Stephen Clement Austria (born October 12, 1958) is an American politician who served as a

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 ...

for from 2009 to 2013. He is a member of the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

. In December 2011, Austria announced his intention to not run for re-election for the 113th Congress in the 2012 elections.Steve Austria to retire – POLITICO.com
/ref> During his 14 years in elected office, Austria never lost an election.

Early life, education and career

Austria was born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, the son of Jean C. (née Brockman), a nurse, and the late Dr. Clement G. Austria, a medical doctor. He grew up in Xenia, the eldest of nine children. He graduated from

Carroll High School Carroll High School can refer to: In the United States *Carroll High School (Alabama), Ozark, Alabama *Carroll High School (Flora, Indiana), Flora, Indiana *Carroll High School (Fort Wayne, Indiana), Fort Wayne, Indiana *Carroll High School (Iowa) ...

in 1977. His mother was of German descent, and his father was from Tiaong, Quezon, Philippines, and had moved to Ohio to attend medical school. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

in 1982 and began a career as a financial advisor. The Austria family was named the 1984 "Ohio Family of the Year" and was later presented with one of nine "The Great American Family" awards by First Lady

Nancy Reagan Nancy Davis Reagan (; born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress and First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. She was the second wife of president Ronald Reagan. Reagan was born in N ...

. His father sat on the Greene County Central Committee of the Republican Party.

Ohio House of Representatives

Elections

Austria was a member of the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

from 1998 until 2000. Austria won re-election in 2004 against Democratic challenger Charlie Hart in the general election with 65% of the vote.

Tenure

Austria was elected to the Ohio State Senate in 2001, representing the 10th District. He served two terms as the Senate House Majority Whip. In 1998, he sponsored the "Internet Child Protection Act", which was later enacted into law.

Committee assignments

He served as Chairman of the Senate Highways and Transportation and Senate Judiciary Committees.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

;2008 Austria won the Republican nomination for the 7th District after nine-term incumbent

Dave Hobson David Lee Hobson (born October 17, 1936) is an American lawyer and politician of the Republican Party who served as a U.S. representative from the seventh congressional district of Ohio from 1991 to 2009. Early life and education Hobson was b ...

retired. He defeated Democratic challenger Sharen Neuhardt in the general election, 59% to 41%. When Austria was elected, he made history by becoming the first son of a Filipino immigrant to be elected to the House of Representatives. ;2010 Austria was elected to a second term by defeating Libertarian John D. Anderson, Democrat Bill Conner and Constitution Party David Easton. ;2012 Following the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

, Ohio lost two seats in the House of Representatives, due to relatively slow population growth. In subsequent redistricting, Austria's district, which stretched from

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

to the southern suburbs of

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

, was dismantled, with its territory split between three neighboring districts. Austria's home in Beavercreek was drawn into the 10th District (previously the 3rd District) of fellow Republican

Mike Turner Michael Ray Turner (born January 11, 1960) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. Turner's district, numbered as the 3rd district from 2003 to 2013, is based in Dayt ...

, who has served since 2003. The largest city in the district, Springfield, was drawn into the 8th District of House Speaker

John Boehner John Andrew Boehner ( ; born , 1949) is an American retired politician who served as the 53rd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served 13 terms as the U.S. represe ...

. In December 2011, Austria announced his intention to retire at the 2012 elections, rather than run in a primary against Turner or move to run in another district. While one proposal would have seen the 10th retain roughly half of the territory from Turner and Austria's old districts, the final map drew Austria into a district that would have been over 75 percent new to him. State House Majority Leader

Matt Huffman Matt Huffman (born April 1, 1960) is an American politician serving as a member of the Ohio Senate, representing the 12th district since 2017, and currently serving as the Ohio Senate Majority Leader as a Republican. The district includes Allen, C ...

said that the new map "essentially eliminated" any realistic chance of Austria being able to stay in Congress.

Tenure

Austria is the third person of

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

heritage (after Bobby Scott of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and

John Ensign John Eric Ensign (born March 25, 1958) is an American veterinarian and former politician from Nevada. A member of the Republican Party, Ensign was a Congressman and United States Senator from Nevada; he served in the latter seat from January 200 ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

) to serve in the House as a voting member. He is the first first-generation Filipino to be elected to the United States Congress. Austria is a staunch fiscal and social conservative, which is unusual in a district that has historically elected moderate Republicans. His campaign stressed

Second Amendment The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds eac ...

rights, tax relief, opposition to abortion, and eliminating waste in government. He was a member of the

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 prim ...

and the

Republican Main Street Partnership The Republican Main Street Partnership is a 501(c)(4) organization that was allied with the congressional Republican Main Street Caucus. The Partnership continues to exist, while the Caucus was dissolved by its members in February 2019. Hist ...

. Austria co-wrote a letter with Rep.

Steve Rothman Steven Richard Rothman (born October 14, 1952) is an American former jurist and politician who served as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 9th congressional district, serving for 16 years from January 3, 1997, to January 3, 2013. Rothman w ...

in the wake of the

Itamar attack The Itamar attack, * * also called the Itamar massacre, was a terrorist attack on an Israeli family in the Israeli settlement of Itamar in the West Bank that took place on 11 March 2011, in which five members of the same family were murder ...

claiming that any peace attempt in the Middle East had to recognize that "Palestinian incitement continues and there is almost no effort by them to promote coexistence and peace."

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 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies ** Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies ** Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs

Post-congressional career

Austria has a consulting business, and serves on an advisory board for the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...

and remains active in politics. As of 2014, Austria is on the Republican State

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

, representing the 10th District, and sits on the Republican National Committee's Asian American Advisory Council.

Personal life

Austria has lived in Beavercreek, a suburb of

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

, for more than 20 years with his wife Eileen, and their three sons Brian, Kevin and Eric. Austria is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

References

External links

Congressman Steve Austria
''official U.S. House website''
Steve Austria For U.S. Congress
''official campaign website'' * *
Advocacy group ratings
at '' The Hill'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Austria, Steve 1958 births 21st-century American politicians American people of German descent American politicians of Filipino descent Living people Marquette University alumni Republican Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives Members of the United States Congress of Filipino descent Asian-American members of the United States House of Representatives Republican Party Ohio state senators People from Beavercreek, Ohio Politicians from Cincinnati Catholics from Ohio Asian-American people in Ohio politics Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio Asian conservatism in the United States Members of Congress who became lobbyists

Early life, education and career

Ohio House of Representatives

Elections

Tenure

Committee assignments

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

Tenure

Committee assignments

Post-congressional career

Personal life

See also

References

External links