Heath Shuler
Joseph Heath Shuler is an American former politician and professional football quarterback who served as the U.S. representative for from 2007 to 2013. The district covers the Blue Ridge Mountains in Western North Carolina. A member of the Democratic Party, he played in the National Football League for five seasons prior to his political career.
Shuler played college football at the University of Tennessee, winning SEC Player of the Year in 1993, and was selected by the Washington Redskins third overall in the 1994 NFL draft. Unable to match his collegiate success, he was traded from the Redskins after three seasons and spent his final two with the New Orleans Saints.
Shuler launched his first political campaign during the 2006 House elections and defeated Republican incumbent Charles H. Taylor. During his Congressional tenure, he was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition and known for challenging the leadership of his party, including running against Nancy Pelosi for Democratic leader in 2010. After his district was redrawn in 2011 to replace much of his Democratic support from Asheville with several Republican counties, Shuler announced he would not seek re-election the following year. He retired from politics after his term ended.
Early life
Shuler was born in Bryson City, North Carolina, a small town in the Great Smoky Mountains near the Tennessee border. His father was a mail carrier and his mother a homemaker and volunteer with the Swain County Youth Association; he has a younger brother, Benjie.Shuler's athletic career began at Swain County High School in Bryson City. A standout quarterback who led his team to three NCHSAA 1A state championships, he was named as the North Carolina High School Player of the Year. He attracted scout attention and accepted an athletic scholarship to the University of Tennessee in 1990.
College career
Under head coaches Johnny Majors and Phillip Fulmer, Shuler gained national attention as one of the SEC's top quarterbacks. After a limited role in the 1991 season behind quarterback Andy Kelly, he became a prolific passer. In the 1992 season, he passed for 1,712 passing yards, ten touchdowns, and four interceptions as Tennessee finished with a 9–3 record. The next season, he finished with 2,354 passing yards, 25 touchdowns, and eight interceptions as Tennessee finished with a 9–2–1 record. He held nearly all Volunteer passing records by the end of his collegiate career; most were subsequently eclipsed by Peyton Manning. In 1993, Shuler was the Southeastern Conference player of the year and came in second behind Florida State quarterback Charlie Ward in the voting for the Heisman Trophy.College statistics
Professional football career
Shuler was a first-round selection in the 1994 NFL draft, taken by the Washington Redskins with the third overall pick. He held out of training camp until he received a 7-year, $19.25 million contract, most of the holdout being due to Shuler's agent and the Redskins general manager discussing the parameters of the contract. The Redskins had fallen on hard times since winning Super Bowl XXVI, and Shuler was considered the quarterback of the future. However, Shuler's poor play contributed to a quarterback controversy with fellow 1994 draft pick, seventh-rounder Gus Frerotte. Public and fan sentiment soon began to back Frerotte, especially after Shuler threw five interceptions in a 19–16 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Shuler started 18 games in his first two years with the team and was benched in his third year, as Frerotte led the team.After the 1996 season, Shuler was traded to the New Orleans Saints for a fifth-round pick in the 1997 draft and a third-round pick in 1998. Shuler's statistics remained poor. He suffered a serious foot injury during the 1997 season in New Orleans and had two surgeries to try to correct it. Football statistics site Football Outsiders called Shuler "The least valuable quarterback of 1997." Shuler chose the Saints over the Packers, who were also interested, because of the opportunity to start in New Orleans despite Washington GM Charley Casserly urging Shuler to pick the Packers because of their ability to develop quarterbacks.
After being unable to take the field due to his foot injury in his second season in New Orleans, Shuler signed with the Oakland Raiders. After re-injuring his foot in training camp, he was cut and later retired. As a professional, his career passer rating was a 54.3. In 2004, ESPN rated him the 17th biggest 'sports flop' of the past 25 years, along with the fourth biggest NFL draft bust. In 2007, the NFL Network ranked Shuler as the ninth-biggest bust in NFL history.
Real estate career
After retiring from the NFL, Shuler returned to the University of Tennessee and completed his degree in psychology. He became a real estate professional in Knoxville, Tennessee. His real estate company was one of the largest independent firms in East Tennessee. In 2003, Shuler moved to Biltmore Forest, North Carolina.U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
;2006In July 2005, Shuler announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination to run against eight-term incumbent Republican Charles H. Taylor. North Carolina's 11th congressional district covered most of the Western North Carolina mountains where Shuler grew up.
Shuler was a tough target for opponents. His views on social issues were in line with the traditionally conservative district and he did not have a legislative record for opponents to attack. His campaign points were based on supporting cultural "mountain values:" opposing abortion rights, same-sex marriage and gun control. Taylor, an Appropriations subcommittee chairman, campaigned on his ability to bring federal money to the district. In October, with polls showing Taylor trailing, The Wall Street Journal ran a story about spending earmarks sought by Taylor that benefited many of his business interests. Taylor poured $2.5 million of his own money into his race, and spent $4.4 million overall, compared with Shuler's $1.8 million.
Shuler repeatedly attacked Taylor for failing to stand up for the 11th's interests. For example, he blasted Taylor for missing a vote on the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which passed by only two votes. Shuler pointed out that, according to the House roll call, Taylor voted 11 times on the same day that CAFTA came up for a vote, suggesting he deliberately avoided the vote. Taylor was one of two Republicans who did not vote on the bill, even though he had publicly opposed it in the past.
Taylor attempted to tie Shuler to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, although Shuler was nearly as conservative on social issues as Taylor.
In the November election, Shuler won with 54 percent of the vote to Taylor's 46 percent. He carried nine of the district's 15 counties, including several that had reliably supported Taylor over the years. He even won Taylor's home county of Transylvania. Shuler was one of only two Democrats to defeat an incumbent in the South that year. His victory gave the Democrats a majority of the state's congressional delegation for the first time since the 1994 elections. North Carolina's 11th was one of thirty seats picked up by Democrats nationwide in 2006, giving them control of the House for the first time since 1994.
In 2009, a documentary film about the successful 2006 Democratic campaign to retake control of the House, HouseQuake, prominently featured then-Congressman Rahm Emanuel's efforts to recruit new candidates including Shuler. "Mr. Emanuel's efforts to get him to run offer one of the most revealing moments in the film," including two weeks of frequent phone calls about the balancing of family and Congressional obligations. The film was directed and produced by Karen Elizabeth Price, daughter of Congressman David Price who represented North Carolina's 4th congressional district.
;2008
In 2008, Shuler faced Carl Mumpower, a Republican Asheville city councilman, and Libertarian Keith Smith. Shuler won strongly with 62 percent of the vote. He easily carried all 15 counties in the district, including the traditionally Republican Henderson County.
;2010
In early 2009, Shuler was mentioned as a possible candidate to run against incumbent Republican Richard Burr for the United States Senate in the next year's elections. He ultimately chose not to do so, and sought reelection to the House. Shuler defeated Republican nominee Jeff Miller, winning reelection by a margin of 54% to 46%.
;2012
Although Shuler represented a district with a slight Republican bent, he had a lifetime ACU rating of 28.5.
In July 2011, the Republican-dominated General Assembly significantly redrew the 11th. The district and its predecessors had been anchored in Asheville for over a century. However, the new map saw most of heavily Democratic Asheville drawn into the 10th. To make up for the population loss, a number of heavily Republican counties in the Foothills were moved to the 11th. The redistricting reduced the percentage of registered Democrats in the 11th from 43% to 36%. Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University, concluded that the new district was so heavily Republican that Shuler would need to "practically completely separate himself from the Democratic party" in order to have any chance of winning a fourth term. Years later, NBC News also concluded that the redrawn 11th was all but unwinnable for a Democrat, even one as conservative as Shuler. The map was drawn in a way that a number of neighborhoods in Asheville, and even streets, were split between the two districts. In some parts of Asheville, one side of the street moved to the 10th while the other side remained in the 11th.
Over the course of 2011, several persons declared their candidacy for Shuler's seat or expressed interest in a possible run.
On February 2, 2012, Shuler announced that he would not run for another term. He endorsed his former chief of staff, Hayden Rogers, in the race to succeed him. However, as expected, Rogers found the new 11th's redder hue impossible to overcome, and was heavily defeated by Republican Mark Meadows. Years later, Shuler told NBC News that the kind of ultra-precise redistricting that enabled the Republican-dominated legislature to split Asheville between two districts was bad for the country because it made it all but impossible to elect moderates to Congress. He argued that a fairer redistricting system was "the single greatest thing that could happen". Underscoring how Republican the district now was, Shuler would be the last Democrat to win as much as 40 percent of the district's vote until 2020, when the district regained all of Asheville.