Marcus Cavalier
From Usgs
Marcus Cavalier is a Democratic Congressman that currently serves Arizona's 4th Congressional district, covering a great deal of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Cavalier served as House Majority Leader from late 2017 to the end of his first term in 2018, and now serves as Ranking Member of the House BELI Committee. Cavalier is a declared candidate for the 2020 Class 3 Senate election in the Southwest.
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| US Representative, Arizona District 4 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In Office: 2017 - Present | ||||
| Preceded by | Ed Pastor | |||
| Succeeded by | incumbent | |||
| 32nd House Majority Leader | ||||
| In Office: 2017-2018 | ||||
| Preceded by | Lynn Darcy | |||
| Succeeded by | Ryan Bingham | |||
| Born | January 10th, 1988 Denver, Colorado; United States | |||
| Political Party | Democratic | |||
| Spouse | Alexis De Medici Cavalier | |||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | |||
Contents |
Early Life
Marcus Cavalier was born in Denver, Colorado on January 10th, 1988. He lived with his parents in a lower-middle class neighborhood in the main city until he turned 10, when his parents followed their jobs with Exxon-Mobil to Phoenix, Arizona, where the family settled down permanently. In 2007, when Cavalier was almost 18, his parents were laid off from their jobs. Unable to leave his family in good faith, Cavalier gave up his college trust fund and worked two jobs to help support them. He continued to work at a fast food restaurant by day and a local bar by night for 6 years.
Music Career
One night at his night job playing at a local bar owned by Cavalier's current Chief of Staff Juan Carlos, a rep from a local record label was driving through Phoenix and broke down outside the bar. Going inside to use a phone, the rep heard Cavalier playing and immediately dragged him back to the local office to sign a record deal with he and his band. The record sold decently, topping out at number 5 on various charts. The album made Cavalier enough money to return to college. Cavalier has yet to produce another album at this point, and most of his former bandmates are employed by his Congressional office.
College Career
In 2011, Cavalier was able to return to college at the University of Arizona - Phoenix, where he studied in Bio-Engineering and Energy Sciences. It was in his Senior year that the gas cap crisis of 2015 hit the Sunbelt. Disgusted with the lack of action on the part of local and state governments in dealing with this problem, as well as others, Cavalier decided to take a course in Political Science and one in American Government the summer after he graduated.
2016 Democratic Primary: Arizona's 4th
In early 2016, Marcus declared his intention to run for the seat of Arizona's Fourth Congressional District once incumbent Ed Pastor announced that he would not seek another term. Marcus faced a bitter Democratic primary against rival Ernesto Guadalajara, a well-known city council member. In a campaign characterized by bitter personal attacks by Guadalajara on Cavalier's appearance and critique of Cavalier's conservative lean in economic policies along with Cavalier's focus on the gas caps and energy problems facing the nation, Cavalier won a close primary with 51% of the vote.
2016 General Election
Cavalier faced Republican City Coincilman Al Hernandez in the general election for Arizona's 4th Congressional Seat in what became an unusually close primary for a heavily Democratic district. Hernandez split the heavily hispanic population of the District and campaigned on assoscoiating Cavalier with the gas caps that had been written by the Democratic Minority Leader William Andrews. Both were within the margin of error for the majority of the race until the only televised debate, one week from election day, of the election. At the debate, Cavalier effectively turned the gas cap issues around on his opponent, citing that during the crisis, Hernandez had actually sent a letter to Kathleen Nelson approving of the gas cap policy and praising both her and Andrews for it. One week later, Cavalier won the seat by a margin of 54% to 46%.
