Tom McClintock

McClintock ran for California's 36th State Assembly district, then based in Thousand Oaks, in 1982 at the age of 26 after redistricting. He defeated Democrat Harriet Kosmo Henson 56–44%.[3] In 1984, he won re-election to a second term, defeating Tom Jolicoeur 72–28%.[4] In 1986, he won re-election to a third term, defeating Frank Nekimken 73–25%.[5] In 1988, he won re-election to a fourth term, defeating George Webb II 70–29%.[6] In 1990, he won re-election to a fifth term, defeating Ginny Connell 59–36%.[7]

After running for Congress in 1992 and for controller in 1994, he decided to run for the Assembly again in 1996. He ran for California's 38th State Assembly district and defeated Democrat Jon Lauritzen 56–40% to win his sixth assembly term.[8] In 1998, McClintock won re-election to a seventh term unopposed.[9]

He authored California's lethal injection use for California's death penalty law. He also opposed tax increases and supported spending cuts. He was a strong proponent of abolishing the car tax.[10][11]

Tom McClintock as a California State Senator

In 2000, he decided to retire from the California Assembly to run for California's 19th State Senate district. He ranked first in the May 7th open primary with 52% of the vote. In November, he defeated Democrat Daniel Gonzalez 58–42%.[12] In 2004, he won re-election to a second term, defeating Paul Joseph Graber 61–39%.[13]

In 2008, McClintock voted against Proposition 2, which prohibits confining calves, pigs and hens in small cages in which they cannot extend their limbs. "Farm animals are food, not friends", he said in response to backlash to his no vote. He also cited concern about increased grocery bills.[14] In 2000 he was instrumental in proposing a two-thirds reduction in the vehicle license fee, or car tax. In 2003, he opposed then-Governor Gray Davis's attempt to rescind a rollback of a vehicle license fee.[15] McClintock has also opposed deficit reduction efforts that would have increased taxes. He supported the Bureaucracy Reduction and Closure Commission and performance-based budgeting.[16]

He ran for California State Controller after incumbent Democrat Gray Davis retired. He won the Republican primary, defeating John Morris, 61–39%.[17] In the general election, he faced Kathleen Connell, former Special Assistant to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and Director of L.A. Housing Authority. Despite the fact that Connell outspent McClintock by a 3-to-1 margin, McClintock only lost by two percentage points, 48–46%, with three other candidates receiving the other 6% of the vote.[18]

McClintock ran for State Controller again in 2002, facing Democratic nominee Steve Westly, an eBay executive. Westly outspent him 5-to-1. McClintock's campaigns focused on increasing accountability for the state budget. The ads featured the character Angus McClintock, a fictional cousin and fellow Scottish American extolling Tom McClintock's virtues of thriftiness and accountability with low-budget fifteen-second ads. He lost by a margin of just 0.2%, or 16,811 votes behind Westley, who won with a plurality of 45.3% of the vote. McClintock obtained 45.1% of the vote, while three other candidates obtained a combined 9.5% of the vote.[19]

In 2003, he ran for the recall election against incumbent Democrat Gray Davis. Republican and film actor Arnold Schwarzenegger won the election with 49% of the vote. Democratic Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante finished second with 31% of the vote, which was about 17 points behind Schwarzenegger. McClintock finished in third place with 14% of the vote, which was about 35 points behind Schwarzenegger. Together, Republicans Schwarzenegger and McClintock were supported by 5,363,778 Californians, or 62.1% of the vote. 132 other candidates obtained the remaining 6.4% of the vote.[20]

McClintock performed the best in Stanislaus County, where he obtained 24% of the vote. He also cracked 20% or higher in several other counties: Mariposa (23%), Tuolumne (22%), Tehama (21%), Calaveras (20%), Madera (20%), Modoc (20%), Shasta (20%), San Joaquin (20%), and Ventura (20%).[21]

He ran for lieutenant governor in the 2006 elections. He defeated Tony Farmer in the Republican primary, 94–6%.[22] In the general election, he lost to Democratic State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi 49–45%.[23]

After redistricting, State Assemblyman McClintock decided to retire in order to challenge Democratic U.S. Congressman Anthony C. Beilenson in California's 24th congressional district. He won the nine-candidate Republican primary with a plurality of 34% of the vote, beating second-place finisher Sang Korman by eleven percentage points.[24] Beilenson defeated McClintock 56–39%.[25]

On March 4, 2008, McClintock announced his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives in California's 4th congressional district, which was hundreds of miles away from the district McClintock represented in the state Senate. The district's nine-term incumbent, fellow Republican John Doolittle, decided to retire. McClintock was unable to vote for himself in either the primary or the general election. Although for most of the year he lived in Elk Grove, a suburb of Sacramento which was within the 3rd district at the time, his legal residence was in Thousand Oaks, within the borders of his state senate district. The California Constitution requires state senators to maintain their legal residence within the district they represent.[26]

Upon McClintock's entry into the race, fellow Republicans Rico Oller and Eric Egland withdrew from the Republican primary and endorsed McClintock.[26][27] McClintock was endorsed by the Republican Liberty Caucus,[28] Club for Growth, and U.S. Congressman Ron Paul. McClintock faced former U.S. Congressman Doug Ose, a moderate represented the neighboring 3rd District from 1999 to 2005. Like McClintock, Ose lived outside the district and was painted as a carpetbagger and a liberal who had voted to raise taxes and who voted for earmarks. McClintock defeated Ose 54–39%.[29]

The Democratic nominee was retired Air Force Lt. Col. Charlie Brown, who ran an unexpectedly strong race against Doolittle in 2006. In March 2008, Ose's campaign commercials criticized McClintock for receiving payments totaling over $300,000 in per diem living expenses during his time in the state senate even though he lived in Elk Grove for most of the year. McClintock maintained that the payments were justified because his legal residence was in Thousand Oaks, in his State Senate district. He stated, "Every legislator's [Sacramento area] residence is close to the Capitol. My residential costs up here are much greater than the average legislator because my family is here."[30] However, Ose's campaign commercials argued McClintock does not own or rent a home in the 19th district, but claimed his mother's home in Thousand Oaks as his state senate district residence. These attacks prompted a response from McClintock's wife, Lori, who said McClintock stays with his mother in order to better care for her after she fell ill and after the death of her husband.[31] McClintock ran ads attacking Brown's participation at a 2005 protest by Code Pink, a prominent anti-war group, and argued Brown supported gay marriage but not the troops in Iraq. He also portrayed Brown as a clone of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.[11]

By November 23, 2008, McClintock led Brown by 1,566 votes (0.4% of the vote), 184,190 to 182,624. Subsequent returns expanded the margin slightly with the last returns coming in from El Dorado County shortly after Thanksgiving. On December 1, 2008, McClintock declared victory and on December 3, 2008, Brown conceded the race. McClintock defeated Brown by a margin of 0.5%, or 1,800 votes.[32] He prevailed by a 3,500-vote margin in Placer County, the largest county in the district. Brown won just three of the district's nine counties: Sierra (49.8%), Plumas (47.9%), and Nevada (42.3%).[33][34] Ultimately, McClintock won mainly on the strength of coattails from John McCain, who carried the 4th with 54 percent of the vote, his fifth-best total in the state.

McClintock was challenged in the Republican primary again, this time by Michael Babich. He easily defeated Babich 78–22%.[35] On November 2, he easily won re-election to a second term, defeating businessman Clint Curtis 61–31%, winning all of the counties in the district.[36]

For his first two terms, McClintock represented a district covering the northeast corner of California, from the eastern suburbs of Sacramento to the Oregon border.

Redistricting after the 2010 census pushed the 4th well to the south. Only three counties remained from the old 4th: Nevada, Placer, and El Dorado. The redrawn district cut out the 4th's share of Sacramento County, including the portion of Elk Grove that includes McClintock's home. Elk Grove is now entirely within the borders of the neighboring 7th District, represented by Democrat Ami Bera–thus making McClintock one of only a few members of Congress who live outside the district they represent. Members of the House are only constitutionally required to live in the state they represent, but longstanding convention holds that they live in or reasonably close to the district they represent. McClintock said in 2016 that he intended to move his residence inside the redrawn 4th as soon as home prices rebound enough for him to sell his home in Elk Grove.[37]

However, the reconfigured 4th was as strongly Republican as its predecessor, and McClintock easily won re-election to a third term, defeating Democrat Jack Uppal 61–39%. He won all but two of the district's ten counties: Nevada (37%) and Alpine (41%).[38]

McClintock won re-election, finishing first in California's "top two" primary, and defeating moderate Republican challenger, National Guard Major Art Moore in the general election, 60–40%.[39]

McClintock again finished first in the primary and subsequently defeated Democrat Robert W. Derlet, a physician, environmentalist and retired UC Davis professor, in the general election, 63–37%.[40][41]

McClintock defeated his Democratic challenger Jessica Morse in the general election, receiving 184,401 votes to her 156,253 (54.1% to 45.9%).[42]

During the 112th Congress McClintock was one of 40 "staunch" members of the Republican Study Committee[43] who frequently voted against Republican party leadership and vocally expressed displeasure with House bills.[44] In 2011, McClintock voted against the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 as part of a controversial provision that allows the government and the military to indefinitely detain American citizens and others without trial.[45] McClintock's Chief of Staff, Igor Birman, was a candidate for Congress in California's 7th congressional district in 2014.

In 2009, McClintock signed a pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any global warming legislation that would raise taxes.[46]

McClintock voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.[47] He voted against the first version of the bill, displeased with the removal of deductions related to medical expenses, student loan interest and casualty loss. Those three items were addressed in the final version of the bill which McClintock voted 'yay'. McClintock claims the bill will "restore American workers to an internationally competitive position." He has expressed concern regarding the bill's impact on the budget deficit and anticipates that it will be addressed "by spending reforms this coming year."[48]

In 2017, McClintock called for special prosecutor Mueller against President Donald Trump. McClintock felt that the firing of Comey justified the special prosecutor.[49]

After President Trump pulled 1,000 U.S. troops from Kurdish-held territory on the Syrian border south of Turkey in 2019, a bipartisan resolution was passed in the House, 354–60, that condemned the president for abandoning those U.S. allies that would allow the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to reestablish and regroup its forces, and allow the Turks to attack the Kurds. McClintock was one of the two from the 53-member California congressional delegation to vote against it.[50]

In 2020, McClintock was the sole House Republican to cosponsor the Ending Qualified Immunity Act, which was proposed in response to the police killing of George Floyd and the widespread protests it spawned.[51] The Act was introduced by Justin Amash (L-MI) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and cosponsored by 62 House Democrats in addition to McClintock.[52] Because primary sponsor Amash was a registered Libertarian as of the Act's introduction in June 2020, McClintock's support technically made the Act the first tripartisan piece of federal legislation in modern U.S. history.[53]

On March 14, 2020, McClintock was one of 40 House Republicans who voted against H.R. 6201, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

McClintock supported the Water Rights Protection Act, a bill that would prevent federal agencies from requiring certain entities to relinquish their water rights to the United States in order to use public lands.[54] The bill was a reaction to the United States Forest Service's decision to pursue a "new regulation to demand that water rights be transferred to the federal government as a condition for obtaining permits needed to operate 121 ski resorts that cross over federal lands."[55] McClintock supported the bill, saying that the Forest Service's regulation "illustrates an increasingly hostile attitude by this agency toward those who make productive use of our vast national forests, in this case by enhancing and attracting the tourism upon which our mountain communities depend."[55]

Committee assignments

• Committee on the Judiciary
• Committee on Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Federal Lands
  • Subcommittee on Water and Power

Caucus memberships

• Congressional Arts Caucus[56]
• Republican Study Committee
• Tea Party Caucus
• American Sikh Congressional Caucus
• Congressional Constitution Caucus[57]
• Congressional Western Caucus[58]
• United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus[59]

In December 2020, McClintock joined 125 other Republican members of Congress in signing an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit by the attorney general of the state of Texas which sought to overturn the certified results of the 2020 presidential election in four other U.S. states. The lawsuit was called a "seditious abuse of the judicial process" by the attorney general of Pennsylvania,[60] and "simply madness" by former Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney.[61]

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement that called signing the amicus brief an act of "election subversion." Additionally, Pelosi reprimanded McClintock 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."[62][63] New Jersey Representative Bill Pascrell, citing section three of the 14th Amendment, called for Pelosi to not seat McClintock 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."[64]

McClintock later became one of seven Republicans who did not support their colleagues' efforts to challenge the results of the election on January 6, 2021. These seven signed a letter that, whilst giving credence to election fraud allegations made by President Donald Trump, said Congress did not have the authority to influence the election's outcome.[65]

McClintock voted against impeaching Trump over his role in inciting the 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol.[66]

In 2015, McClintock introduced an amendment to limit the enforcement of federal law in states that have legalized cannabis.[67] Known as the McClintock–Polis amendment, it failed by a 206–222 vote.[67] It was then reintroduced in 2019 as the Blumenauer–McClintock–Norton amendment and passed by a 267–165 vote.[68]

In 2016, McClintock endorsed California's Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act.[69] He stated: "Our current laws have failed us, and have created a violent and criminal black market that actively and aggressively markets to young people. Legalization takes the criminal profit out of the equation, and allows us to regulate marijuana the same way we currently regulate alcohol."[70]

In 2020, McClintock was one of only five House Republicans to vote for the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act to legalize cannabis at the federal level.[71][72]

McClintock questions the role that human activity plays regarding climate change, arguing that the "climate has been changing for four and a half billion years,"[73] whereas the scientific consensus is that human activity is the primary driver in the ongoing rise in global temperatures.[73]

In 2017, McClintock voted against H.R. 4667, which would have provided emergency disaster aid to victims of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, citing spending concerns.[74]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, despite "universal scientific agreement" that cloth face masks reduce virus transmission, McClintock expressed the that masks should not be required and temporarily wore a mask during congressional sessions stating "this mask is useless".[75] During the second impeachment of Donald Trump, McClintock wore a mask that read "This mask is as useless as our governor", a disparagement of Governor Gavin Newsom.[76][77]

McClintock opposes same-sex marriage. In 2008, he stated that "calling a homosexual partnership a marriage doesn’t make it one."[14]

McClintock also opposes the Equality Act, a bill that would expand the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.[78] He voted against the bill in 2019.[79]

McClintock has strongly advocated for a bill to fully repeal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.[80] In 2017, McClintock voted for the American Healthcare Act, which would have partially repealed Obamacare. On December 12, 2019, McClintock voted against the Pharmaceutical Price Control Act, which, if passed by the Senate, would seek to lower drug prices.

McClintock has said that "farm animals are food, not friends."[14] He supports sterilization of wild horses for population control.[81]

McClintock opposes mail-in voting, claiming in 2020 that it was a "corrupted process."[82]