Tom Emmer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tom Emmer
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| House Majority Whip | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2023 |
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| Speaker | Kevin McCarthy Patrick McHenry (pro tempore) |
| Leader | Steve Scalise |
| Preceded by | Jim Clyburn |
| Chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee | |
| In office January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2023 |
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| Leader | Kevin McCarthy |
| Preceded by | Steve Stivers |
| Succeeded by | Richard Hudson |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota's 6th district |
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| Assumed office January 3, 2015 |
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| Preceded by | Michele Bachmann |
| Member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from the 19B district |
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| In office January 4, 2005 – January 3, 2011 |
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| Preceded by | Dick Borrell |
| Succeeded by | Joe McDonald |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Thomas Earl Emmer Jr.
March 3, 1961 South Bend, Indiana, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse |
Jacqueline Emmer
(m. 1986) |
| Children | 7 |
| Education | |
| Website | |
Thomas Earl Emmer Jr. (born March 3, 1961) is an American attorney and politician who has served as Majority Whip in the United States House of Representatives since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he has represented Minnesota's 6th congressional district since 2015.
Before his election to Congress, Emmer served three terms as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011. He lost the 2010 Minnesota gubernatorial election to Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party nominee Mark Dayton by less than half a percentage point.
Emmer was elected to Congress in 2014, winning the 6th district seat being vacated by Michele Bachmann. He has since been reelected four times. The district includes the far western and northern suburbs of Minneapolis in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, most of the St. Cloud metropolitan area, as well as a large part of rural Central Minnesota, generally an agricultural region.
Emmer chaired the National Republican Congressional Committee from 2019 to 2023. After Republicans gained a majority in the 2022 U.S. House of Representatives elections, he successfully ran for majority whip.
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Early life, education
Emmer was born in South Bend, Indiana. His family later moved to Edina, Minnesota. He attended St. Thomas Academy, an all-male, Catholic, military, college-preparatory high school in Mendota Heights, near Saint Paul.
Emmer attended Boston College and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, graduating from the latter in 1984 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. He played hockey for both schools. In 1988, Emmer received a Juris Doctor from William Mitchell College of Law in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Career
Emmer began his legal career representing cities and counties through the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust and the League of Minnesota Counties Insurance Trust, handling lawsuits against police officers. He also represented volunteer firefighters and city and county inspectors, and handled a variety of land use issues. He was licensed to practice law in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.
Emmer served on city councils in Independence, Minnesota, and then in Delano, Minnesota.
Minnesota House of Representatives
In 2004, incumbent Republican State Representative Dick Borrell of Minnesota's House District 19B decided to retire. District 19B included portions of Wright and Hennepin Counties and the cities of Otsego, Albertville, St. Michael, Rockford, Delano, Montrose, and Waverly. Emmer, the Republican candidate, defeated Democrat Lori M. Schmidt, an attorney, 60%–40%, in the November 2004 general election.
In 2006, Emmer won reelection to a second term with 61% of the vote. In 2008, he was reelected to a third term with 61% of the vote. In 2010, he chose to run for governor of Minnesota rather than seek reelection.
During legislative sessions, Emmer regularly rode the bus to the Minnesota State Capitol. Emmer served on the Finance Committee, the Health Care and Human Services Policy and Oversight Committee, and the State and Local Government Operations Reform, Technology and Elections Committee. He was also a member of the Finance Subcommittee for the Health Care and Human Services Finance Division, and of the Health Care and Human Services Policy and Oversight Subcommittee for the Licensing Division.
2010 gubernatorial election
Emmer officially announced his candidacy for governor of the State of Minnesota in July 2009. In January 2010, Emmer came in second to Marty Seifert in a non-binding straw poll of Republican Party caucus participants. In April 2010, Emmer announced that his running mate would be Metropolitan Council member Annette Meeks. Emmer received the endorsements of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Governor Tim Pawlenty, and Lieutenant Governor Carol Molnau. On April 30, 2010, the Republican Party of Minnesota officially endorsed Emmer as its candidate for governor at the state convention in Minneapolis. His main opponent, Marty Seifert, withdrew from the race and endorsed Emmer when it became apparent that Emmer was nearing the threshold for party endorsement. On August 10, 2010, Emmer won the Republican primary with 82% of the vote, a 75-point margin over Bob Carney.
The race attracted national attention as the "first case in this election cycle of a company hit by national protests over a campaign donation". Minnesota-based Target Corporation donated $150,000 to Minnesota Forward, a new political action committee paying for advertising that supported Emmer's gubernatorial election. Emmer said he viewed Target's donation as an exercise in free speech and wanted to keep his campaign focused on economic issues. Best Buy also donated $100,000 to Minnesota Forward.
The general election was contested by Emmer, former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton (DFL), and Independence Party candidate Tom Horner. Emmer trailed his Democratic opponent Dayton by 9,000 votes in the general election results, a margin small enough to trigger an automatic recount. Most analysts felt it was unlikely that the Emmer campaign could overcome such a deficit in a recount. After the recount made little difference in the results, Emmer conceded the election on December 8, 2010.
Post-2010 election activities
Emmer was a registered lobbyist in Minnesota, and co-hosted a morning talk radio program with Bob Davis on KTLK in Minneapolis.
In early 2011, he ran for an open Minnesota seat on the Republican National Committee, but lost that election to Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson.
Emmer hosted a 2011 event promoting the launch of Representative Ron Paul's presidential campaign in Minnesota.
U.S. House of Representatives
According to the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, Emmer held a Bipartisan Index Score of -0.0 in the 116th United States Congress for 2019, which placed him 192nd out of 435 members. Based on FiveThirtyEight's congressional vote tracker at ABC News, Emmer voted with Donald Trump's stated public policy positions 91.5% of the time, which ranked him average in the 116th United States Congress when predictive scoring (district partisanship and voting record) is used.
In October 2020, after it was determined that Emmer had interacted with individuals who tested positive for coronavirus in Washington D.C., such as Donald Trump, Emmer flew on a Delta flight in violation of the airline's rules, potentially exposing the other passengers to the virus.
On November 15, 2022, after Republicans gained the House majority, Emmer was elected Majority Whip. He won what was reportedly the conference's closest race, beating Drew Ferguson on the first ballot and Jim Banks on the second by a 115–106 vote.
Committee assignments
For the 118th Congress:
- Committee on Financial Services
- Subcommittee on Capital Markets
- Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion
Caucus memberships
- Republican Main Street Partnership
- Republican Study Committee
Political positions
BPA
In 2009, Emmer voted against legislation to prohibit sales of any children's product containing Bisphenol-A (except for used children's products). He said he voted against the law because of fear of "increased costs." "As well-intentioned as people may be," he said, "they don't think about what this vote means five steps down the line".
Climate and environment
Emmer co-sponsored a 2022 nonbinding resolution in support of domestic oil and gas production, which did not pass. The proposal urged the House to "support the safe and responsible development of its energy resources via drilling".
The environmental advocacy League of Conservation Voters has given Emmer a lifetime score of 5%, the lowest in Minnesota's congressional delegation. Recent votes improved his 2021 score to 21%, compared to the U.S. House average of 57%.
Copper nickel mining in northern Minnesota
In 2018, Emmer supported two copper nickel mines in the Superior National Forest. As of 2019[update], they were planned by Polymet, which is owned by Switzerland-based mining giant Glencore, and Twin Metals, which is owned by Antofagasta, a Chilean mining company controlled by the Luksics, one of Chile's wealthiest families.
When the Department of Interior did not list copper or nickel as two of 35 "critical minerals" essential to national security in 2018, Emmer released a press release of a letter he wrote to Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke requesting that copper and nickel be included.
Emmer and Representative Pete Stauber both stood beside Assistant Secretary of the Interior Joseph Balash as he signed leases permitting Twin Metals to explore a large area of national forest land nine miles southeast of Ely for copper-nickel reserves on May 15, 2019. The Obama administration had mothballed the lease renewal pending an environmental review, but Twin Metals is now in possession of a 10-year lease to explore the area, with a view toward opening a mine there.
Digital assets
Tom Emmer is an outspoken proponent of cryptocurrency and digital assets. He introduced the bipartisan Securities Clarity Act in an effort to establish regulatory clarity for digital assets. In March 2023, after the collapse of crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank, he cosigned a bipartisan letter to FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg inquiring about the alleged weaponization of banking instability to purge legal crypto companies from the banking system.
Healthcare
Emmer favors repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). After supporting the March 2017 version of the American Health Care Act (a bill to repeal the ACA), he voted for it on May 4, 2017, before it had been scored by the Congressional Budget Office to determine its economic impact.
Minimum wage
In 2005, as a state representative, Emmer introduced an amendment that would have eliminated Minnesota's minimum wage law.
Immigration
Emmer supported President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order to temporarily curtail immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries until better screening methods are devised, saying, "Everybody needs to take a deep breath. There is no litmus test based on religion. The administration and I understand it has — takes the seven countries identified by the Obama administration, not this administration, as the most dangerous countries when it comes to potential terrorists."
Same-sex marriage
Emmer supported a state constitutional amendment banning civil recognition of same-sex marriage or its legal equivalent, stating, "I believe marriage is the union between one man and one woman." In March 2007, Emmer introduced HF 1847, a proposed amendment to the Minnesota Constitution "recognizing as marriage or its legal equivalent only a union between one man and one woman." Voters later rejected this proposal.
Emmer was among 47 Republican Representatives who voted in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, which codified the right to same-sex marriage in federal law.
State sovereignty
In 2010 Emmer sponsored an amendment to the Minnesota Constitution that would allow the state to nullify federal laws.
Taxes
Emmer strongly opposes tax increases. He has also proposed gradually reducing the state corporate tax, with the eventual goal of repealing it altogether.
Personal life
In 1910 Emmer's great-grandfather and his two brothers founded Emmer Brothers Lumber. It is now called Viking Forest Products and is employee-owned. Viking Forest Products is a subsidiary of Forest City Trading Group, one of the largest wholesalers of forest products in the United States.
Emmer has seven children with his wife, Jacqueline, whom he married in 1986. He is a hockey player and coach. Emmer is a Roman Catholic.
See also
In Spanish: Tom Emmer para niños
