Benjamin Lee Cline (born February 29, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 6th congressional district since 2019.

[1] From 2002 to 2007, including his years in law school, Cline was president of NDS Corporation, a Virginia-based company providing sales and marketing assistance to rural Internet and technology businesses.

[citation needed] After graduating from law school, he served as an assistant Commonwealth's Attorney for Rockingham County and the city of Harrisonburg until 2013.

[5][independent source needed] Before his election to Congress, Cline maintained a private law practice in Lexington, Harrisonburg, and Amherst.

[8] In November 2017, Cline announced he would run for Congress in Virginia's 6th congressional district in 2018 for the seat being vacated by retiring incumbent Bob Goodlatte.

[12] Cline served on the House of Delegates Committees on Commerce and Labor, Courts of Justice, Finance, and chaired the Militia, Police and Public Safety.

[39] In 2012, Cline helped negotiate a compromise between law enforcement and prisoner advocates regarding HB836, which restricted the usage of restraints on pregnant inmates, by supporting the intent of the legislation in the form of a rule change by the Virginia Board of Corrections, winning praise locally for his involvement on the issue.

HB2229 stated that if the federal government wished to detain an American citizen on those grounds, it first needed to notify the chief law enforcement official in the individual's locality or do so within 24 hours of the detention.

The House rejected the Senate amendment and the bill died in a conference committee due to the Virginia State Police complaining that the federal government was threatening to pull out of MOUs.

In 2005, Cline patroned HB2554, a bill that created the I-81 Safety Task Force, and HJ709, a resolution that encouraged Congress to develop a multistate I-81 initiative.

Led by Dunbar supporters, the District Committee attempted to push through a "plurality" rule for the Congressional race so that whoever got the highest vote on the first ballot would win.

In a field of eight candidates, that number could have been significantly lower than 51% (even as low as 20%), which elicited accusations that the District Committee thought that Dunbar couldn't beat Cline on her own merits.

It turned out to be unnecessary since Rockingham County Clerk of Court Chaz Haywood (another candidate) dropped out of the race at the Convention and endorsed Cline.

The final tally was: Cline, 52.62%; Dunbar, 39.15%; Douglas Wright, 3.63%; Elliot Pope, 2.59%; Michael Desjadon, 1.19%; Eduardo Justo, 0.51%; Kathryn McDaniel Lewis, 0.25%, and Haywood, who appeared on the ballot despite his late withdrawal, 0.06%.

"[10] According to the Staunton News Leader, a USA Today newspaper in Cline's district, Cline's House campaign website detailed "his record of supporting conservative legislation in the House of Delegates... [where he] voted against a tax increase, helped make budget cuts to the state's 'bloated bureaucracy,' and sponsored legislation that would ban sanctuary cities".

[53] At his election victory celebration, Representative-elect Cline told his supporters, "Being part of the checks and balances that our Founding Fathers envisioned is a responsibility that I will guard seriously.

"[53] In an interview as he arrived for his swearing in at the House, Cline described to a Staunton, Virginia, news reporter his 6th district as having 800,000 constituents in "19 cities and counties... each one [with] different character and different political affiliations".

[57] In December 2020, Cline was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated[58] incumbent Donald Trump.

[59] In September 2021, Cline was among 75 House Republicans to vote against the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022, which contains a provision that would require women to be drafted.

[63] According to an algorithm developed by researchers at FiveThirtyEight, although Cline is a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, his voting record aligns more with "far-right obstructionists" like Marjorie Taylor Greene.