Nobody underestimates the 82-year-old Rep. Virginia Foxx (Rn.C.) from employees on the elevator to the top manager of the house.
After Foxx had an almost 22-hour hearing of the House Rules Committee before the adoption of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” in May, spokesman Mike Johnson (R-La.) called her The “iron lady of the house”. Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.), the minority leader, called Foxx a few weeks later in a press conference as “hard biscuit” and “Straight Shooter”.
In her 11th term in the congress, Foxx is undeniable one of the best -known personalities of the Republican conference of House – a stature that is not achieved by waves by social media or bombastic attitude, but by a work horse and a team player.
“I’m really very, very focused on not waste time,” Foxx said in an interview with The Hill in June. “If you see me when I wait for the train, you will see that I go to the end of the platform so that I can be in the first car. When I get out, I’m so close as I am where I go.”
But while she is known for her toughness, Foxx also has a pliable side – when they talked about the “barefoot soldiers of the American Revolution” who were ready to risk their lives for freedom. She has poured her energy through her decades of career to assist people through education, just like it helped her to rise from poverty.
Fox in this congress is the only Republican woman who leads a committee in the house in the house that was selected by the speaker to lead the mighty Rules committee after led the Republicans to the house committee for education and workforce for four office hours.
However, Foxx does not see this statistics as proof of distortion against women in the GOP.
“I think a large part of the press tries to make it look like women in the Republican party are not respected, but it is really a question of term in office,” she said, adding: “The fact that I am the only woman only means that we don’t let women stay as long as men stay or start to win the service to be a chair.
Foxx ‘personal life story focuses on the transformative power of education.
Foxx became in New York City (Manhattan to be precise – “Wikipedia is wrong”) and moved to North Carolina at the age of six and lived in houses without electricity or flowing water. She had no plans to go to college until a teacher encouraged her year to do so.
She visited the Lees-MCrae College in North Carolina for a semester. Then she lived with her grandparents in the Bronx, while she worked as a writer near Wall Street and saved her money. And then the Appalachian State University came in. Foxx has broadcast and completed the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
However, Foxx emphasizes that the performance of education is not about collecting college degrees, but about the development of skills. She remembered her younger brother, who was worried that his family would be ashamed of him because he didn’t want to go to college. Foxx helped setting up a carpenter training program that he could enter, and he finally received a license.
“We have set a standard for many people who say that if they don’t have a university degree, they are not good. And that bothers me a lot,” said Foxx.
Foxx is also a team player on the political side of the house groups as within the official side. One of the stands in the national Republican Congress Committee, from which members make fundraisers, has Foxx ‘names, sources have told the Hill over the years.
These sensitives for work animals have long been obvious: a profile From Foxx in the Hill 20 years ago, Foxx ‘personality described as a “half -grandmother, half -driller Sergeant”.
Around the Capitol Campus, Foxx is widely known for your reputation for Scold the staff And other To say only for members or employees and reporters to jump on an elevator evade.
“I am a regular supporter. I have a hurry in five and nine -ended cases and most members are,” said Foxx. “And so there is an elevator of the members for a certain reason, and it is really more than anything else for time management.”
Her reputation for the elevator is so mighty that other members only thanked the House Office building last year-Aber Foxx said that the credit for the fresh key cards as chairman of the property management committee Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), Which insisted that it did not require any additions.
It’s not just elevators. MP Bruce Westerman (R-Mark.), One of Foxx ‘friends in the congress, remembered one of his first impressions of her when she was waiting on a bus to go to an event.
“This white -haired woman got up and told the bus driver:” Close the door and go, “said Westerman. “And the bus driver closed the door and went. And my wife and I were there, and my wife said: ‘You better pay attention to her.'”
“There is only one Virginia Foxx,” he added. “I think a lot of people sometimes see a tough appearance, but she has a huge heart inside.”
Foxx also made waves when she scolded a reporter in a press conference after the Republican Johnson nominated after a three-month Saga to speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Streat the Steal the Stop the Steal “had to.
Republicans booed – and Foxx, who are prominently next to Johnson, scream back: “Hold the flap! Hold the flap!”
Foxx told the hill, she thought the questions had concentrated on how the fresh speaker candidate felt.
“We were in a wonderful atmosphere. We had a lot through to choose the spokesman Johnson, and the mood in the room was so happy, so happy. And someone was, on the contrary, something complete from where we were at the moment,” said Foxx. “The woman was unsuspecting about the tone at the time.”
Foxx, who has just celebrated her 82nd birthday, is the 15th oldest legislator of the entire congress – and the 10th oldest representative.
Age has become great political liability in recent years, in particular with the former President Biden, who had to get out of breed in 2024, since the concerns about its intellectual sharpness and a number of other agents can be examined more regularly.
Foxx is “quite aware of” the examination of the older members, but sees itself as at the height of her career and has no plans to resign. In May she announced that she was looking for a re -election in 2026.
“I get letters from people who say they have to stop,” said Foxx. “My answer to this is the spokesman that Chairman of the Rules Committee has appointed me. This is a kind of career career here. And that’s why I have the feeling that I really be in a good place. I don’t think someone will say that I have a cognitive decline.”
“I am physically in good condition. I had a fall in January, but that was due to a smooth step,” said Foxx and moved into slip On the marble occurs in front of the house chamber. “I have no problems moving away and I feel great. I train every day, I stretch and do things like that to stay in good condition.”
“I see no reason to stop as long as I can be the kind of representative who deserve and want my voters,” said Foxx.
Last year, Foxx went through the same personal difficulties as many of her voters when Hurricane Helene North Carolina met – and fell her husband in her home house.
Foxx told her husband that she wanted to stay in Winston-Salem the next day because of the upcoming hurricane and the meeting in the area, but he did not expect the storm so bad. But Foxx, which did not want to take a risk, filled out water jugs for him – the willingness that paid off after flooding, wiped an ascent to her house and captured him for several days.
“I am glad in many ways that it happened to us because we experienced the same things that my voters experienced. When people call me, I knew exactly what they had to do,” said Foxx.
