George Whitesides
U.S. Representative from CA, District 27
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Biography
George Whitesides is a Democratic U.S. Representative from California's 27th District, a former NASA chief of staff and Virgin Galactic CEO serving on Armed Services and Science, Space, and Technology.
George T. Whitesides is the U.S. Representative for California's 27th Congressional District, a Democrat first elected in 2024 and currently serving his first term in the 119th Congress representing a northern Los Angeles County district including the Antelope Valley, Santa Clarita, and Simi Valley. A graduate of Princeton and Cambridge, Whitesides served as chief of staff at NASA during the Obama administration and received the agency's Distinguished Service Medal. He spent more than a decade as chief executive officer of Virgin Galactic, overseeing commercial spaceflight vehicle development and creating over 700 jobs in the Antelope Valley before departing in 2021. In the 119th Congress he serves on the Armed Services Committee and the Science, Space, and Technology Committee. He co-sponsored the bipartisan DOE and NASA Interagency Research Coordination Act and focuses on aerospace, scientific research, climate change, and workforce development reflecting the aerospace economy of his district.