Ken Cuccinelli

Cuccinelli was born in Edison, New Jersey, the son of Maribeth (née Reilly) and Kenneth Thomas Cuccinelli. His father is of Italian descent and his mother is of Irish ancestry. He attended Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C., where he graduated in 1986, and received a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia, a JD from George Mason University School of Law, and an MA in international commerce and policy, also from George Mason University. In 1993 Cuccinelli entered the United States Marine Corps, but was discharged after failing to complete his initial training and did only one week on active duty.

Cuccinelli co-founded a general practice law firm in Fairfax, Virginia.

Cuccinelli ran for the state Senate in the 37th District in an August 2002 special election. He defeated Democrat Catherine Belter 55%–45%. In 2003, he was re-elected to his first full term, defeating Democrat Jim E. Mitchell III 53% to 47%. In 2007, he barely won re-election to his second full term, narrowly defeating Democrat Janet Oleszek by a 0.3-point margin, a difference of just 92 votes out of about 37,000 votes cast.

In 2009, Cuccinelli was selected as the Republican nominee for attorney general, going on to win 58% of the vote (1,123,816 votes). Republican Bob McDonnell became governor, and Bill Bolling was re-elected as lieutenant governor. Cuccinelli was inaugurated on January 16, 2010.

In 2010, Cuccinelli was the first attorney general to file a federal lawsuit (Virginia v. Sebelius) challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). During his 2013 run for governor, Cuccinelli opposed the ACA's Medicaid expansion.

In July 2010, Cuccinelli joined eight other states in filing an amicus brief opposing the federal government's lawsuit challenging an Arizona immigration enforcement statute. In August 2010, Cuccinelli authorized law enforcement officials to investigate the immigration status of anyone that they stopped.

Cuccinelli rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. In 2010, Cuccinelli sought judicial review of the Environmental Protection Agency's finding that greenhouse gasses endanger public health. In 2012, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Cuccinelli's arguments. In 2010, Cuccinelli announced he would challenge the March 2010 standards for motor vehicle fuel efficiency specified in the Clean Air Act. In April 2010, as part of the attorney general of Virginia's climate science investigation, Cuccinelli served a civil investigative demand on the University of Virginia seeking a broad range of documents related to climate researcher Michael E. Mann. On August 30, 2010, Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. ruled that "the nature of the conduct is not stated so that any reasonable person could glean what Dr. Mann did to violate the statute." Cuccinelli appealed the case to the Virginia Supreme Court, which ruled that Cuccinelli did not have the authority to make these demands. …

Cuccinelli opposes legal abortion. In November 2008 he was named the Family Foundation of Virginia "Legislator of the Year". Cuccinelli sponsored a number of bills to discourage abortions, including requiring doctors to anesthetize fetuses undergoing late term abortions, altering the licensing and regulation of abortion clinics, and requiring that a doctor save the fetal tissue when performing an abortion on a woman under age 15, for forensic use. As a state senator, he advanced legislation to make abortion clinics subject to the same health and safety standards as outpatient surgical hospitals. He supported two "personhood" bills that sought to provide human embryos with legal rights.

In 2010, Cuccinelli made statements that appeared to question whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States. He later backed away from the statements.

Cuccinelli is a longtime advocate for gun rights. sponsored legislation to repeal the prohibition on carrying a concealed handgun in a restaurant or club, for Virginia to recognize concealed handgun permits from other states, and to shield concealed handgun permit application data from Freedom of Information Act requests. Under Cuccinelli's proposal a person could only be disqualified for such a permit by a court ruling based on the applicant's past actions. In the 2009 legislative session, a bill Cuccinelli introduced was passed that, for the purposes of granting a Virginia concealed handgun permit, required the state to accept as proof of "handgun competence" any certificate from an online handgun safety course featuring an NRA Certified instructor.

Cuccinelli believes that mental illness is the root cause of mass shootings, and that they can be better prevented with more access to mental health care. He has pushed for restricting mentally ill persons from obtaining guns.

Cuccinelli filed a novel challenge to Virginia's "Assault Weapons" ban (SB 749 and HB 217) in Curtis, et al. v. Katz, et al. - arguing, in sum, that the prohibitions in SB 749/HB 217 were unconstitutional under Article I, § 13 of the Constitution of Virginia (the "Militia Clause"). …

Cuccinelli, a Catholic, is married to Alice Monteiro Davis. They met at Gonzaga College High School and were each other's prom dates. They lost touch when Cuccinelli was attending the University of Virginia and Davis was attending James Madison University. Cuccinelli phoned her during their senior year in college, they reconnected, and married in October 1991. They have seven children.

They live in Nokesville in Prince William County, Virginia.