Donald McEachin Biography
Donald McEachin Biography, Age and Death, On November 8, 2016, U.S. Representative A. Donald McEachin (VA-04) was initially chosen to represent Virginia’s 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rep. McEachin has been chosen by his peers to serve as vice-chair of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, co-chair of the Transportation, Infrastructure, Environment and Energy Policy Council of the Congressional Black Caucus,
And co-chair of the House Democratic Environmental Message Team (SEEC). Rep. McEachin co-founded the United for Climate and Environmental Justice Congressional Task Force during his first time in office, and he continues to serve as the task force’s co-chair.
Rep. McEachin represents his constituents and the Commonwealth of Virginia as a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the House Committee on Natural Resources, and the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.
Rep. McEachin serves on the Environment and Climate Change, Communications and Technology, and Energy subcommittees as a member of E&C. Rep. McEachin serves on the subcommittee for energy and mineral resources as a member of the Natural Resources Committee.
Rep. McEachin was reared in the region he now proudly serves in Congress as the son of an Army veteran and a public school teacher. Rep. McEachin previously served as a lawmaker in Virginia’s General Assembly, serving in both chambers.
During that period, he battled to uphold the rights of all Virginians and to defend our nation’s most defenseless residents. Rep. McEachin is a committed public servant who spearheads initiatives to advance equity, reduce gun violence, safeguard the environment, and maintain access to reasonably priced healthcare.
McEachin graduated from American University with a degree in political science and the University of Virginia with a law degree. He earned his Master of Divinity in May 2008 from Virginia Union University’s Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology.
Rep. McEachin has always defended the rights of struggling families, children, and working Virginians. Rep. McEachin and Donald Gee founded McEachin and Gee in 1990 after working for a number of Richmond-area legal firms.
Numerous Virginians were successfully assisted by the McEachin and Gee Law Firm in obtaining the resources they required following accidents or injuries.
Rep. McEachin is a pillar of the community and a devoted NAACP and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. member. Additionally, Rep. McEachin belongs to the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association and the Virginia State Bar.
Three mature children were born to Rep. McEachin and his attractive wife Colette. Colette is a skilled lawyer who is currently employed by the Richmond City Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office.
From 2017 until his passing on November 28, 2022, Aston Donald McEachin, an American politician and attorney, represented Virginia’s 4th congressional district in Congress. On October 10, 1961, he was born, and on November 28, 2022, he passed away.
His district, which had its headquarters in Richmond, the state capital, covered a sizable chunk of the region between Richmond and Hampton Roads.
Democrats McEachin served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1996 to 2002 and again from 2006 to 2008. From 2008 until 2017, he represented the 9th district, which includes Charles City County as well as portions of Henrico County and the city of Richmond, in the Virginia Senate.
In the general election, McEachin received 57.3% of the vote to win the open seat in Virginia’s 4th congressional district left vacant by Republican Randy Forbes in 2016. McEachin was Jerry Kilgore’s opponent in the Democratic primary for Virginia attorney general in 2001.
The first African American to be nominated by a significant party for Virginia attorney general was McEachin. He was the second African American to have been elected from Virginia to Congress since the 1800s and the third overall.
Early life, education, and legal career
While his father was a member of the American Army, McEachin was born in Nuremberg, Germany. He went to Richmond’s St. Christopher’s School, McEachin in 1982, he earned a bachelor’s degree in political history from American University.
He then continued his education at the University of Virginia School of Law, where he graduated with a J.D. in 1986.
McEachin also received a Master of Divinity from Virginia Union University in the year 2008. Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society, granted him honoris causa membership in 2012.
After graduating from law school, McEachin started practicing law in Richmond and later joined up with Gee to form their own business, McEachin and Gee. In the 74th district, McEachin first won a seat in the House of Delegates in 1995.
Before entering the 2001 race for Virginia attorney general, he served there for three terms. With 33.6% of the vote, he defeated Republican contender Jerry Kilgore in the general election despite having won the four-way Democratic primary.
In the Democratic primary in 2005, he defeated Floyd Miles by 44 votes for the 74th House district, and he won the regular election with 75% of the vote.
The year 2007, Benjamin Lambert of the 9th district’s incumbent ran against McEachin for the state senate .Lambert had come under fire from Democrats for endorsing Republican U.S.
McEachin won the general election with 81% of the vote over independent Silver Persinger after defeating Lambert in the primary by a margin of 58% to 42%. In 2011, McEachin ran unopposed for reelection.
In 2019, McEachin recommended that Ralph Northam, the governor of Virginia, dispatch the Virginia National Guard to shut down armories and impose Dick Saslaw’s proposed confiscatory measures forcibly.
In counties where local law enforcement refused, standard capacity magazines for commonly owned rifles and handguns are prohibited.
Illness and death
In 2018, McEachin revealed that he had developed a fistula after completing treatment for colorectal cancer in 2014, losing more than 60 pounds (27 kg) as a result.
When speaking to audience members at a special showing of the movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, he encouraged routine testing for the illness “Don’t be careless, avoid going through what I did “, two weeks before to his passing.
In the age of 61, McEachin passed away from cancer-related complications at his Richmond home on November 28, 2022. A few weeks after winning a fourth term in office in the elections of 2022, he passed away.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, fellow Virginia Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly, and both U.S. Senators from Virginia also expressed their condolences on his passing. Tim Kaine, Mark, and Warner (who had known McEachin since 1984).