Robert Sarvis becomes first in U.S. Senate race to embrace term limits

U.S. Term Limits, the nation’s oldest and largest term limits advocacy group, praised Virginia U.S. Senate Candidate Robert Sarvis for promising to support and co-sponsor an amendment to the U.S. Constitution limiting congressional terms. Sarvis signed the USTL pledge at the Term Limits Summit in Richmond last week.

USTL President Philip Blumel commented on Sarvis’ pledge, saying, “Of the three candidates in this race, only Robert Sarvis has made a commitment to stand with the 75 percent of Americans who support term limits on Congress.”

“The people of Virginia must be asking ‘where are Ed Gillespie and Mark Warner on this issue?’” he added.

The U.S. Term Limits Amendment Pledge is provided to every announced candidate for federal office. It reads, “I pledge that as a member of Congress I will cosponsor and vote for the U.S. Term Limits amendment of three (3) House terms and two (2) Senate terms and no longer limit.”

The U.S. Term Limits Constitutional Amendment has been introduced in both the U.S. Senate by Senator David Vitter (R-LA) and the House of Representatives by Representative Matt Salmon (R-AZ). It currently has 30 sponsors between both chambers.

Blumel noted, “Citizens are fed up with members of Congress who put their own self-interest before the needs of their constituents. Fortunately, with pledge signers like Robert Sarvis on board, political pressure will continue to build toward the passage of a term limits amendment.”

According to the last nationwide poll on term limits conducted by Gallup, the issue enjoys wide bi-partisan support. The poll showed that term limits have majority support with voters in both major parties, as well as independents.

Gallup’s analysis states, “Republicans and independents are slightly more likely than Democrats to favor term limits; nevertheless, the vast majority of all party groups agree on the issue. Further, Gallup finds no generational differences in support for the proposal.”

The term limits amendment bills would require a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate, and ratification by 38 states in order to become part of the constitution.