1. William Vanderpool "Van" Hilleary was born on June 20,1959 and is an American politician who served as the US representative for Tennessee's 4th congressional district from 1995 to 2003.
18 Facts About Van Hilleary
1. 2.
Van Hilleary was born in Dayton, Tennessee, the seat of Rhea County, and raised in nearby Spring City, where his family operated a textile manufacturing concern.
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Van Hilleary graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1981 where he was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.
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Van Hilleary participated in the Air Force ROTC program at the University of Tennessee and served on active duty from 1982 to 1984 and has been a member of the Air Force Reserve since that time.
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Van Hilleary graduated from the Cumberland School of Law of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama in 1990.
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Van Hilleary served two volunteer tours of duty during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.
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Van Hilleary's opponent was Anna Belle Clement O'Brien, younger sister and political confidante of the late former governor of Tennessee Frank G Clement.
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Van Hilleary easily won the Republican primary and faced Democratic nominee Jeff Whorley, a former aide to Cooper, in the general election.
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Van Hilleary even won easily in 1996 even as Bill Clinton carried the district in the presidential election mainly on the strength of Al Gore's presence on the ticket; Gore had represented much of the western portion of the district in Congress from 1977 to 1983.
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For instance, Van Hilleary was opposed to any form of a state income tax, which was a major issue in the state legislature at the time.
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In each of his three subsequent Congressional races, Van Hilleary won with an increasing margin.
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Van Hilleary was considered a logical choice for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2002, withstanding a challenge from the party's moderate wing made by Jim Henry, former minority leader in the Tennessee House of Representatives and former mayor of Kingston.
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Henry's race was largely supported and financed by members of the inner circle of unpopular outgoing GOP governor Don Sundquist, a fact resented by many grassroots activists, and Van Hilleary defeated him by a wide margin.
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Van Hilleary displayed a high level of knowledge about this issue in a debate between the two, despite the fact that Bredesen had made most of his fortune as a managed health care executive.
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Van Hilleary was a candidate for the United States Senate seat then held by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who did not run for re-election, fulfilling his promise to not to serve more than two terms when first elected in 1994.
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Surprisingly, Van Hilleary lost 13 of the 22 counties in his old district.
17.
Shortly after the November 2004 election, Van Hilleary moved his family to Murfreesboro, just outside Nashville.
18.
On December 11,2018, it was announced that Van Hilleary would be returning to Congress as the Chief of Staff for John Rose, Representative-elect for Tennessee's 6th congressional district, which contains much of the territory that he had once represented.