned in school.
The Roanoke Star reached out to Sen. Warner’s office for a statement about his running for a fourth term, especially since he had pledged to run for only two. However, no response has been received as of publication time.
The election for Virginia’s next U.S. senator will be this coming November, with early voting starting in September.
Virginia now has 45 days of early voting for each election. So between the current voting for the gerrymandering amendment, primaries this summer, and the fall midterm elections, there will be almost non-stop voting in the Commonwealth this year, from March till early November.
– Scott Dreyer
