Senator Mark Robert Warner

Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) currently serves in the United States Senate as the Junior Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Warner was Governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006 and is the Honorary Chairman of the Forward Together PAC. Warner delivered the keynote address before the nation at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Mark Warner got experience as a Congressional staffer and Democratic Party fundraiser in the 1980s. He currently serves on the board of National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. In 2001, Warner campaigned for governor as a moderate Democrat after years of slowly building up a power base in rural Virginia, particularly Southwest Virginia. He defeated Republican candidate Mark Earley, the state Attorney General, with 52.16 percent, a margin of 96,943 votes. In the same election, Republican Jerry Kilgore was elected attorney general, and Democrat Tim Kaine was elected lieutenant governor.

Warner's popularity helped Democrats gain seats in the Virginia House of Delegates in 2003 and again in 2005, reducing the majorities built up by Republicans in the 1990s. Warner chaired the National Governors Association in 2004-2005 and led a national high school reform movement. He also chaired the Southern Governors' Association and was a member of the Democratic Governors Association. In January 2005, a two-year study (Government Performance Project), graded each state in four management areas: money, people, infrastructure and information. Virginia and received the highest ratings average and a A- rating overall, this led to calling Virginia "the best managed state in the nation."

Warner declared on September 13, 2007 that he would run for Senate in 2008.

Warner immediately gained the endorsement of most national Democrats. He held a wide lead over his Republican opponent, fellow former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore, for virtually the entire campaign.

Warner delivered the keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

In a Washington Post/ABC News Poll dated Wednesday, September 24, Warner was up 30 points over Gilmore.

In the November election, Warner defeated Gilmore in a rout, taking 65 percent of the vote to Gilmore's 34 percent. Warner carried all but four counties in the state—Rockingham, Augusta, Powhatan and Hanover. In many cases, he ran up huge margins in areas of the state that have traditionally voted Republican. This was the most lopsided margin for a contested Senate race in Virginia since Chuck Robb took 72 percent of the vote in 1988.

Warner's victory means Virginia has two Democratic Senators for the first time since 1970.

Outside of politics Warner grows 15 acres of grapes for Ingleside Vineyards at his Virginia farm; Ingleside bottles a private label that Warner offers at charity auctions.