Rob Bishop

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Not to be confused with Rob Bishop (baseball).
Rob Bishop
Rob Bishop official portrait.jpg
Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee
Assumed office
January 3, 2019
Preceded byRaúl Grijalva
Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee
In office
January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2019
Preceded byDoc Hastings
Succeeded byRaúl Grijalva
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Utah's 1st district
Assumed office
January 3, 2003
Preceded byJames V. Hansen
Chair of the Utah Republican Party
In office
1997–2001
Preceded byFrank Suitter[1]
Succeeded byJoe Cannon[2]
Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives
In office
1992–1994
Preceded byCraig Moody[3]
Succeeded byMelvin R. Brown[4]
Member of the Utah House of Representatives
from the 2nd district
In office
1982–1994
Preceded byStephen Holbrook
Succeeded byPeter C. Knudson
Member of the Utah House of Representatives
from the 61st district
In office
1978–1982
Preceded byWillis Hansen
Succeeded byRichard Ellertson
Personal details
Born
Robert William Bishop

(1951-07-13) July 13, 1951 (age 68)
Kaysville, Utah, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Jeralynn Hansen
Children5
EducationUniversity of Utah (BA)
WebsiteHouse website

Robert William Bishop (born July 13, 1951) is an American politician currently serving as the U.S. Representative for Utah's 1st congressional district. He is a member of the Republican Party. Bishop has been a member of Congress since 2003 and is the current dean of Utah's congressional delegation. Prior to his congressional tenure, Bishop was a member of the Utah House of Representatives.

Early life, education, and early career[edit]

Bishop was born in Kaysville, Utah and graduated from Davis High School. He served as a Mormon missionary in Germany from 1970 until 1972. Bishop received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City in 1974. He taught civics classes at Brigham City's Box Elder High School from 1974 to 1980; he next taught German in Ogden, Utah at Ben Lomond High School; then he returned to teaching government and history classes at Box Elder High School until his retirement from teaching in 2002.[5] While a teacher at Box Elder, Bishop partnered with the Close Up Foundation to help students participate in Close Up's Washington, D.C. based civic education programs. He remains actively involved in the program and works to ensure that Utah students have the opportunity to visit Washington, D.C.

Political career in Utah[edit]

Bishop was a member of the Utah House of Representatives from 1978 to 1994. He was House Majority Leader and later served as Speaker of the House from 1992 until 1994.

In 1997, he was elected chairman of the Utah Republican Party, and served for two terms in this position. He has also worked as a legislative lobbyist in Washington.

U.S. House of Representatives[edit]

In 2002, Bishop returned to politics when he ran for the Republican nomination in the 1st District. 22-year incumbent Jim Hansen had recently announced his retirement. At the state Republican convention, he finished first in the seven-candidate field and went on to face State Representative Kevin Garn in a primary.[6] He defeated Garn in that primary with 59.8 percent of the vote, all but assuring him of being the next congressman from this heavily Republican district.[7] As expected, he won the general election with 61% of the vote. He has won re-election in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012 with even larger margins. In 2014, he was reelected with 64% of the vote.[8]

In the 2016 election cycle, 92.6% of contributions to Bishop's political campaign came from outside Utah, the highest out-of-state percentage of any member of the House, with much of the contributions coming from the energy and agribusiness sectors, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.[9][10]

Bishop announced in July 2019 that he would not seek reelection in 2020.[11] He mentioned the same year that he was considering running for governor, but considered himself a "horrible" candidate.[12]

On December 18, 2019, Bishop voted against both articles of impeachment against Trump. Of the 195 Republicans who voted, all voted against both impeachment articles.

Political positions[edit]

Federalism[edit]

In 2010 Bishop introduced to the House an amendment to the United States Constitution, known as the "repeal amendment," which would allow a majority vote of the states to overturn any act of the United States Congress.[13]

Land use and the environment[edit]

Bishop supports repeal of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, saying it has been "hijacked" to control land and block economic development, and that he "would love to invalidate" the law.[14][15] Bishop is among those most critical of the Antiquities Act.[9] Bishop opposed the designation of the Bears Ears National Monument and supports repealing or shrinking the designation.[9][16] Bishop supports transferring federal public lands to the states.[17]

In February 2011, Bishop introduced a budget amendment[18] that would have defunded the National Landscape Conservation System, which manages 27 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land, including the National Monument, National Conservation Area, National Wilderness Preservation, National Wild and Scenic Rivers, National Scenic Trail, National Historic Trail systems and other systems. After coming under fire for introducing this amendment,[19] Bishop withdrew it.

On April 10, 2013, Bishop introduced the Ensuring Public Involvement in the Creation of National Monuments Act. The bill would amend the Antiquities Act of 1906 to subject national monument declarations by the President to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).[20] At present, the President of the United States can unilaterally designate areas of federally-owned land as a national monument, whereas national parks and other areas are required to be enacted into law by the United States Congress.[21] Bishop argued that "the American people deserve the opportunity to participate in land-use decisions regardless of whether they are made in Congress or by the President". He claims his new bill would ensure "that new national monuments are created openly with consideration of public input".[21]

In March 2019, Bishop said that "the ideas behind the Green New Deal are tantamount to genocide".[22] Asked to elaborate how this was similar to genocide, Bishop answered, "I’m an ethnic. I’m a westerner."[23] Asked whether he believed that the Green New Deal would kill him, Bishop said, "If you actually implement everything they want to. Killing would be positive if you implement everything the Green New Deal actually wants to. That’s why the Green New Deal is not ready for prime time."[23]

Committee assignments[edit]

Caucus memberships[edit]

Electoral history[edit]

Utah's 1st congressional district: Results 2002–2008[29]
Year Democratic Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct
2002 Dave Thomas 66,104 37% Rob Bishop 109,265 61% Craig Axford Green 4,027 2% *
2004 Steven Thompson 85,630 29% Rob Bishop 199,615 68% Charles Johnston Constitution 4,510 2% Richard W. Soderberg Personal Choice 4,206 1%
2006 Steven Olsen 57,922 32% Rob Bishop 112,546 63% Mark Hudson Constitution 5,539 3% Lynn Badler Libertarian 2,467 1%
2008 Morgan Bowen 87,139 30.4% Rob Bishop 186,031 65.0% Kirk D. Pearson Constitution 6,861 2.4% Joseph G. Buchman Libertarian 6,287 2.2%

Personal life[edit]

Bishop is married to Jeralynn Hansen, a former Miss Peach Queen for Brigham City, Utah. He and his family reside in Brigham City.[30] The Bishops have four sons and one daughter.

Well known for his three-piece suits, Bishop was named the third-best-dressed congressmen in 2012 according to the Washingtonian.[31]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "11 May 1997, 5 - The Daily Spectrum at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "26 Aug 2001, 2 - The Daily Herald at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Brown, Adam R. (August 2018). Utah Politics and Government: American Democracy Among a Unique Electorate. ISBN 9781496207838.
  4. ^ https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/285756999/
  5. ^ "Rob Bishop Congressional Bio". Archived from the original on 2007-05-30.
  6. ^ "Our Campaigns - UT District 1 - R Convention Race". Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  7. ^ "Our Campaigns - UT District 1 - R Primary Race". Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  8. ^ Fahys, Judy (5 November 2014). "Replican Bishop Returns to Congress in 1st District". NPR. KUER 90.1. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  9. ^ a b c Siegler, Kirk (February 5, 2017). "Utah Representative Wants Bears Ears Gone And He Wants Trump To Do It". Weekend Edition. NPR. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  10. ^ Baccellieri, Emma (July 8, 2016). "For campaign cash, many lawmakers use a big map; Rob Bishop nears 93 percent out-of-state". Center for Responsive Politics. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  11. ^ O'Donoghue, Amy Joi (July 29, 2019). "Utah Republican Rep. Rob Bishop confirms he's leaving Congress, undecided about governor's race". Deseret News. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  12. ^ https://utahpolicy.com/index.php/features/today-at-utah-policy/21696-bishop-says-he-won-t-decide-on-run-for-utah-governor-until-fall
  13. ^ Zernike, Kate (December 20, 2010). "Proposed Amendment would Enable States to Repeal Federal Law". The New York Times. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  14. ^ Brown, Matthew; Daly, Matthew (January 17, 2017). "GOP Wants to Change Endangered Species Act". U.S. News & World Report. Associated Press. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  15. ^ "GOP targets landmark Endangered Species Act for big changes". The Big Story. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  16. ^ Davenport, Coral (December 29, 2016). "Obama Designates Monuments in Nevada and Utah". The New York Times. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  17. ^ Hansman, Heather (January 19, 2017). "Congress moves to give away national lands, discounting billions in revenue". The Guardian. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  18. ^ "Bishop Introduces Amendment to Defund National Landscape Conservation System". 16 February 2011. Archived from the original on 3 March 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2011.[self-published source]
  19. ^ O'Donoghue, Amy Joi (February 16, 2011). "Groups blast Bishop over 'gutting' landscape conservation". Deseret News. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  20. ^ "H.R. 1459 – Summary". United States Congress. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  21. ^ a b Johanson, Mark (24 March 2014). "GOP Bill Could Mean 'No More National Parks,' Public Land Advocates Warn". International Business Times. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  22. ^ Elizabeth Landers. "Republican lawmaker: Green New Deal 'tantamount to genocide'". CNN. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  23. ^ a b "GOP lawmaker: Green New Deal is like genocide". Axios. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  24. ^ "Bishop Returns to House Natural Resources Committee". Archived from the original on 2013-02-16. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
  25. ^ "Members". House Baltic Caucus. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  26. ^ "Members". Congressional Constitution Caucus. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  27. ^ "Members". Congressional Western Caucus. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  28. ^ "Our Members". U.S. House of Representatives International Conservation Caucus. Archived from the original on 1 August 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  29. ^ "Election Statistics". Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Retrieved 2008-01-10.
  30. ^ "Meet Rob". Rob Bishop for Congress. Retrieved 1 December 2014.[self-published source]
  31. ^ Burr, Thomas (November 29, 2012). "News roundup: Bishop third-best dressed in Congress". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2012-12-27.

External links[edit]

Articles[edit]

Utah House of Representatives
Preceded by
Willis Hansen 		Member of the Utah House of Representatives
from the 61st district
1978–1982 		Succeeded by
Richard Ellertson
Preceded by
Stephen Holbrook 		Member of the Utah House of Representatives
from the 2nd district
1982–1994 		Succeeded by
Peter C. Knudson
Political offices
Preceded by
Craig Moody 		Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives
1992–1994 		Succeeded by
Melvin R. Brown
Party political offices
Preceded by
Frank Suitter 		Chair of the Utah Republican Party
1997–2001 		Succeeded by
Joe Cannon
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
James Hansen 		Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Utah's 1st congressional district
2003–present 		Incumbent
Preceded by
Doc Hastings 		Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee
2015–2019 		Succeeded by
Raúl Grijalva
Preceded by
Raúl Grijalva 		Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee
2019–present 		Incumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by
Joe Wilson 		United States Representatives by seniority
72nd 		Succeeded by
Michael Burgess
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