Congressman Rob Wittman and the Seven Deadly Sins
If you can't do good, at least do better, Rob
Greetings from Wittman Watch HQ! 👋
Last Thursday we talked about why Wittman’s seniority on the House Armed Services Committee, and his aspirations to chair it, will never translate into real power or real benefits for VA-01.
On Tuesday we opened the Wittman Truth File on healthcare. WTFs are great for sharing with friends, neighbors, and anyone you know who might benefit from never voting for Wittman again. (That would be everyone.)
The concept of sin should be familiar to a church member like Congressman Rob Wittman (VA-01). We’re surprised that his congressional track record suggests he might not grasp what it means to do wrong by his constituents. Where might he be going astray? Let’s find out.
Pride
Wittman regularly brags on his website about his accomplishments, even though his voting record belies his many boasts. For example, he took pride in receiving the 2026 “Champion Science Award” from The Science Coalition. But it’s impossible to consider him a champion when he stood idly by as Trump fired the entire National Science Board; voted to rescind $9.4 billion in unobligated funds that would have supported things like the Clean Technology Fund; stayed silent when President Trump repealed the Endangerment Act; and voted to increase our exposure to lead.
Wittman takes pride in the fictitious idea that our U.S. economy is “the hottest” in the world, even as Trump administration policies have been tanking Virginia’s economy and job market. Wittman is proud of being a self-described “fiscal hawk,” yet none of his fiscal accountability bills has ever become law. Is he proud of adding $5.3 trillion to the national debt? It sure seems like it, or he wouldn’t have supported lots of draconian economic policies, including tax cuts for billionaires.
VERDICT: Rob Wittman preens like a peacock about his legislative accomplishments, including those that are unearned and those that have inflicted harm in VA-01 and beyond.
Envy
In 2021, Wittman declared that he’s “the most senior Virginia Republican in Congress.” He seems to covet credibility and authority. Even before he was elected in 2007, he was promised a spot on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC). Ever since, he’s been aspiring to the Chair position.
In service of his goals, he has debased himself, made himself subservient to those he’s supposed to oversee, and effectively destroyed his ability to ever do the job of Chair. His craven pandering has confirmed his unsuitability for the very job he craves.
VERDICT: Wittman covets seniority and admiration far beyond what is warranted by his Congressional activities over 19 years in office.
Wrath
Wittman’s anti-immigration activities are evidence of his cruelty and anger at people who are breaking no laws in their efforts to have a better life and contribute to America’s success. Wittman helped trash a bipartisan border deal; votes for political-stunt legislation; spreads propaganda about immigrants and immigration enforcement; and stays silent while immigration enforcement morphs into political theater that hurts our communities. The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement measures — which Wittman supports 100% of the time — have an enormous blast radius. Children, families, and U.S. citizens are all caught up in it, sometimes to the point of death. Nothing illustrates Wittman’s uncontrolled anger more than voting for scorched-earth government policies that result in human casualties.
2025 witnessed a surge of protests against Rob Wittman because of his vote for H. R. 1 (the so-called “big, beautiful bill”) and his refusal to host in-person town hall meetings. One of these protests, on February 25, 2025, occurred at his “mobile office hours” in Midlothian. For nearly two hours, hundreds of constituents raised signs and voiced their concerns about Wittman’s support of H. R. 1 and its huge Medicaid cuts. Some of the protesters were so negatively impacted by his vote that they cried. Did Wittman respond or show any compassion? Nope — he shut down the Midlothian mobile office location shortly after the protest. Sounds like he had a problem managing his anger in response to constituents demanding that he do his job.
Wittman’s wrath manifests in other ways. He’s “a dangerous enabler” of the Trump Administration’s unsanctioned acts, such as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s orders to the US military to commit murder. Wittman’s angry disdain for his most vulnerable constituents is made clear by how many times he voted to cut the ACA and social safety nets like SNAP. He regularly votes to gut protections for workers, voting rights, and reproductive rights. His legislative actions repeatedly demonstrate that the cruelty is the point.
Wittman has demonstrated threatening behavior as Vice Chair of the HASC. In 2024, when the Navy canceled a submarine purchase because of a lack of “industrial base capacity to deliver two on time,” Wittman demanded they buy the usual two. Even though the Pentagon supported the Navy’s decision, Wittman called the Navy’s mitigation strategy “baloney” and threatened that “…they better get with the program, or — or else.” Or else what, Rob? Instead of collaborating with the Navy to improve base capacity, he took an adversarial and threatening stance.
VERDICT: Wittman has taken hostile, drastic action in response to reasonable, legal, and Constitutionally-protected behaviors of immigrants, his own constituents, and even the U. S. Navy.
Gluttony
As Congress faced a looming government shutdown in 2025, you might expect Wittman to have done everything within his power to stop it. You could have imagined he would exhaust all options to overcome the deadlock of dueling funding proposals to reach a bipartisan budget deal. Well, you’d be wrong. Instead of doing his job, Wittman was fundraising “at a swanky steakhouse serving $28 cheeseburgers” and $51 lunch entrees. Cameras captured him leaving The Capital Grille, a favorite restaurant for lobbyists.
Wittman held this lavish fundraiser even as the imminent shutdown “would suspend the pay of hundreds of thousands of federal workers.” He claimed that, since Congress was still in session, his fancy dinner counted as “working.” That steak must have gone to his head. In his hunger for power and wealth, Wittman appears to have confused public service with working for big donors.
VERDICT: Wittman put his own appetites before the well-being of federal workers, his constituents, and everyone else who would be impacted by the shutdown.
Lust
Wittman expressed support for workplace mandatory sexual harassment training and voted for the Epstein Files Transparency Act (H.R. 4405), and we’re glad he did. But that definitely does not absolve him of his Congressional inaction in matters of sexual predation.
Wittman doesn’t seem to mind that Trump was found liable of sexual abuse and that dozens of other women have accused him of sexual assault or harassment. The president’s extensive history of sexism and misogynistic attacks is mind-boggling:
Trump’s “grab ‘em by the p----” comment on Access Hollywood
Trump’s defamation and battery (i.e., sexual assault) of E. Jean Carroll
Trump’s sexually explicit birthday letter to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein
Trump’s barging into the dressing room of two young Miss USA 2001 contestants while they were unclothed
Trump’s stream of misogynist comments, including but not limited to “blood coming out of her whatever,” “She never smiles,” and “Quiet, piggy.”
It’s unfathomable that the American president is an adjudicated rapist who was also cozy with Jeffrey Epstein; yet Wittman goes about his business like none of it matters. Compare his lack of Congressional oversight on the Epstein Files to, say, that of Rep. Ro Khanna, who took the bull by the horns by introducing the Epstein Files Transparency Act (H.R.4405) to hold Trump and his administration accountable.
VERDICT: Wittman could have done much more to protect people from sexual predation than his single performative vote on the Epstein Files. His lack of moral authority is an embarrassment to Virginia’s First District.
Sloth
Wittman has been neither dynamic nor effective in his 19 years as our representative. He refuses to hold in-person town halls; the last one was nine years ago. He has consistently failed to defend the Constitution and uphold his oath of office. When it comes to legislation, Wittman does little work yet hogs the credit. The Community Project Funding (CPF) checks he loves to show off in photo ops represent woefully underfunded earmarks, and he expects us to be grateful for the crumbs.
Wittman has no hustle. In 19 years, he has been the primary sponsor of only 10 bills that have been enacted; some of those were just for naming things. As we mentioned above, none of his fiscal accountability bills have become law.
He’s a performative politician with a string of policy failures. And get this: in 2025, he only worked for 87 days in Congress. What did he do with the rest of his time?
VERDICT: Wittman underperforms across the board. He’s content to rubber-stamp and enable Trump, rather than roll up his sleeves and work hard for his constituents.
Greed
Wittman is a federal public servant and a representative of the people; at the same time, he is also engaged in accumulating personal wealth. It’s easy to buy his loyalty. Between 2023 and 2024, he vacuumed up $982,346 in PAC donations. Out of that amount, $68,000 came from oil and gas, mining, chemical & manufacturing, and electric utilities. PAC contributions account for 40% of his campaign contributions. We already know he serves big donors, not us:
Wittman’s money comes from large donors, organizations, and companies he oversees as a legislator, as well as from lobbyists — and almost nothing comes from grassroots contributions from the people of VA-01.
Beyond that, he enriches himself with Big Energy stocks and stands to benefit from a NextEra utility rate hike. He makes millions while in office as his constituents get poorer, inflation rises, the job market breaks down, and Virginia’s economy weakens. He profits from data centers. Defense contractors pay him to play; 21% of Wittman’s donations came from defense or defense aerospace companies (and individuals associated with those industries). Then there’s the conflict of interest that arises from his role as Vice Chair of the HASC.
Wittman has “exploded his net worth while trading millions in stocks.” He stands to gain $59,300 in savings from a bill for which he voted. Most VA-01 residents don’t have a triple-decker beach house, let alone the ability to slash taxes on it so their bank accounts can balloon to ever-larger proportions. But Rob Wittman does.
VERDICT: Wittman has been enriching himself while creating and enabling dire financial situations for his constituents.
Wittman’s choices and actions during his congressional tenure carry echoes of pride, envy, wrath, gluttony, lust, sloth, and greed. He could have chosen to serve with compassion, a moral compass, and altruism, but he’s done the opposite instead. The result is that we, his constituents, continue to suffer.
Can Rob Wittman redeem himself? What do you think?
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