Steven Palazzo

In April 2006, incumbent Republican State Representative Leonard Bentz of Mississippi's 116th House District resigned because he was appointed to the Mississippi Public Service Commission. Palazzo sought election to the vacated seat, defeating Democratic candidate Maryann Graczyk, an education lobbyist, and Republican George Emile, a funeral home director, 51%–26%–24%.[4] In 2007, running unopposed, he was elected to a full term.[5]

Palazzo served on the Banking and Financial Services, Juvenile Justice, Labor, Select Committee on the Gulf Coast Disaster, and the Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Committees.[2]

Palazzo entered the Republican primary for Mississippi's 4th congressional district and won the nomination with 57% of the vote. He faced 10-term Democratic incumbent Gene Taylor in the general election. Although the 4th district had turned almost solidly Republican at the federal level, Taylor held the seat without serious difficulty from 1996 onward. His voting record had been very conservative even by Mississippi Democratic standards, and he'd often broken with his party. Palazzo established himself as Taylor's strongest opponent since 1996. In particular, he attacked Taylor for supporting Nancy Pelosi for House Speaker in 2006 and 2008.[6] He was endorsed by Sarah Palin and in the November 2010 general election, Palazzo defeated Taylor 52%–47%.[7]

In the Republican primary, Palazzo defeated two challengers with 74% of the vote.[8] In the November election, he defeated Democratic candidate Matthew Moore 64%–29%.[9]

In the 2014 Republican primary, Palazzo faced his predecessor, Gene Taylor, and three other challengers.[10] Taylor switched parties in a bid to return to his former House seat.[11] Taylor actively campaigned and drew large numbers of Democrats into the Republican primary.[10] Palazzo was targeted by the Club for Growth in the primary.[12] Palazzo won 50.5% of the vote while Taylor received 43%.[10]

On November 4, 2014, Palazzo easily defeated his 2012 general election opponent, Matt Moore, 69.9% to 24.3%; four minor party or independent candidates accounted for 3.8% of the vote.[13]

In the Republican primary, Palazzo ran unopposed for the first time in his political career. On November 8, Palazzo garnered 65.2% of the vote defeating Democrat Mark Gladney and two minor candidates.[14]

In the Republican primary for U.S. House Mississippi District 4, Palazzo defeated E. Brian Rose on June 5, 2018, by a margin of 70.5% to 29.5%. He won the general election over Democratic state Representative Jeramey Anderson, by a margin of 68.2% to 30.7%, with Lajena Sheets of the Reform Party taking 1% of the vote.[15]

In the primary, Palazzo ran against Robert Deming, Samuel Hickman and Carl Boyanton. He won the primary on June 3, 2020, receiving 66.8%, with second place (Deming) receiving 14.1%. He ran unopposed in the general election for the first time in his career, receiving 255,971 votes, an increase of over 100,000 from 2018.

Palazzo voted with his Republican colleagues to pass a balanced budget amendment and to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

In February 2017, Palazzo began to face calls from constituents to attend town halls. One on the Gulf Coast in Long Beach was organized. A similar meeting was organized in Hattiesburg. Palazzo did not attend either.[16][17]

In 2018, Palazzo defended the Trump administration's policy of separating small children from immigrant parents by blaming it on Democratic administrations. "Overall, it’s a terrible, sad situation that unfortunately has been created by years of liberal policies that lead illegal immigrants to believe they can freely stroll through our borders. There is no law requiring separation of families at the border. In April, Attorney General Sessions implemented a zero-tolerance policy that mandates that each person caught illegally crossing the U.S. border be criminally prosecuted. I stand firmly behind that policy." He continued, "...this separation of families is the adverse effect created by a past liberal policy." "I will not allow the Democrats and liberal media to use this issue to push amnesty or other unsafe immigration policies down the throats of the American people."[18]

In December 2020, Palazzo was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives who signed 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 prevailed[19] over incumbent Donald Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of the election held by another state.[20][21][22]

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement that called signing the amicus brief an act of "election subversion." Additionally, Pelosi reprimanded Palazzo and the other House members who supported the lawsuit: "The 126 Republican Members that signed onto this lawsuit brought dishonor to the House. Instead of upholding their oath to support and defend the Constitution, they chose to subvert the Constitution and undermine public trust in our sacred democratic institutions."[23][24] New Jersey Representative Bill Pascrell, citing section three of the 14th Amendment, called for Pelosi to not seat Palazzo and the other Republicans who signed the brief supporting the suit. Pascrell argued that "the text of the 14th Amendment expressly forbids Members of Congress from engaging in rebellion against the United States. Trying to overturn a democratic election and install a dictator seems like a pretty clear example of that."[25]

Palazzo was one of the initial co-sponsors of the Social Media Working Group Act of 2014 (H.R. 4263; 113th Congress), a bill that would direct the United States Secretary of Homeland Security to establish within the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) a social media working group (the Group) to provide guidance and best practices to the emergency preparedness and response community on the use of social media technologies before, during, and after a terrorist attack.[26] Palazzo stated that "social media has played a crucial role in emergency preparedness and response in Mississippi, including during disasters like Hurricane Isaac and the tornadoes that hit the Hattiesburg area a little over a year ago."[27] He said that their goal with the bill was to "build upon existing public-private partnerships and use social media in a more strategic way in order to help save lives and property."[27]

On April 7, 2014, Palazzo introduced the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2014 (H.R. 4412; 113th Congress), a bill that would authorize the appropriation of $17.6 billion in fiscal year 2014 to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).[28][29] NASA would use the funding for human exploration of space, the Space Launch System, the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle, the commercial crew program, the International Space Station (ISS), and various technological and educational projects.[28][30] Palazzo said that "American leadership in space depends on our ability to put people and sound policy ahead of politics."[30]

With the Trump administration at an impasse regarding appropriations for border security, Palazzo proposed his own border wall funding solution in December 2018. Under his "Border Bonds for America Act," individual American citizens would fund the costs of building a wall on the southern border by buying revenue bonds from the U.S. Treasury. His bill drew little support, dying before the new Democratic House majority was sworn in, in January 2019.[31]

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Homeland Security

• Congressional Air Force Caucus
• Congressional Army Caucus
• Congressional Caucus on CPAs and Accountants
• Congressional Chicken Caucus
• Congressional Diabetes Caucus
• Congressional Dyslexia Caucus
• Congressional Gaming and Entertaining Caucus
• Congressional Home Protection Caucus (Co-Chair)
• Congressional Italian-American Caucus
• Congressional Manufactured Housing Caucus
• Congressional Mississippi River Caucus
• Congressional National Guard and Reserve Components Caucus (Co-Chair)
• Congressional Navy and Marine Corps Caucus
• Congressional Peanut Caucus
• Congressional Planetary Science Caucus (Co-Chair)
• Congressional Ports Opportunity, Renewal, Trade and Security Caucus
• Congressional Refinery Caucus
• Congressional Shipbuilding Caucus
• Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus
• Congressional Taiwan Caucus
• Congressional Term Limits Caucus
• Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus
• Congressional U.S. Expatriate Caucus(Chair)
• Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus
• Congressional Veterans Jobs Caucus
• Congressional Wine Caucus
• Congressional Working Forests Caucus
• House Aerospace Caucus (Co-Chair)
• House Congressional Mobility Air Forces Caucus
• House General Aviation Caucus
• House NASA Caucus
• House Republican Study Committee
• Rare Disease Caucus
• Taxed Enough Already Caucus
• U.S.-Japan Caucus[32]
• United Service Organizations Congressional Caucus