Glenn Nye harbors no regrets as his term winds down

Washington

Two weeks after losing his re-election bid, sitting among stacks of packing cartons in his suite in the Cannon House Office Building, U.S. Rep. Glenn Nye doesn't want anyone feeling sorry for him.

"I can't have anybody come anymore with a sad, long face," he said, waving aside an offer of condolences. "I don't feel this election was a judgment on the work we did or the campaign we ran.... Sometimes elections aren't about the candidates running."

The 36-year-old former diplomat rose from political obscurity two years ago to defeat two-term Republican incumbent Thelma Drake in the 2nd Congressional District, only to be turned out by voters on Nov. 2. Nye said he doesn't have a single regret about his performance.

Instead, he's "thinking broadly" about what to do next.

The first thing he mentions: "I'm still considering running again.... I think there's some things that took place in this election which indicated a strong possibility of my being able to win in 2012. But I don't feel the need to rush a decision."

Other options might be a return to foreign service or some other form of public service.

Nye said his loss to Republican Scott Rigell, also a first-time candidate and a successful Virginia Beach car dealer, was less about his own record than about national dissatisfaction with "the state of affairs of this country" during economic hard times.

"There's no doubt that in this race being a Democrat was a liability, but I'm still proud to be a Democrat," he said. "I feel like I represented my district the best I could."

A soft-spoken moderate who focused much of his energy and legislative initiatives on issues facing the military, veterans and small businesses, Nye often found the partisan rancor in Congress distasteful. He predicts the bickering will become more severe, with fewer members willing to compromise.

"I'm afraid right now we are in a time when extremists are the decision makers in this country," he said. "It's the moderates who get wiped out in these elections."

Noting that only a handful of legislators voted less often with their party leaders than he did, Nye said his independence cost him within his own party.

"I didn't make my decisions based on partisan leanings," he said. "That doesn't engender love and sympathy from everyone."

Among his accomplishments was a successful effort with other Hampton Roads congressmen to delay for at least five years the Navy's plans to move a Norfolk-based carrier to Florida. He also proposed and saw become law a measure that gives a special tax break to businesses that hire out-of-work war veterans.

As a member of the moderate Blue Dog Democrats, he was among a minority of Democrats who opposed the new health care law and also voted against the federal budget in 2009, saying it was raising the deficit too high.

However, that same year, he voted for the multi billion-dollar stimulus bill, which he said was necessary to save the economy.

For now he's focusing on his last weeks of Congress. Nye is hoping the House passes a defense authorization bill that prohibits spending any money to move a Norfolk-based carrier to Florida. And he wants to vote to extend the so-called Bush tax cuts for at least a year for everyone.

He's also looking forward to a Caribbean vacation later this month.

Although he'll be a congressman until early January, Nye and his staff have to clear out of his Capitol office by Dec. 1 to give new members time to move in. Already the photographs are coming down from the walls and file cabinets are being emptied.

On Wednesday, Nye gave what he expects to be his last speech on the House floor as he led a group of congressmen paying homage to former U.S. Rep. Owen Pickett, who represented the district from 1987 to 2000 and died Oct. 27 in Virginia Beach.

Pickett, a low-key moderate who specialized in defense issues, had been a friend and mentor to Nye.

"I would like people to say about me that he went up there and continued Owen's work," Nye said. "I think that would be the greatest compliment that anybody could ever give me."

Bill Bartel, (757) 446-2398, bill.bartel@pilotonline.com