Sam Farr | |
---|---|
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California | |
In office June 8, 1993 –January 3, 2017 | |
Preceded by | Leon Panetta |
Succeeded by | Jimmy Panetta |
Constituency | 17th district (1993–2013) 20th district (2013–2017) |
Member of the California State Assembly from the 27th district | |
In office December 7,1992 –June 14,1993 | |
Preceded by | Sal Cannella |
Succeeded by | Bruce McPherson |
Personal details | |
Born | Samuel Sharon Farr July 4,1941 San Francisco,California,U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Shary Baldwin Farr |
Children | Jessica Farr |
Parent | Fred Farr (father) |
Residence | Carmel,California |
Alma mater | Willamette University,Santa Clara University,Monterey Institute of International Studies |
Samuel Sharon Farr [1] (born July 4, 1941) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for California's 17th (1993–2013) and 20th congressional districts (2013–17). He is a member of the Democratic Party. He was elected to Congress in a 1993 special election when longtime Democratic Rep. Leon Panetta resigned to become Director of the Office of Management and Budget. On November 12, 2015, he announced his retirement from Congress after the 2016 elections. [2]
Farr was born in San Francisco, the son of Janet Emerson (née Haskins) and Frederick Sharon "Fred" Farr. One of his maternal great-grandfathers was acting mayor of Los Angeles William Hartshorn Bonsall, and one of his paternal great-great-grandfathers was the brother of Nevada Senator William Sharon. [3] He grew up in Carmel, where he still lives. His father was a California state senator from 1955 to 1967. [4]
Farr was educated at Willamette University, Santa Clara University and the Monterey Institute of International Studies. He is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity from Willamette University.
Farr joined the Peace Corps in 1964 and served for two years as a volunteer in Colombia. He spent his time in a poor barrio near Medellin, teaching community development skills. [5]
While he was serving in Colombia, Farr's mother died from cancer. Following her death, his father visited with Farr's sisters. While riding horses, one of his sisters (Nancy), was thrown and hit her head. She died on the operating table in a Colombian hospital. [6]
Since his Peace Corps service ended, Farr has visited Colombia often. He went there for his honeymoon and has returned several other times for both personal and official business. During a trip in 2007, Farr spoke in front of the Colombian Congress and was awarded the Orden del Congreso de Colombia. [7]
Farr's public service career began in the California Assembly, where he worked as a staffer on budget issues for a decade. In 1975, he ran for and won a seat on the Monterey County Board of Supervisors. [6]
In 1980 he was elected to the California State Assembly, where he became a champion for the organics industry and wrote one of the country's strictest oil spill liability laws. He served in the Assembly until his election to Congress in 1993. [ citation needed ]
Farr was elected to the House of Representatives in 1993 through a special election when former Congressman Leon Panetta resigned to become President Clinton's budget director, defeating Republican Bill McCampbell with 52 percent of the vote. Farr was elected to his first full term in 1994, defeating McCampbell again with 52 percent of the vote. Both contests were the closest in the district since Panetta claimed the seat for the Democrats in 1977, and to date are the only times since then that a Republican has crossed the 40 percent mark. The district quickly reverted to form, and Farr was reelected ten more times with no substantive opposition, never dropping below 64 percent of the vote.
Farr is active in several congressional caucuses, including the House Oceans Caucus, the Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus, the Congressional Bike Caucus, the Congressional Organic Caucus, the International Conservation Caucus, and the Unexploded Ordnance Caucus. [10]
He serves as co-chair of the Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus with Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Florida). Farr has taken an active role in supporting the travel industry, boosting membership in the caucus to more than 100 and hosting caucus events, including a June 2008 gathering of travel executives and congressional leaders, the Economic Roundtable: Travel's Significance to the U.S. Economy. [11] [12]
Farr is also active as co-chair of the House Oceans Caucus, which he co-chairs with four other members of Congress. Each year the caucus helps sponsor Capitol Hill Oceans Week, known as CHOW, which draws hundreds of ocean experts from across the country. He is also co-chair of the Congressional Organic Caucus and the Unexploded Ordnance Caucus.
Farr serves on the House Democracy Assistance Commission, a group established by the House of Representatives mandated to work with emerging democracies throughout the world. The group engages in "peer-to-peer cooperation to build technical expertise in partner legislatures that will enhance accountability, transparency, legislative independence, access to information, and government oversight." [13]
Farr is also the former chairman of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation, the largest state delegation in Congress.[ citation needed ]
On February 26, 2008, at the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, Farr said "the public image of (the ICE agents)" has become "not (a) compassionate law enforcement agency but essentially a Gestapo-type agency that is knocking down doors" [20] when conducting raids on illegal immigrants. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Julie Myers responded to Farr's comments by saying, "We are not the Gestapo. The men and women of this agency have a very difficult job...and I think they do that with distinction and great honor.". [21] Farr replied that he knew and appreciated this, but reiterated that there is "there is a very ill will public opinion in the counties (he) represent(s), about ICE".
On July 12, 2007, Farr joined 11 cosponsors of H.Res. 333, introduced in Congress, that lays out three articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney. The bill maintains that the vice president purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States (1) by fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and (2) about an alleged relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda in order to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests and (3) that Cheney has openly threatened aggression against the Republic of Iran absent any real threat to the United States.
"Many residents in the Central Coast support the removal of Cheney from office, and I am proud to represent their values in Congress," Farr said in a brief statement. [22]
On July 30, 2007, Farr received the Senator David Pryor Special Achievement Award for his ongoing advocacy for communities with military bases presented by the Association of Defense Communities. The award is given to an individual who advocates for communities with active or closed military bases. "Communities with active or closed military bases face many special concerns, from land use to economic development to ordnance disposal," said Farr. "I have been lucky enough to assist in the transition efforts at Fort Ord, and that experience has helped me push those issues locally and nationwide." As vice-chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Farr successfully increased clean-up funds from $221 million to $271 million for military bases closed prior to 2005.
He is married to Shary and has one daughter, Jessica.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr | 67,770 | 53.3 | |
Republican | Ann Welchner | 48,001 | 37.7 | |
Peace and Freedom | Michael G. Zaharakis | 6,294 | 5.0 | |
Libertarian | Donald E. Atkinson | 5,073 | 4.0 | |
Total votes | 127,138 | 100 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr (incumbent) | 78,534 | 71.1 | |
Republican | Peter Cost | 31,973 | 28.9 | |
Total votes | 110,507 | 100 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr (incumbent) | 94,612 | 72.9 | |
Republican | Lester Rate | 35,235 | 27.1 | |
Total votes | 129,847 | 100 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr (incumbent) | 75,112 | 72.1 | |
Republican | Jeff Bosshard | 29,025 | 27.9 | |
Total votes | 104,137 | 100 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr (incumbent) | 102,654 | 70.8 | |
Republican | James L. Skillicorn | 42,283 | 29.2 | |
Total votes | 144,937 | 100 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr (incumbent) | 80,558 | 71.5 | |
Republican | West W. Walker | 32,097 | 28.5 | |
Total votes | 112,655 | 100 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr | 101,695 | 60.7 | |||
Republican | Susan Whitman | 58,873 | 35.1 | |||
Peace and Freedom | David Lucier | 7,050 | 4.2 | |||
Total votes | 167,618 | 100 | ||||
Turnout | ||||||
Democratic gain from Republican | ||||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr | 23,600 | 25.8 | |
Democratic | William W. Monning | 17,050 | 18.6 | |
Democratic | Barbara Shipnuck | 12,982 | 14.2 | |
Republican | Bill McCampbell | 10,911 | 11.9 | |
Republican | Jess Brown | 9,360 | 10.2 | |
Republican | Bob Ernst | 5,126 | 5.6 | |
Democratic | Martin Vonnegut | 2,985 | 3.3 | |
Republican | Barbara Honegger | 1,855 | 2.0 | |
Democratic | Lancelot C. McClair | 1,413 | 1.5 | |
Republican | John J. Shaw | 927 | 1.0 | |
Republican | Carl Cieslinkowski | 696 | 0.8 | |
Republican | Stephen Henderson | 668 | 0.7 | |
Republican | Tom Shannon | 656 | 0.7 | |
Libertarian | Richard J. Quigley | 411 | 0.5 | |
Democratic | Shelley Reinisch | 411 | 0.5 | |
Democratic | Kyle Samuels | 394 | 0.4 | |
Republican | Darrin Smolinski | 361 | 0.4 | |
Green | Kevin Gary Clark | 323 | 0.4 | |
Republican | Louis Darrigo | 318 | 0.3 | |
American Independent | Jerome N. "Jerry" McCready | 293 | 0.3 | |
Democratic | Ed Frey | 257 | 0.3 | |
Independent | Peter James | 164 | 0.2 | |
Independent | James Ogle | 120 | 0.1 | |
Democratic | Richard H. Kraus | 101 | 0.1 | |
Democratic | Art Dunn | 100 | 0.1 | |
Democratic | Jack Mitchener | 85 | 0.1 | |
Independent | W. Gene Humphrey (write-in) | 3 | 0.0 | |
Total votes | 91,570 | 100.00 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr | 53,675 | 52.3 | |
Republican | Bill McCampbell | 43,774 | 42.6 | |
American Independent | Jerome N. "Jerry" McCready | 1,689 | 1.7 | |
Green | Kevin Gary Clark | 1,226 | 1.2 | |
Libertarian | Richard J. Quigley | 948 | 0.9 | |
Independent | Peter James | 943 | 0.9 | |
Independent | James Ogle | 444 | 0.4 | |
Independent | Tom Shannon (write-in) | 33 | 0.0 | |
Total votes | 102,732 | 100.00 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr (incumbent) | 87,222 | 52.2 | |||
Republican | Bill McCampbell | 74,380 | 44.5 | |||
Green | E. Craig Coffin | 5,591 | 3.3 | |||
Total votes | 167,193 | 100 | ||||
Turnout | ||||||
Democratic gain from Republican | ||||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr (incumbent) | 115,116 | 58.9 | |
Republican | Jess Brown | 73,856 | 37.8 | |
Natural Law | John Black | 6,573 | 3.3 | |
Total votes | 195,545 | 100.0 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr (incumbent) | 103,719 | 64.5 | |
Republican | Bill McCampbell | 52,470 | 32.7 | |
Libertarian | Rick Garrett | 2,791 | 1.7 | |
Natural Law | Scott R. Hartley | 1,710 | 1.1 | |
Total votes | 160,690 | 100.0 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr (incumbent) | 143,219 | 68.7 | |
Republican | Clint Engler | 51,557 | 24.7 | |
Green | E. Craig Coffin | 8,215 | 4.0 | |
Libertarian | Rick S. Garrett | 2,510 | 1.2 | |
Reform | Larry Fenton | 2,263 | 1.0 | |
Natural Law | Scott R. Hartley | 996 | 0.4 | |
Total votes | 208,760 | 100.0 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr (incumbent) | 101,632 | 68.1 | |
Republican | Clint Engler | 40,334 | 27.1 | |
Green | Ray Glock-Grueneich | 4,885 | 3.2 | |
Libertarian | Jascha Lee | 2,418 | 1.6 | |
independent (politician) | Alan Shugart (write-in) | 27 | 0.0 | |
Turnout | 149,296 | |||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr (incumbent) | 148,958 | 66.8 | |
Republican | Mark Risley | 65,117 | 29.2 | |
Green | Ray Glock-Grueneich | 3,645 | 1.7 | |
Peace and Freedom | Joe Williams | 2,823 | 1.2 | |
Libertarian | Joel Smolen | 2,607 | 1.1 | |
independent (politician) | David Mauricio Munoz (write-in) | 75 | 0.0 | |
Turnout | 282,941 | |||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr (incumbent) | 120,750 | 75.9 | |
Republican | Anthony R. DeMaio | 35,932 | 22.5 | |
independent (politician) | Jeff Edward Taylor (write-in) | 2,611 | 1.6 | |
Total votes | 163,293 | 100.0 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr (incumbent) | 168,907 | 73.9 | |
Republican | Jeff Taylor | 59,037 | 25.9 | |
independent (politician) | Peter Andresen (write-in) | 682 | 0.2 | |
Total votes | 228,626 | 100.0 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr | 118,734 | 66.7 | |
Republican | Jeff Taylor | 53,176 | 29.9 | |
Green | Eric Peterson | 3,397 | 1.9 | |
Libertarian | Mary Larkin | 2,742 | 1.5 | |
independent (politician) | Ronald Kabat (write-in) | 90 | 0.0 | |
Total votes | 178,139 | 100.00 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Sam Farr (incumbent) | 172,996 | 74.1 | |
Republican | Jeff Taylor | 60,556 | 25.9 | |
Total votes | 233,552 | 100.0 | ||
Turnout | ||||
Democratic hold | ||||
Thomas Miller McClintock II is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 5th congressional district since 2009. His district stretches from the Sacramento suburbs to the outer suburbs of Fresno; it includes Yosemite National Park. A member of the Republican Party, McClintock served as a California state assemblyman from 1982 to 1992 and from 1996 to 2000, when he became a California state senator, a position he held until 2008. He unsuccessfully ran for governor of California in the 2003 recall election and for lieutenant governor of California in the 2006 election.
Charles Michael Thompson is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 4th congressional district since 1999. The district, in the outer northern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area, includes all of Napa County and parts of Contra Costa, Lake, Solano, Yolo and Sonoma counties. Thompson chairs the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Lynn Carol Woolsey is an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from California from 1993 to 2013. She was a member of the Democratic Party and represented California's 6th congressional district.
George Miller III is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from California from 1975 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the state's 7th congressional district until redistricting in 2013 and 11th congressional district until his retirement. Miller served as Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee from 1991 to 1995 and Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee from 2007 until 2011.
Fortney Hillman Stark Jr., known as Pete Stark, was an American businessman and politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1973 to 2013. A Democrat from California, Stark's district—California's 13th congressional district during his last two decades in Congress—was in southwestern Alameda County and included Alameda, Union City, Hayward, Newark, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, and Fremont, as well as parts of Oakland and Pleasanton. At the time he left office in 2013, he was the fifth most senior Representative, as well as sixth most senior member of Congress overall. He was also the dean of California's 53-member Congressional delegation, and the only openly atheist member of Congress.
Anna A. Eshoo is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from California's 16th congressional district. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, numbered as the 18th district from 2013 to 2023, is based in Silicon Valley, including the cities of Redwood City, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, and Palo Alto, as well as part of San Jose. Eshoo is the only Assyrian American in Congress and the only Armenian American woman in Congress. On November 21, 2023, she announced she would not seek re-election in 2024.
Susan Ellen "Zoe" Lofgren is an American lawyer and politician serving as a U.S. representative from California. A member of the Democratic Party, Lofgren is in her 14th term in Congress, having been first elected in 1994. Lofgren has long served on the House Judiciary Committee, and chaired the House Administration Committee in the 116th and 117th Congresses.
Kenneth Stanton Calvert is an American businessman and politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 41st congressional district, and previously the 44th, 42nd, and 43rd, serving since 1993. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district is part of the Inland Empire of Southern California.
Edward Espenett Case is an American lawyer and Democratic politician. Since 2019, he has served as the U.S. representative for Hawaii's 1st congressional district, which covers the urban core of Honolulu. He represented the 2nd district, which covers the rest of the state, from 2002 to 2007.
Richard Ray Larsen is an American politician and lobbyist serving as the United States representative for Washington's 2nd congressional district since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, Larsen is the ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Dennis Ray Rehberg is an American politician and member of the Republican Party. He served as the lieutenant governor of Montana from 1991 to 1997 and as the U.S. representative for Montana's at-large congressional district from 2001 to 2013. Rehberg was the Republican nominee for the United States Senate in 1996 and 2012, losing to Democratic incumbents Max Baucus 50% to 45% and Jon Tester 49% to 45%, respectively. He subsequently became a co-chairman at Mercury, a Washington D.C. lobbying firm.
Walter Beaman Jones Jr. was an American politician who served twelve terms in the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Republican Party for North Carolina's 3rd congressional district from 1995 until his death in 2019. The district encompassed the coastal regions of North Carolina, from the Outer Banks and areas near the Pamlico Sound in the north, southwards to the northern suburbs of Wilmington. Jones's father was Walter B. Jones Sr., a Democratic Party congressman from the neighboring 1st district. Prior to his election to the U.S. House of Representatives, he served ten years in the North Carolina House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party and worked as a business executive.
Michael Clifton Burgess is an American physician and politician representing Texas's 26th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. The district is anchored in Denton County, a suburban county north of Dallas and Fort Worth. He has held the position since 2003 and is a member of the Republican Party.
John James Duncan Jr. is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Tennessee's 2nd congressional district from 1988 to 2019. A lawyer, former judge, and former long serving member of the Army National Guard, he is a member of the Republican Party.
Frank Joseph Pallone Jr. is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 6th congressional district since 1988. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, numbered as the 3rd district from 1988 to 1993, is in the north-central part of the state and includes New Brunswick, Woodbridge Township, Perth Amboy, Sayreville, Edison, Piscataway and Asbury Park. Pallone is the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Judy May Chu is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 28th congressional district. A member of the Democratic Party, she has held a seat in Congress since 2009, representing California's 32nd congressional district until redistricting. Chu is the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress.
Julia Andrews Brownley is an American businesswoman and politician who has been the United States representative for California's 26th congressional district since 2013. A Democrat, she served in the California State Assembly from 2006 to 2012. Before her political career, she worked in marketing and sales.
William Joseph Posey is an American businessman and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 8th congressional district, in Congress since 2009. A member of the Republican Party, he formerly served in the Florida Senate and the Florida House of Representatives.
Jimmy Gomez is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 34th congressional district since 2017. His district includes the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Eagle Rock, Boyle Heights, Downtown Los Angeles, Koreatown, and other communities. A member of the Democratic Party, Gomez served in the California State Assembly from 2012 to 2017.
James Varni Panetta is an American lawyer, politician, and former Navy intelligence officer from the state of California. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the U.S. representative for California's 19th congressional district. Formerly his district was numbered the 20th congressional district. His current district includes southeast San Jose and much of California's Central Coast, including Monterey, Santa Cruz, Carmel-by-the-Sea, and Paso Robles to the south. Panetta was first elected in 2016, after working as a deputy district attorney for Monterey County. He is the son of former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, and holds the same congressional seat his father once held.