Herbert E. Harris II, former congressman from Northern Virginia, dies at 88

By Rachel Weiner December 29 at 5:21 PM
@rachelweinerwp
rachel.weiner@washpost.com

Herbert E. Harris II, a former Democratic congressman from Northern Virginia who fought to extend the Metro system, died Dec. 24 at his home in the Mount Vernon area of Fairfax County. He was 88. ... His daughter, Susan Hept, declined to specify the cause of death.

Known as a confident and outspoken liberal in an era when the Virginia suburbs were far more conservative, Mr. Harris spent six years in the House of Representatives in the post-Watergate era and then returned to private legal practice after two expensive and bruising losses to Republican Stanford E. Parris.

Mr. Harris introduced legislation in 1980 providing $1.9 billion in federal funds to complete the Metro system and pushed for Metro expansion to Dulles International Airport and other parts of Northern Virginia.

“The Metro system as it exists today would not be there but for Herb Harris,” former representative Tom Davis (R-Va.) said in a 2001 speech.