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(202) 225-2511
FACEBOOK INSTAGRAMBefore running for the newly redrawn 5th Congressional District in 2022, Tom McClintock served seven terms representing California’s 4th Congressional District. A conservative Republican in a district that skewed to the right, the former longtime member of the California State Legislature has received an average of approximately 57.9 percent of the vote each election.
Aside from when he narrowly won his seat in November 2008 over Democratic challenger Charlie Brown, McClintock’s only faced mildly close competition from Democrats in his two most recent elections: winning by 8.2 percentage points over civil servant Jessica Morse in 2018; and winning by 11.8 percentage points over tech entrepreneur Brynne Kennedy in 2020. Morse and Kennedy each opted thereafter not to run in the next election.
With redistricting because of the 2020 census, McClintock’s former district largely turned into the new 3rd and 5th districts. He ran for election in the new 5th District, which includes Modesto and Fresno and some parts of his former district. He faced off against Democrat Mike Barkley in the Nov. 8, 2022, general election and won with 61.3 percent of the vote.
“Tom has been a champion for the conservative movement for many years,” said retiring Rep. Devin Nunes, who endorsed McClintock, according to the Washington Examiner. “He’s popular enough to run successfully anywhere in California.”
Like Nunes, McClintock was an enthusiastic supporter of former President Donald Trump, while he was in office, even supporting litigation to contest the 2020 election after Trump lost. Following the storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, however, McClintock ultimately voted to certify state results.
Background
Born in 1956 in New York, McClintock grew up in Southern California, beginning to write for the Thousand Oaks News-Chronicle as a teenager. He got into politics not long after graduating with a bachelor’s degree from University of California, Los Angeles, serving as chief of staff for a California state senator named Ed Davis between 1980 and 1982.
First elected to the California State Assembly in 1982, McClintock served in that body through 1992 and then again from 1996 through 2000 before serving eight years in the California State Senate. Along the way, he also ran twice for state controller and finished third in the 2003 gubernatorial recall election behind Democrat Cruz Bustamante and winner and fellow Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger.
McClintock has two children and was married for over 30 years to his wife Lori prior to her death in December 2021.
Committee Assignments
Budget
Judiciary (Immigration and Citizenship subcommittee, Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties subcommittees)
Natural Resources (National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands, Water, Oceans, and Wildlife subcommittees)
Select Legislation
McClintock has been a primary sponsor for six enacted bills, including these:
District boundaries and office locations
McClintock’s district sprawls from the Roseville and Rocklin area down through the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. As large as it currently is, it’s been even more expansive in the past, stretching from Sacramento’s suburbs to the Oregon border prior to the round of redistricting that occurred in 2011.
Like many Congresspeople, McClintock maintains both district and local offices, namely:
