United States California Members of the United States House of Representatives Congressperson Jimmy Panetta

The son of Leon Panetta—former United States Secretary of Defense, CIA director, White House chief of staff, and longtime congressman—Jimmy Panetta has been establishing a name in his own right with his work in Congress and beyond.

A Democrat first elected in November 2016, when he beat Republican challenger Casey Lucius by more than 40 percent of the vote, Panetta has only expanded his margins since. He won reelection in 2018 over independent challenger Ronald Paul Kabat with 81.4 percent of the vote and a third term in 2020 over Republican challenger Jeff Gorman with 76.8 percent of the vote. He won his fourth term in the June 2022 primary election.

Aside from his committee assignments and sponsored legislation, each of which is noted below, Panetta is also Chief Deputy Whip in the 118th Congress, according to his congressional bio.

He has also been one of many lawmakers to condemn the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, telling Lookout Santa Cruz on the one-year anniversary of the failed insurrection, “A year later, we continue to face threats from a movement openly contemptuous of democracy that has proven its willingness to use violence to achieve its objectives. As a self-governing society, we cannot survive such threats by denying that the movement exists.”

Background

The grandson of immigrants, Panetta grew up in Monterey County and attended public schools locally, according to his congressional bio. After attending junior college in Monterey, he earned his bachelor’s degree at University of California, Davis and his juris doctorate from Santa Clara University.

Panetta had a long and varied career before his election to Congress at age 47. An active member of the California State Bar Association since 1996, Panetta has worked for prosecutors or district attorney’s offices in Alameda and Monterey counties. He is also a military veteran, having been deployed to Afghanistan in 2007 through the U.S. Naval Reserve and been awarded the Bronze Star while serving with the Joint Special Operations Command.

Married to Carrie McIntyre, a Monterey County Superior Court judge, Panetta has two children.

Committee Assignments

House Committee on Ways and Means
House Committee on Armed Services
House Committee on the Budget

Select Legislation

According to the website govtrack, Panetta has been a primary sponsor for six bills that have been enacted, including:

• H.R. 2049 (117th Congress): This bill, the REPLANT Act, amended a 1974 law, the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act, so that it could help promote reforestation on federal land after unplanned events, presumably wildfire.


• H.R. 1982 (117th Congress): This required the Secretary of Transportation to establish a grant program to support planting on highways and roadsides.


• H.R. 1767 (117th Congress): This authorized the Defense Language Institute, a part of the U.S. Department of Defense with a location at the Presidio in Monterey, to award foreign language degrees.

District boundaries and office locations

Panetta’s district stretches from south San Jose in Santa Clara County, into the hills of Santa Cruz, down the coastline of Monterey County, and into northern San Luis Obispo County.

He maintains three offices:

• Washington, D.C., office: 406 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 | (202) 225-2861 | Fax: (202) 225-6791


• District office: 1200 Aguajito Rd, Suite 003, Monterey, CA 93940 | (831) 424-2229 | Fax: (831) 429-1458 (Santa Cruz)


• District office: 800 Pine St, Paso Robles, CA 93446 | (805) 400-6535

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