John Rice Carter (born November 6, 1941) is the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

serving since 2003. He is a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

. The district includes the northern suburbs of Austin, as well as

Fort Hood Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. Named after Confederate General John Bell Hood, it is located halfway between Austin and Waco, about from each, within the U.S. state of Texas. The post is the headquarter ...

Early life, education, and career

Carter was born in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, but has spent most of his life in central Texas. He graduated from

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sy ...

with a degree in history in 1964, and earned a law degree from the

University of Texas School of Law The University of Texas School of Law (Texas Law) is the law school of the University of Texas at Austin. Texas Law is consistently ranked as one of the top law schools in the United States and is highly selective—registering the 8th lowest ac ...

in 1969. After graduating from law school, Carter served as the first general counsel to the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...

' Agriculture Committee. He later began a private law practice in Round Rock. In 1981, Carter was appointed as judge of the 277th District Court of Williamson County. He was elected to the post a year later, the first Republican elected to a countywide position in the county. He was reelected four times.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

Carter retired from the bench in 2001 to run for Congress in the newly created 31st District. After finishing second in the Republican primary, he defeated Peter Wareing in the runoff, which was

tantamount to election A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combinati ...

in what was then a heavily Republican district. For his first term, 2003–05, Carter represented a district that stretched from the suburbs of Austin to far western Houston, and included College Station, home of

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. From the

2003 Texas redistricting The 2003 Texas redistricting refers to a controversial mid-decade state plan that defined new congressional districts. In the 2004 elections, this redistricting supported the Republicans taking a majority of Texas's House seats for the first ...

until 2013, Carter represented a district stretching from the fringes of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex through more rural portions of Central Texas. Redistricting after the 2010 census, which first affected the 2013–15 term, reduced the 31st to

Bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inte ...

and Williamson counties. The 31st now includes

, home of the U.S. Army's 3rd Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Cavalry Division. In 2016, Carter was reelected with 166,060 votes (58.4%) over Democratic nominee Mike Clark and Libertarian Scott Ballard, who received 103,852 (34.5%) and 14,676 (5.2%), respectively. In 2018, Carter defeated Democratic nominee MJ Hegar with 144,680 votes (50.6%) to her 136,362 (47.7%). It was the smallest victory margin of his career.

Tenure

Carter was the sponsor of the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act, which

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

signed into law in 2004. In the 110th Congress, Carter sponsored and co-sponsored a number of bills, including the

Military Spouses Residency Relief Act The Military Spouses Residency Relief Act (MSRRA) signed into law on November 11, 2009, was originally introduced by Congressman John Carter (Texas) during the 110th United States Congress. The MSRRA was written to amend the Servicemembers Civil ...

, the Terrorist Death Penalty Act of 2008, and a bill condemning the vandalism of the Vietnam War Memorial on the National Mall. On June 12, 2009, Carter co-sponsored H.R. 1503, which would require the production of a birth certificate from presidential candidates. The bill was introduced as a result of conspiracy theories that claimed that President Barack Obama is not a natural-born U.S. citizen. On September 15, 2009, in an opinion piece published in ''The Hill'', Carter called the 111th Congress a "house of hypocrisy" after the House of Representatives voted to rebuke Representative Joe Wilson for an outburst but would not go after Representative and House Ways and Means Chair Charlie Rangel, who had been the subject of numerous ethical problems involving taxes and property. Carter is also a proponent of the "Rangel Rule," where

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

penalties and interest would be eliminated if one paid back taxes, similar to the treatment Rangel,

Treasury Secretary The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

Timothy Geithner Timothy Franz Geithner (; born August 18, 1961) is a former American central banker who served as the 75th United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013. He was the President of the Federal Reserve Bank o ...

, and former Senator (and onetime Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee) Tom Daschle received after their tax problems were publicized. Carter introduced a "Privileged Resolution" that would have forced Rangel's resignation as chair of the Ways and Means Committee after he declined to resign voluntarily, citing the inaction of the

House Democratic Caucus The House Democratic Caucus is a congressional caucus composed of all Democratic Representatives in the United States House of Representatives and is responsible for nominating and electing the Democratic Party leadership in the chamber. In its ...

and the ongoing investigations as reasons. The resolution failed largely along party lines, with two Democrats and six Republicans breaking ranks. Carter amended his financial disclosure forms in October 2009 to list nearly $300,000 in capital gains from the sale of ExxonMobil stock in 2006 and 2007. Though he listed the sale of the assets, he did not list the actual amount of capital gains, on which he did pay taxes. On November 16, 2009, Carter introduced legislation to give combatant casualty status to the victims of the

2009 Fort Hood shooting On November 5, 2009, a mass shooting took place at Fort Hood, near Killeen, Texas. Nidal Hasan, a U.S. Army major and psychiatrist, fatally shot 13 people and injured more than 30 others. It was the deadliest mass shooting on an American m ...

, similar to those who were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2015, Carter cosponsored a resolution to amend the US constitution to ban same-sex marriage. On May 16, 2018, Carter was named the new chair of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Appropriations after

Charlie Dent Charles Wieder Dent (born May 24, 1960) is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for from 2005 to 2018. Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Dent worked in a variety of occupations ...

retired. He had previously chaired the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Appropriations. Carter co-sponsored H.R. 4760, the Securing America's Future Act of 2018, which failed to pass the House. On December 18, 2019, Carter voted against both articles of impeachment against Trump. Of the 195 Republicans who voted, all voted against both impeachment articles. On January 6, 2021, Carter voted against certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election based on spurious allegations of voter fraud.

Committee assignments

Committee on Appropriations The United States House Committee on Appropriations is a committee of the United States House of Representatives that is responsible for passing appropriation bills along with its Senate counterpart. The bills passed by the Appropriations Commi ...

** Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (Ranking Member) ** Subcommittee on Defense

Party leadership and caucus memberships

* House Army Caucus (Co-Chair) *

House Republican Conference The House Republican Conference is the party caucus for Republicans in the United States House of Representatives. It hosts meetings and is the primary forum for communicating the party's message to members. The Conference produces a daily pu ...

(Secretary) *

United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus The U.S. Congressional International Conservation Caucus, founded in September 2003, is a bipartisan congressional organization with the conviction that “the United States of America has the opportunity, the obligation and the interests to advanc ...

* Republican Steering Committee * Sportsmen's Caucus *

Tea Party Caucus The Tea Party Caucus (TPC) was a congressional caucus of conservative members of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives. The Caucus was founded in July 2010 by Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann in coordination w ...

* Congressional Cement Caucus * I-14 Caucus *

Republican Study Committee The Republican Study Committee (RSC) is a study group of conservative members of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives. As of 2021, the Chairman of the RSC is Representative Jim Banks of Indiana. Although the prima ...

Electoral history

Carter was reelected to his twelve term in Congress in 2022. , - , colspan=13 , , - !Year !Winning candidate !Party !Pct !Opponent !Party !Pct , - , 2002 , style="background:#ffb3b3;", John Carter , style="background:#ffb3b3;",

, style="background:#ffb3b3;", 69.1% , style="background:#b3d9ff;", David Bagley , style="background:#b3d9ff;", Democratic , style="background:#b3d9ff;", 27.4% , - , 2004 , style="background:#ffb3b3;", John Carter (inc.) , style="background:#ffb3b3;",

, style="background:#ffb3b3;", 64.8% , style="background:#b3d9ff;", Jon Porter , style="background:#b3d9ff;", Democratic , style="background:#b3d9ff;", 32.5% , - , 2006 , style="background:#ffb3b3;", John Carter (inc.) , style="background:#ffb3b3;",

, style="background:#ffb3b3;", 58.5% , style="background:#b3d9ff;", Mary Beth Herrell , style="background:#b3d9ff;", Democratic , style="background:#b3d9ff;", 38.8% , - ,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...