Vic Snyder

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American politician (born 1947)

title: "Vic Snyder" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1947-births", "20th-century-members-of-the-arkansas-general-assembly", "20th-century-methodists", "21st-century-united-states-representatives", "21st-century-methodists", "american-primary-care-physicians", "american-united-methodists", "democratic-party-arkansas-state-senators", "democratic-party-united-states-representatives-from-arkansas", "family-physicians", "living-people", "oregon-health-&-science-university-alumni", "politicians-from-little-rock,-arkansas", "politicians-from-medford,-oregon", "united-states-marine-corps-personnel-of-the-vietnam-war", "united-states-marine-corps-non-commissioned-officers", "willamette-university-alumni", "william-h.-bowen-school-of-law-alumni"] description: "American politician (born 1947)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vic_Snyder" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (born 1947) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Vic Snyder
image	Rep. Vic Snyder.jpg
state	Arkansas
district
term_start	January 3, 1997
term_end	January 3, 2011
predecessor	Ray Thornton
successor	Tim Griffin
office1	Member of the Arkansas Senate
term_start1	January 14, 1991
term_end1	January 3, 1997
preceded1	Doug Brandon
succeeded1	Phil Wyrick
constituency1	23rd district (1991–1993)
16th district (1993–1997)
birth_name	Victor Frederick Snyder
birth_date
birth_place	Medford, Oregon, U.S.
party	Democratic
spouse	Betsy Singleton
children	4
education	Willamette University (BA)
Oregon Health and Science University (MD)
University of Arkansas, Little Rock (JD)
branch	United States Marine Corps
serviceyears	1967–1969
rank	Corporal
battles	Vietnam War
unit	1st Marine Division
::

Early life, education and career

Vic Snyder was born in Medford, Oregon. He is a graduate of Medford High School (1965) and attended college at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, where he was a member of Kappa Sigma. In 1967, after two years of college, Snyder volunteered for the United States Marine Corps. He served in South Vietnam with Headquarters Company of the US 1st Marine Division during the Vietnam War. He served for two years and attained the rank of corporal. Snyder earned a degree in Chemistry in 1975 from Willamette and earned his M.D. degree from the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center (now Oregon Health & Science University) in Portland, Oregon in 1979.

Snyder moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, and served his residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. In 1982 after completing his residency he worked as a family practice physician for 15 years. During this time he travelled overseas to volunteer his medical services at Cambodian refugee camps in Thailand, Salvadoran refugee camps in Honduras, and Ethiopian refugee camps in Sudan, as well as a Catholic mission hospital in Sierra Leone. From 1985 to 1988 Snyder attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law to obtain his J.D. degree while still maintaining his medical practice.

Arkansas Legislature

In 1990, Snyder successfully ran for a seat in the Arkansas legislature and served in that body until 1996. In the Arkansas legislature, Snyder stepped into one of his earliest legislative controversies when he attempted to repeal the state's aged "Sodomy Laws". Ultimately, however, his efforts failed, and the sodomy laws stayed in effect until the state Supreme Court struck it down in Jegley v. Picado in March 2001. He also challenged the power of the Arkansas Highway Commission.

U.S. House of Representatives

Committee assignments

Snyder focuses on many traditionally liberal issues, including a particular interest in support for veteran's and military families. He has a fairly liberal voting record for being an elected politician from the South and otherwise conservative-leaning Arkansas. Snyder voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment, restrictions on abortion, banning lawsuits against gun manufacturers and distributors, bankruptcy reform, drilling in ANWR, and on October 10, 2002, he was among the 133 members of the House who voted against authorizing the invasion of Iraq; despite this, he regularly voted to fund the needs of soldiers stationed in Iraq. In addition, Snyder was one of only two Congressmen to vote against prosecuting Saddam Hussein.

On issues of free and expanded trade, Snyder differs with his party, especially his Southern populist colleagues. He has also opposed legislation cracking down on Wal-Mart, which is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Political campaigns

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/ColbertSnyder.PNG" caption="Better Known]]" on February 15, 2007"] ::

Snyder was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996 and was reelected in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008.

Snyder announced on January 15, 2010 that he would retire at the conclusion of his term which ended in 2010. A SurveyUSA poll released January 15, 2010 showed him trailing his Republican challenger, Tim Griffin, by 17 points, although this was early in the polling cycle.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, like most Arkansas Democrats, Snyder endorsed former U.S. Senator and former First Lady of Arkansas Hillary Clinton (D-New York) for President.

Electoral history

Personal life

Snyder, in 2003 married The Reverend Betsy Singleton, then a United Methodist minister at Little Rock's Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church.

Snyder’s congressional papers are housed at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Center for Arkansas History and Culture.

References

Teske, Steven. "Victor F. Snyder". CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
Kraushaar, Josh. (2010-01-15). "Vic Snyder retiring - The Scorecard". Politico.Com.
They have four children, all boys, named Penn, Aubrey, Wyatt, and Sullivan. The latter three are triplets.. (September 2024https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2010/mar/17/and-babies-make-20100317/)
"Victor F. Snyder Congressional Papers". University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

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