THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 1, 1995 TAG: 9512010271
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
Leslie L. Byrne, a former congresswoman and state delegate from Falls Church, said Thursday that she plans to seek the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate next year.
Byrne, 49, has started raising money for the effort and said she will formally announce her candidacy in about three weeks.
Byrne will compete against Mark R. Warner, a former state Democratic Party chairman and wealthy Northern Virginia businessman, for the party's nomination.
``I think it's time we had some more people in the Senate who are focused on the average American family, and I don't see that happening right now,'' Byrne said.
In a fund-raising letter mailed earlier this week, Byrne said she supports increasing the minimum wage, collective bargaining for public employees and protecting workers from being fired during a strike. She criticized the Republican majority in Congress for favoring ``corporate welfare over the general welfare of our families.''
A tough, sometimes caustic campaigner, Byrne was elected to four terms in the House of Delegates beginning in 1984. In 1992, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the newly created 11th district in Northern Virginia. She was defeated last year by Republican Tom Davis.
Since her defeat, she has been writing a book about women in politics and teaching government courses at Mount Vernon College.
Democrats are expected to make their nomination in June at a state convention in Hampton.
The Senate seat is currently held by Republican John W. Warner, who is seeking re-election and will hold a series of fund-raisers across the state next week. He is being challenged for the GOP nomination by James C. Miller III, a former federal budget chief in the Reagan administration.
State Republican leaders are expected to vote on Dec. 9 to hold a primary election next year. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Leslie L. Byrne
by CNB