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Heath Shuler (D-N.C.)

U.S. Representative (since January 2007)

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Property development investor (2003 to 2007); Owner of Heath Shuler Real Estate (1998 to 2003); Professional football player (1994 to 1998)
Birthday: Dec. 31, 1971
Hometown: Bryson City, N.C.
Alma Mater: University of Tennessee, B.A., 2001
Spouse: Nikol
Religion: Baptist
DC Office: 422 Cannon House Office Building, 202-225-6401

District Office: Asheville, 828-Murphy, 828-835-4981; Sylva, 828-586-1962 ext. 223
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Path to Power

Shuler was born in Bryson City, N.C. His father, Joe Benny Shuler, spent a career as a mailman and ran the town's youth football program with his first wife. "Heath and Benjie [Heath's brother] were raised on the ball field," Joe Benny said.

In the 5th grade, Shuler made a list of career goals that included being a high school All-American and playing in the NFL. He went to the University of Tennessee and starred as a quarterback, coming in second in the Heisman trophy voting, given to college football's best player, during his junior year. An academic all-American while in college, Shuler left school after his junior year in 1994 to fulfill his childhood dream of playing professionally. (He would go on to get his degree from Tennessee in 2001).

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Washington Redskins Quarterback

In 1994, Shuler was drafter third overall by the Washington Redskins and was installed as the starting quarterback during his first season. Hailed as a savior, Shuler never lived up to the hype. He went 1-7 in his first season and 3-2 in his second season before getting injured. He would later play nine games for the New Orleans Saints, but he was out of the league after the 1997 season.

Real-Estate Business

Shuler moved back to Tennessee and started a successful real-estate development business with his brother Benjie. He said people often asked him to run for office in Tennessee, where he starred as quarterback for the state's biggest university.

But it wasn't until after he moved back to North Carolina that his political ambitions grew. In 2003, Shuler and his wife, Nikol, who is also from North Carolina, moved to the western part of their home state. Shuler says he began thinking politics early in 2004 after commiserating with his friend about all the things that were going wrong in the community. "Randy [Flack] laughed and said, 'Well, what are you going to do about it?'" Shuler recalled.

2006 House Race

Shuler didn't run that year, but in 2006, he challenged eight-term Rep. Charles Taylor (R) in the 11th district. 2006 was a bad year for Republicans, and Taylor made some key mistakes during the race. The Wall Street Journal published an article accusing Taylor of profiting personally from earmarks he had introduced. Taylor didn't cast a vote in the debate over the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which was unpopular in North Carolina, where trade agreements are blamed for rapid loss of jobs in the textile industry.

Taylor, a multimillionaire, poured $2.5 million of his own money into the race and outspent Shuler $4.4 million to $1.8 million. But Shuler won, 54 percent to 46 percent. Republicans were expected to target him in 2008, but Shuler had an even easier race that year, winning 62 percent of the vote against challenger Carl Mumpower (R).

The Issues

Shuler was an attractive candidate for House Democrats because his values align with those of his conservative district, but those values have often collided with those of his party leadership.

During his first 100 hours in Congress, the moderate Democrat supported most of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) "100 hours" agenda at the start of the 110th Congress that included restrictions on lobbying, a minimum-wage increase and the implementation of the remaining 9/11 commission recommendations - except for funding for embyronic stem-cell research.

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Stem-cell funding was just the first of many important votes in which Shuler broke with the Democratic Party. During his first two years in Congress, the former football player twice voted against budget resolutions that didn't include a middle-class tax cut and sided with Republicans in opposing the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street and the amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which gave immunity to telecommunications companies who participated in the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program.

The opponent of abortion rights, gay marriage and gun control voted with House Democrats 86.2 percent of the time during his first term.

Health-Care Reform

As a leader of the Blue Dogs, Shuler signed a July 2009 letter rejecting the House Democrats' reform plan. The letter stated that he could not support a public option as outlined in that bill.

Ultimately, Shuler was one of 34 House Democrats to oppose the final March 2010 reform bill, citing concerns about costs.

The Economy

Immediately after returning to Washington, Shuler joined the Blue Dogs, a group of fiscally-conservative Democrats who are particularly concerned with the rising national debt.

Half of the Blue Dogs voted against the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street in fall 2008, including Shuler. "It still does not address the root problems or make the fundamental reforms to the system needed to prevent this situation from arising again," Shuler said. "There is still a crisis of confidence and lack of trust between banks causing this credit crunch."

Shuler was also one of seven Democrats to oppose Obama's $800 billion stimulus plan early in 2009. He said the bill wouldn't do enough to stimulate the economy. He wanted a stimulus package, but was looking for one more focused on infrastructure spending. "We have to create jobs," he said. "For every $1 billion in infrastructure spending, we can create 34,000 jobs."

Immigration

Shuler was an integral part of the heated immigration debate during the 110th Congress. He introduced the Secure America through Verification and Enforcement Act, which included strict rules requiring employers to verify the legal status of all workers. The plan was not supported by House leadership in either party and never came to a vote.

The Network

Shuler is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of conservative Democrats thatgrew in size in the 110th and 111th Congresses and is becoming increasingly powerful in the House. During the 111th Congress, the co-chairs of the group were Reps. Baron Hill (D-Ind.), Charlie Melancon (D-La.) and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.).

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