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FIRST ON FOX: In his capacity as a member of Congress, Rep. Josh Harder, D-Calif., works to bring in more jobs to the Golden State.
His wife, however, works for a Virginia state entity that has goal to boost the Virginia economy — which includes recruiting businesses from other states.
Pam Harder, the congressman’s wife, has been an employee of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) for over three years.
Pam Harder, the wife of Rep. Josh Harder, D-Calif., works for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.
(Getty Images)
According to her LinkedIn account, Pam Harder currently works at the VEDP as the director of strategy and operations for the office of education economics and has held the post since January 2022. She also held a couple other director roles in the office of “Strategic Talent initiatives” at VEDP beginning in May 2019.
One of the projects she helped lead was the “Amazon HQ2 rollout and scale-up and Virginia’s $1.1 billion Tech Talent Investment Program.” She also recently “created, launched, and joined as a founding team member the newly created Virginia Office of Education Economics, which is “a state-wide labor market analytics group focused on examining the intersections between education and work in Virginia to support and inform policy and practice change.”
The VEDP was created in 1995 by the Virginia state legislature “to encourage, stimulate, and support development and expansion of the Commonwealth’s economy.”
“To accomplish these objectives, the Partnership focuses on business recruitment, expansion, and international trade,” the VEDP website reads.
The VEDP looks to ensure “that effective marketing programs are delivered” and to engage in business and product “development activities,” as well as encourage the “coordination of economic development organizations.”
“With dedicated and knowledgeable professionals committed to Virginia’s economic success, VEDP helps businesses find the resources they need to make relocation and expansion successful endeavors,” the website reads.
Josh Harder has been in office since 2019,
(Josh Harder)
In recent years, Virginia has seen a massive expansion of business hitting its eastern shores, such as Amazon’s plan to open a second headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.
California companies have been far from absent in the Great Firm Migration growing in America, with even Virginia poaching companies from the Golden State.
One such industrial titan is Nestle, which moved its North America headquarters cross-country from California to Arlington County, Virginia in 2018 — right outside of Washington, D.C.
Democratic candidate for California’s 10th Congressional District Josh Harder and his wife, Pam Harder, place Pam’s ballot inside a ballot box at a polling station on Nov. 6, 2018 in Modesto, California.
(Getty Images)
Even Apple explored the option of moving to the Old Dominion in 2018 while looking for a place to establish its then-new headquarters, meeting with now-former Governor Ralph Northam in their California offices to discuss a potential deal.
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Prior to the VEDP, Pam Harder worked at Clever, Inc., in San Francisco as head of strategy and business operations.
The California congressman’s office and VEDP did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions regarding his wife’s Virginia state employment.
