Corey Stewart (politician)

Corey Stewart
Chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors
Incumbent
Assumed office January 2007
Preceded by	Sean T. Connaughton[1]
Personal details
Political party	Republican
Residence	Woodbridge[2]
Religion	Catholic

Corey Stewart is an American politician who is the At-Large Chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor in the 2013 election. In December 2015, Donald Trump announced that he had selected Stewart to chair his presidential campaign in Virginia. Stewart has drawn national attention for his efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.

Early life and education

Stewart was born in Duluth, Minnesota on August 1, 1968 as the fourth of five children of Earl and Beverly Stewart. The Stewart family traces its origins to Avernish, Scotland, from where it emigrated in 1851 to Lucknow, Ontario, Canada. Stewart's ancestor, Alexander Stewart, was a ship captain on the Great Lakes, and the family eventually moved to Duluth, where Stewart's father was a third-generation longshoreman.

Stewart earned an academic scholarship to attend Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, where he earned his bachelors degree in 1991. He was the first member of his family to attend college. Stewart graduated magna cum laude from William Mitchell College of Law in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1997.

Career

Stewart moved to Virginia in 1998 to begin his career as an international trade attorney with the Washington, DC office of Gardner Carton & Douglas. He then moved to the Washington office of Foley & Lardner until 2009, when he formed Stewart PLLC, an international trade and technology transfer firm.

Chairman of the Board of Supervisors

Elections

Stewart is now serving his fourth term as Chairman At-Large in Prince William, the second largest locality in the Commonwealth, with a population of 460,000 residents. Fifty-five percent of county residents are minorities. Stewart is elected county-wide, and he holds the distinction of being the only Republican who, since 2009, has been able to win countywide elections in the county, a politically pivotal locality in Northern Virginia which is considered a "must win" jurisdiction in state-wide elections. He was first elected Chairman in a special election held on November 7, 2006, replacing Sean Connaughton. He was subsequently reelected by large margins in 2007, 2011 and 2015.^[3]

Immigration enforcement

In 2007, Stewart led Prince William County in adopting an illegal immigration enforcement policy that generated a substantial amount of controversy and national media attention. The policy--which is considered to be the toughest crackdown on illegal immigration by any state or locality in the United States--requires county police officers to check the immigration status of every person arrested. Under the authority of the 287(g) program, Prince William County jail officers then coordinate with federal ICE officials to begin the deportation process. As of 2015, more than 7,500 illegal aliens who have committed crimes in the county have been handed over to ICE for deportation. Stewart credits the policy with the near 50 percent decline in the county's crime rate since 2007.

Personal life

Stewart married Maria Sjöström, a native of Nordmaling, Sweden, in 1994. The two met in 1992 in Tokyo, Japan, where Stewart was teaching English in a private English school. They have two children, Isaac and Luke, and are members of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Woodbridge, Virginia.

References

1. Shear, Michael (November 23, 2006). "For Republicans, There's Still Cause to Be Thankful". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
2. About Corey
3. Kunkle, Frederick (October 8, 2006). "Candidates Differ on Approach To Growth". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 10, 2011.

External links

• Official site
• Profile at Project Vote Smart