Former Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides wins seat in US Congress

Former Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides is headed to Capitol Hill.

Whitesides, who also has “NASA chief of staff” on his resume, won his U.S. House of Representatives race to represent California’s 27th district, which covers a big chunk of land north of Los Angeles.

“It’s the honor of a lifetime to be elected to serve our district in Congress and deliver for Santa Clarita, the Antelope Valley and the San Fernando Valley,” Whitesides wrote in a statement on X Monday night (Nov. 11). “In Congress, you can count on me to fight to create more good local jobs, lower everyday costs, build safe communities, protect Social Security and Medicare and protect reproductive freedom,” he added.

Whitesides, a Democrat, beat Republican incumbent Mike Garcia in a close race, capturing about 51% of the vote. Garcia conceded on Monday (Nov. 11), according to LAist.com.

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Whitesides will take a wealth of aerospace experience and interest to Washington, D.C. From 2004 to 2008, for example, he was executive director of the National Space Society, a nonprofit that advocates for space science and exploration. During that stretch, he also served as a senior adviser to Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson’s suborbital space tourism company. 

Whitesides worked on President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team in 2008 and became NASA’s chief of staff the next year. He held that post until May 2010, when he left with the Distinguished Service Medal, the agency’s highest honor. 

He returned to Virgin Galactic, becoming the company’s first-ever CEO. Whitesides departed the company in 2021 to gear up for a political run (and do other things, such as co-found Megafire Action, an organization devoted to combating the United States’ worsening wildfire problem).

Last week’s election brought other aerospace players into the political action as well — chief among them SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, who campaigned hard for President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump announced yesterday (Nov. 12) that Musk will co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, a new organization that aims to “dismantle government bureaucracy” and “slash excess regulations.”

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, “Out There,” was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.