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.
| ||||
| 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.
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.
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%.
1st Congressional Term and House Majority Leader Tenure
During his first term in Congress, Marcus Cavalier was quickly appointed to the House Science, Health, Education, and Environment Committee chaired by Michael Fox and the House Budget, Economy, Labor, and Infrastructure Committee chaired by Damien Austin. Following a conflict in the committee over a Mason tax policy, Cavalier stepped down from BELI and was promptly reappointed to the House Judiciary Committee led by Rainbow McNiel. He was known to be a fervent opponent of pork spending in the SHEE Committee and during his tenure in JUD, the committee was often referred to by Republicans as a "gay nightclub" for the large amount of pro-GLBT rights legislation that passed through it.
Towards the end of 2017, Cavalier succeeded Lynn Darcy as House Majority Leader following Darcy's abrupt resignation from Congress. Cavalier quickly reorganized what was seen publicly as a faltering Democratic Party and, in what is considered the most controversial part of his career, led the charge to pass the first Mason budget through Congress unammended, being called a partisan by the Minority and Republican pundits while at the same time earning praise from proponents of the Mason Administration. Also passed during his term was legislation prohibiting federal firearm fees, legislation to increase security at high-risk location, legislation to promote the expansion of alternative energies, a slew of equal rights legislation and hate crime legislation, and legislation to end nuclear dumping in Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
During his term in office, poll's mostly put Cavalier's approval rating above 60%.
2018 Democratic Primary: Arizona's 4th
In 2018, Cavalier announced his intent to run for re-election and was again primaried by his former opponent Ernesto Guadalajara, who claimed that Cavalier had not represented the heavily Democratic district accurately in his economic policies. Cavalier easily defeated Guadalajara, winning 89% of the primary vote in a low turnout election.
2018 Re-Election
Cavalier faced Republican Rick Viejo in the general election for Arizona's 4th Congressional District. Cavalier cited his experience as House Majority Leader and his leading of the charge to lower energy prices and wean the nation off of oil as key tenants of his re-election campaign, while Viejo contended that Marcus had betrayed the District's moral values, citing the "gay nightclub" of JUD legislation that was championed by the Congressman. With energy still the hot-button issue, Cavalier handily won re-election with 65% of the vote.
