Former senator from Virginia, John Warner, dies at 94

(The Center Square) – A former Republican senator from Virginia, John Warner, was pronounced dead in his Alexandria home Wednesday from heart failure at the age of 94.

As the second-longest serving senator in Virginia history, Warner legislated as a political moderate. Although he would back Republican presidents, he also voiced support for the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe V. Wade, supported gun control legislation and opposed Robert Borke’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Although he supported President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, he urged the president to bring the troops home in 2007.

Warner served as a senator for the commonwealth from 1979 until his retirement in 2009 and served as the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee from 2003 to 2007 and the chair of the Senate Rules Committee from 1995 to 1996. He also served as the 61st U.S. Secretary of the Navy for two years under President Richard Nixon.

In a statement, President Joe Biden said Warner and his family are in his thoughts and prayers.

“I had the privilege of serving alongside John in the Senate for three decades,” Biden said. “The John Warner I knew was guided by two things: his conscience and our Constitution. And, when acting in accordance with both, he neither wavered in his convictions nor was concerned with the consequences.”

Current Senator from Virginia Mark Warner (no relation), who replaced John Warner upon his retirement in 2009, said the former senator was a consummate statesman and a public servant who put the nation’s security above partisanship. Mark Warner also ran an unsuccessful race to unseat John Warner in 1996.

“I’ve often said since that the right Warner won that race,” Mark Warner said in a statement. “And one way that I know that is that even though we came from different political parties – even though we ran spirited, albeit respectful, campaigns that year – as soon as the election was called, it was over. And even though John Warner was already a towering institution in Virginia politics, and I was just some young upstart, he allowed me to become his friend. I felt then, as I do today, incredibly privileged.”

Former Senate college and current Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke on the Senate floor Wednesday to honor Warner.

“As a wartime veteran of the Navy and Marine Corps, he was deeply devoted to the men and women who serve our nation in uniform.” McConnell said. “As a proud Virginian, John took seriously his Commonwealth’s role as host to massive portions of America’s military might, including the largest naval base in the world.”

Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced.

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