Kentucky politician

James Richardson Comer Jr. /ˈkoʊmər/ (born August 19, 1972) is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky who represents the state's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He served as Kentucky's agriculture commissioner from 2012 to 2016 and in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 2000 to 2012.

Comer unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor of Kentucky in the 2015 election. A year later, he won the Republican nomination for Kentucky's 1st congressional district to succeed Ed Whitfield. On November 8, 2016, Comer won both a full term to the seat for the next Congress and a special election that allowed him to serve the remainder of Whitfield's term.

Contents

• 1 Early life and education
• 2 Kentucky politics
  • 2.1 Kentucky House of Representatives
  • 2.2 Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture
  • 2.3 2015 gubernatorial election
• 3 U.S. House of Representatives
  • 3.1 Elections
    • 3.1.1 2016
  • 3.2 Tenure
  • 3.3 Committee *ignments
  • 3.4 Caucus memberships
• 4 Political positions
  • 4.1 Health care
  • 4.2 Economic issues
  • 4.3 Immigration
  • 4.4 Abortion
  • 4.5 Drug policy
  • 4.6 LGBT rights
  • 4.7 Iraq
• 5 Electoral history
• 6 Personal life
• 7 References
• 8 External links

Early life and education

Comer is a native of Tompkinsville, Kentucky. He received a bachelor's degree in agriculture from Western Kentucky University in 1993. In college, he served as president of the Kentucky Future Farmers of America. After college, he and his family started James Comer, Jr. Farms, a 2,300 acres (950:ha) farm, and he also co-owns Comer Land & Cattle Co. He served as a director of the South Central Bank for 12 years. Comer served as president of the Monroe County Chamber of Commerce from 1999 to 2000.

Kentucky politics

Kentucky House of Representatives

In 2000, Comer was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives at the age of 27.

Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture

Comer speaking to members of the Kentucky National Guard in 2013

In 2011, Comer ran for agriculture commissioner. The in*bent, Richie Farmer, was term-limited. In the election, Comer was the only Republican to win election to a statewide executive office, and worked with a team of Democratic officials and under a Democratic governor. He had the highest percentage of the vote of any candidate on the ballot, and raised $606,766 to his opponent's $204,287. He took office in January 2012. One of Comer's first actions in office was to team up with Democratic Auditor Adam Edelen to investigate his Republican predecessor's ethics while in office.

That year Comer, became chair of the Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission, and shortly after taking office, he called the legalization of industrialized hemp his top priority, and was "instrumental in getting the hemp industry up and running", including by founding several pilot programs in an effort to restart Kentucky's industrial hemp industry. He also filed suit against the DEA, which resulted in the DEA allowing hemp seeds to be delivered to Kentucky farmers for the first new crops. Between 2014 and 2015, Kentucky's hemp crops grew from 33 to 1,700 acres. Comer also advocated for national hemp deregulation.

Comer founded the Kentucky Proud Farm to Campus program, and created a mobile science centers program for primary and secondary school students to learn about agricultural sciences.

2015 gubernatorial election

Main article: 2015 Kentucky gubernatorial election Comer in 2014

On August 2, 2014, during the annual Fancy Farm picnic, Comer announced he would seek the Republican nomination for governor of Kentucky in the 2015 election. His running mate was State Senator Christian McDaniel. At the conclusion of voting in the May 19 election, Comer was 83 votes behind businessman Matt Bevin. The *ociated Press, calling the race a "virtual tie", did not call it for either candidate. Comer refused to concede and said he would request a recanv*. The request was filed with the Kentucky Secretary of State's office on May 20, with Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes ordering the recanv* to begin at 9:00:a.m. on May 28. After the recanv*, Grimes announced that Bevin remained 83 votes ahead of Comer. She also said that should Comer want a full recount, it would require a court order from the Franklin Circuit Court. On May 29, Comer announced he would not request a recount and conceded the nomination to Bevin.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2016

In 2016, Comer entered the Republican primary election for the 1st congressional district of Kentucky against two other compe*ors. Before the primary, he was endorsed by the National Rifle *ociation and the US Chamber of Commerce. He won the primary with 60.6% of the vote. Comer was elected to the House with 72.6% of the vote. Since Whitfield had resigned in September, Comer actually ran in two elections on November 8–a special election for the last two months of Whitfield's 11th term, and a regular election for a full two-year term. Comer won both elections over Democratic nominee Samuel L. Gaskins with over 72% of the vote. He was sworn in soon after the results were certified, giving him two months' more seniority over the rest of the 2017 freshman cl*.

Comer being sworn in by Speaker Paul Ryan

Tenure

During his first few months in office, Comer held several town hall meetings, where he discussed the Congress's early platform. He also partnered with Murray State University to form the Congressman James Comer Congressional Agriculture Fellowship program, and advocated for agricultural legislation reform. He criticized the regulatory policies of Barack Obama, and supported the early domestic policies and actions of Donald Trump. Comer is a social conservative on "same-sex marriage and abortion". He believes the trade embargo on Cuba should be lifted.

Comer voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. After the bill p*ed, he said: "I am proud to support this critical part of President Trump's pro-growth agenda that will fulfill this promise to the American people who have struggled under the weight of Washington bureaucrats for far too long."

Comer was an original cosponsor of the Hemp Farming Act, which legalized hemp nationwide and removed federal regulations on the crop. The bill was later included in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 and signed into law by Trump on December 20, 2018. Comer was a member of the conference committee that negotiated its final version.

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Comer and Representative Suzanne Bonamici introduced legislation that would protect access to school lunches for school districts throughout the country that had to close because of the pandemic. The COVID–19 Child Nutrition Response Act allows the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to waive requirements for children to gather at schools in order for school officials and food service personnel to distribute reimbursable, nutritious meals. It also gives local school officials discretion over subs*utions for meal components if supply or procurement is disrupted. When introducing the bill, Comer said, "this bill is a critical step toward ensuring that our students maintain access to the school meals they rely on for their health and well-being". After it cleared the House and Senate, Trump signed the legislation into law on March 18.

Committee *ignments

• Committee on Education and Labor
  • Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment
• Committee on Oversight and Reform
  • As Ranking Member of the full committee, Comer may serve as an ex officio member of all subcommittees.
• Committee on Agriculture
  • Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research
  • Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture

Caucus memberships

• Second Amendment Caucus
• Republican Study Committee

Political positions

Health care

Comer supports the repeal of the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare").

Economic issues

In 2016, Comer called the Obama administration's final budget a "disaster in the making". He believes that federal spending must become "under control" to not create "mountains of debt". In 2017, he voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was estimated to add $1.49 trillion to the national debt.

Comer opposes paid parental leave for federal workers.

Immigration

Comer opposes amnesty and sanctuary cities. He supports Executive Order 13767, the building of a wall along the Mexico–U.S. border.

Abortion

Comer is anti-abortion.

Drug policy

Comer supports decl*ifying * as a Schedule 1 narcotic. He supports growing hemp. He says there is "simply not enough support for medical * legalization across the board".

LGBT rights

Comer opposes same-sex marriage. He also opposes banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender iden*y, and voted against the Equality Act in 2019.

Iraq

In June 2021, Comer was one of 49 House Republicans to vote to repeal the AUMF against Iraq.

Electoral history

Personal life

Comer is married to Tamara Jo "TJ" Comer and has three children. He has attended First Baptist Church of Tompkinsville and Elkhorn Baptist Church.

On May 5, 2015, Comer was accused of physical and mental abuse by Marilyn Thomas, a woman he dated while attending Western Kentucky University in 1993. He has said he believes the accusation was a political stunt to hinder his gubernatorial campaign.

References

• Kentucky portal

External links

• Congressman James Comer official U.S. House website
• Campaign site
• James Comer (politician) at Curlie
• Appearances on C-SPAN

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress

Minority

• 117th United States Congress
• List of acts of the 117th United States Congress