John Barrasso facts for kids

Quick facts for kids John Barrasso
Official portrait, 2010
Senate Majority Whip
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2025
Leader	John Thune
Preceded by	Dick Durbin
Ranking Member of the Senate Energy Committee
In office February 3, 2021 – January 3, 2025
Preceded by	Joe Manchin
Succeeded by	Martin Heinrich
Chair of the Senate Republican Conference
In office January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2025
Leader	Mitch McConnell
Vice Chair	Joni Ernst Shelley Moore Capito
Preceded by	John Thune
Succeeded by	Tom Cotton
Chair of the Senate Environment Committee
In office January 3, 2017 – February 3, 2021
Preceded by	Jim Inhofe
Succeeded by	Tom Carper
Chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee
In office January 26, 2012 – January 3, 2019
Leader	Mitch McConnell
Preceded by	John Thune
Succeeded by	Roy Blunt
Chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee
In office January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2017
Preceded by	Jon Tester
Succeeded by	John Hoeven
United States Senator from Wyoming
Incumbent
Assumed office June 22, 2007 Serving with Cynthia Lummis
Preceded by	Craig L. Thomas
Member of the Wyoming Senate from the 27th district
In office January 3, 2003 – June 22, 2007
Preceded by	Bruce Hinchey
Succeeded by	Bill Landen
Personal details
Born	John Anthony Barrasso III (1952-07-21) July 21, 1952 (age 72) Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouses	Linda Nix (divorced) Bobbi Brown ​ ​ (m. 2008; died 2024)​
Children	3
Signature

John Anthony Barrasso III (/bəˈrɑːsoʊ/ bə-RAH-soh; born July 21, 1952) is an American physician and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Wyoming, a seat he has held since 2007. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the Wyoming State Senate from 2003 to 2007. As Senate majority whip since 2025, he is the second-ranking Senate Republican.

Born and raised in Reading, Pennsylvania, Barrasso graduated from Georgetown University, where he received his B.S. and M.D. He conducted his medical residency at Yale University before moving to Wyoming and beginning a private orthopedics practice in Casper. Barrasso was active in various medical societies and associations.

Barrasso first ran for U.S. Senate in 1996, narrowly losing the Republican primary to Mike Enzi. In 2002, he was elected to the State Senate, where he stayed until his appointment to the U.S. Senate after the 2007 death of Craig L. Thomas. He was elected to finish Thomas's term in 2008 and won his first full term in 2012. In 2018, Barrasso was selected as chair of the Senate Republican Conference. He has been the dean of Wyoming's congressional delegation since 2021, when Enzi retired from the Senate.

Early life, education, and medical career

Barrasso was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1952, the son of Louise M. (née DeCisco) and John Anthony Barrasso, Jr. He is of Italian descent. He is a 1970 graduate of the former Central Catholic High School, which in 2011 merged with Holy Name High School to form Berks Catholic High School. Barrasso attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (where he became a member of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity) for two years before transferring to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology. He received his M.D. degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1978. He conducted his residency at Yale Medical School in New Haven, Connecticut.

In 1983, after completing of his residency at Yale, Barrasso moved to Wyoming, with his wife at the time, Linda Nix. He joined a private orthopedic practice in Casper and for a time was the Wyoming Medical Center's chief of staff. He was State President of the Wyoming Medical Society, President of the National Association of Physician Broadcasters, and a member of the American Medical Association Council of Ethics and Judicial Affairs.

Barrasso was also a rodeo physician for the Professional Rodeo Cowboy's Association (and a member of the "Cowboy Joe Club") and volunteered as a team physician for Casper College as well as several local high schools. Barrasso was a board-certified orthopedic surgeon in private practice in Casper from 1983 to 2007.

1996 U.S. Senate election

Barrasso ran for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in 1996 for the seat being vacated by Republican Alan K. Simpson, losing narrowly to State Senator Mike Enzi, 32% to 30%, in a nine-candidate election.

Wyoming Senate

Barrasso was elected to the Wyoming Senate unopposed in 2002 and reelected unopposed in 2006. He represented Wyoming's 27th Senate District. During his State Senate tenure, he chaired the Transportation and Highways Committee.

U.S. Senate

Barrasso with President Donald Trump in 2018

Appointment

On June 22, 2007, Governor Dave Freudenthal appointed Barrasso to replace Senator Craig L. Thomas, who had died in office earlier that month. Under state law, Freudenthal was able to consider only three individuals chosen by the Republican State Central Committee because the seat was vacated by a Republican. The others were former State Treasurer Cynthia Lummis of Cheyenne, and former Republican state chairman and Justice Department attorney Tom Sansonetti.

Elections

2008

Barrasso won the general election in a landslide, defeating Democratic nominee Nick Carter with 73% of the vote.

2012

Barrasso ran for reelection to a first full term in 2012. He faced two opponents for the Republican nomination, which he won with 90% of the vote. In the general election, he defeated Democratic nominee Tim Chestnut with 76% of the vote.

2018

Barrasso faced Dave Dodson and four other challengers in the 2018 Republican primary; he won the primary with 65% of the vote. Barrasso defeated Democrat Gary Trauner and Libertarian Joseph Porambo in the general election, receiving 67% of the vote.

2024

In the primary, Barrasso faced Casper Executive Reid Rasner, who attacked Barrasso for his support of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, among other issues. Barrasso defeated Rasner, 67.9% to 24.5%. He won the general election against Democratic nominee Scott Morrow with 75.1% of the vote.

Tenure

Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham and John Barrasso in Jerusalem on January 3, 2014

At the time of his appointment to the U.S. Senate in 2007, Barrasso was quoted as saying on his application: "I believe in limited government, lower taxes, less spending, traditional family values, local control and a strong national defense"; he also said that he had "voted for prayer in schools, against gay marriage and [had] sponsored legislation to protect the sanctity of life".

In 2018, Barrasso was selected as chair of the Senate Republican Conference. In 2024, he declined to run for Senate Republican leader and instead announced that he would run for Republican Whip.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Barrasso voted against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 but for the PPP Extension Act and the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act.

Starting in the 119th Congress, he is the Senate whip of the Republican Party.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (Ranking Member)
  • As Ranking Member of the full committee, Barrasso may serve as an ex officio member of all subcommittees.
• Committee on Finance
  • Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure
  • Subcommittee on Health Care
  • Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness
• Committee on Foreign Relations
  • Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy
  • Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation
  • Subcommittee on Multilateral International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic, Energy and Environmental Policy

Political positions

Gun laws

In 2002, he received an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association. According to a Washington Post survey, he has voted with Republicans 94% of the time.

In April 2013, Barrasso was one of 46 senators to vote against a bill that would have expanded background checks for all gun buyers. He voted with 40 Republicans and 5 Democrats to stop the bill.

Health care

Barrasso voted against the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) in December 2009, and against the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. He was part of the group of 13 senators drafting the Senate version of the American Health Care Act of 2017, an Obamacare repeal bill that failed to pass.

Environment

When asked in 2014 whether human activity contributes to climate change, Barrasso said, denying the existence of the scientific consensus on climate change, "The role human activity plays is not known." In 2021, he admitted, "We believe that mankind is certainly contributing to that". The consensus is that mankind is not just contributing, but that all of climate change is anthropogenic.

As of October 2020, Barrasso has a 7% lifetime score on the National Environmental Scorecard of the League of Conservation Voters. He was a leading opponent of President Barack Obama's climate change policies.

Barrasso opposed the CIA's creation of its Center on Climate Change and National Security in 2009. In 2011, he introduced a bill that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from limiting carbon dioxide emissions.

Barrasso, Enzi and Senator Pat Roberts introduced a bill to remove tax credits for electric cars.

Barrasso co-authored and was one of 22 senators to sign a letter to President Donald Trump urging Trump to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement. According to OpenSecrets, Barrasso has received over $585,000 from the oil and gas industry since 2012. In 2018 alone he received over $690,000 in funding from oil and gas companies.

In 2019, Barrasso inaccurately claimed that "livestock will be banned" as a result of the Green New Deal, and said we needed to "say goodbye to dairy, to beef, to family farms, to ranches. American favorites like cheeseburgers and milkshake would become a thing of the past."

In September 2020, Barrasso supported a measure to dramatically limit the use of hydrofluorocarbons, used in refrigerants and other applications that have contributed to global warming. Sixteen other Republican U.S. Senators joined him in voting for the bill. Joint efforts by U.S. manufacturers, environmentalists, and conservative organizations appear to have persuaded those lawmakers. "This agreement protects both American consumers and American businesses," Barrasso said. "We can have clean air without damaging our economy."

Foreign policy

Barrasso opposed the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2—a pipeline to deliver natural gas from Russia to Germany. Bloomberg News reported, "Congress brought forward bills authorizing the administration to levy sanctions against a consortium of five European energy companies that have partnered with [Russia's main gas company] Gazprom; at least one bill, sponsored by Republican Senator John Barrasso, would make them mandatory." In May 2022, during the Russo-Ukrainian War, Barrasso visited Kyiv and met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a part of a U.S. Senate delegation to show support to Ukraine. The delegation also visited Finland to meet with President Sauli Niinistö and Prime Minister Sanna Marin to express support for Finland's application to join NATO.

Donald Trump

After it was revealed in November 2018 that Trump had business dealings with Russia while a candidate in the 2016 election, Barrasso said, "The president is an international businessman; I’m not surprised he was doing international business." Asked whether Trump should have disclosed those business ties during the campaign, Barrasso said, "There were so many things involved in the 2016 campaign, it’s hard to point to what one thing influenced voters." Barrasso joined Trump on Thanksgiving 2019 in a surprise visit to American troops stationed at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. At the time, approximately 370 Wyoming National Guard soldiers were deployed in Europe and the Middle East, the most since 2009.

In December 2019, Barrasso appeared to promote Senator John Kennedy's views supporting the discredited conspiracy theory of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

In February 2021, Barrasso opposed the second impeachment of Donald Trump, calling it a "partisan crusade." On February 13, 2021, Barrasso voted to acquit Trump of inciting the 2021 United States Capitol attack. On May 28, 2021, Barrasso voted against creating the January 6 commission. In November 2021, Barrasso refused to condemn Trump for defending January 6 rioters who called for Pence's death.

Personal life

Barrasso has three children. He is divorced from Linda Nix. On August 11, 2007, during Cheyenne's annual Race for the Cure, Barrasso and Bobbi Brown, herself a breast cancer survivor and at the time the director of Barrasso's state senate offices, announced their engagement. Brown then resigned from her position in Barrasso's state senate offices. They were married on January 1, 2008, in Thermopolis. Brown died of brain cancer on January 25, 2024. She was known for being an advocate for mental health and suicide prevention.

Barrasso is a member of the board of directors of Presidential Classroom, and a member of the Casper Chamber of Commerce. He identifies as a member of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Electoral history

See also

In Spanish: John Barrasso para niños

• Physicians in the United States Congress
• List of United States senators from Wyoming