David Patrick Joyce (born March 17, 1957) is an American politician and attorney currently serving in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

for Ohio's 14th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Joyce was previously the prosecutor of Geauga County, Ohio. He chairs the Republican Governance Group, a group of moderate Republicans in the

Early life and education

Joyce was born in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, to an Irish

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

family. His father was a coal salesman. In high school, he played football, and considered joining the priesthood. In 1975, Joyce enrolled at the

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a Private university, private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary (Marianists), Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the U ...

, a Catholic university, from which he received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in accounting in 1979, and later his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

Legal career

From 1983 to 1984, Joyce was a public defender for

Cuyahoga County Cuyahoga County ( or , see ) is a large urban county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. The county seat and most populous city is Cleveland. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,264,817, making it the second ...

, and from 1985 to 1988 a public defender for Geauga County. In 1989, he was hired as an assistant county attorney in Lake County. He assisted County Prosecutor Steven C. LaTourette in prosecuting serial murderer and cult leader Jeffrey Lundgren for the Kirtland cult killings. By 2012, Joyce had been appointed prosecutor of Geauga County. He prosecuted the 2012 Chardon High School shooting of six students that took place on February 27, 2012. The defendant, Thomas "T.J." Lane, 17 years old at the time of the crime, was charged as an adult with three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of aggravated attempted murder, and one count of felonious assault. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced in 2013 to three life sentences without parole.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2012

In July 2012, Representative Steve LaTourette of Ohio's 14th congressional district announced that he would retire in 2012 rather than seek reelection. Because LaTourette announced his retirement after the primary, local Republican party leaders chose Joyce as the replacement nominee. Joyce ran in the November general election against Democratic nominee Dale Virgil Blanchard,

Libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

David Macko and

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

nominee Elaine Mastromatteo. He won with 54% of the vote.

2014

In February 2013, ''Roll Call'' reported that Steve Israel, head of the

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States House of Representatives, working to elect Democrats to that body. The DCCC recruits candidates, raises funds and organizes races in ...

, had identified the 14th congressional district as one of the party's top four targets in 2014. The House Majority PAC made Joyce one of its top targets to oust in the 2014 elections. In 2014, according to one news source, Joyce "survived a grueling primary against a Tea Party-backed candidate" before facing "an equally tough challenge from Michael Wager." Joyce won with 63.3% of the vote to Wager's 33% and independent David Macko's 3.7%.

2016

Joyce defeated Wager again, 62.6% to 37.4%.

2018

In April 2017, Betsy Rader, a Democrat, announced that she would run against Joyce in 2018. She is a lawyer who represents victims of employment discrimination. Rader said she supported "much" of the

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...

, but that she needed to study health care more as an issue. She criticized Joyce for opposing an increase in the minimum wage and for wanting to defund

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is an American nonprofit organization

. In October 2017,

Darrell Scott James Darrell Scott (born August 6, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. He has written several mainstream country hits, and is well-established as one of Nashville's premier session instrumentalists. B ...

, a pastor involved in President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's political operation, and who served as CEO of the semi-official "

National Diversity Coalition for Trump National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

" organized by Trump's attorney Michael Cohen, said he would consider a primary challenge to Joyce.

2024

On June 12, 2024, Joyce was the only Republican to vote against holding Attorney General

Merrick Garland Merrick Brian Garland (born November 13, 1952) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as the 86th United States attorney general from 2021 to 2025. He previously served as a circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Dist ...

in contempt for refusing to release audiotapes of President Biden's interview regarding

classified documents Classified information is confidential material that a government deems to be sensitive information which must be protected from unauthorized disclosure that requires special handling and dissemination controls. Access is restricted by law or ...

. The vote on the GOP-led measure was 216 to 207. He said he couldn't support a "resolution that would further politicize our judicial system to score political points".

Tenure

Asked about his legislative priorities in March 2016, Joyce cited terrorist threats, job growth, government spending, the national debt, environmental protection of the Great Lakes, and health care. The Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy ranked Joyce the 29th most bipartisan member of the House of Representatives during the

114th United States Congress The 114th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from Ja ...

and the most bipartisan member of the House from Ohio. In July 2017, Joyce said that U.S. political discourse had reached a "vitriolic" level. "I do know there's a level of frustration out there," he said. "But we need to work together. resident Donald Trumphas gotten into this tug-of-war with the national media. Now we're six months into his presidency ... and infrastructure improvements, tax changes and healthcare law are not getting covered. They are dealing with the tweet du Jour ... and rump's tweetscertainly don't help."Schunk, Andrew; Congressman Dave Joyce talks health care, discord over discourse; MyTown NEO; July 6, 2017; http://www.mytownneo.com/news/20170706/congressman-dave-joyce-talks-health-care-discord-over-discourse Joyce is a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership,

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 advan ...

, Veterinary Medicine Caucus, and the Climate Solutions Caucus. He co-chairs the Congressional Cannabis Caucus. During

's presidency, Joyce voted in line with Trump's stated position 91.8% of the time. As of September 2021, Joyce had voted in line with

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

's stated position 30.6% of the time. On July 29, 2024, Joyce was announced as one of seven Republican members of a bipartisan task force investigating the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

Committee assignments

* Committee on Appropriations ** Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies (Ranking Member, 116th & 117th Congress) ** Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government ** Subcommittee on Homeland Security (Chair, 118th Congress) * Committee on Ethics * Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress

Caucus memberships

* Rare Disease Caucus *

Republican Study Committee The Republican Study Committee (RSC) is a congressional caucus of conservative members of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives. In November 2024, Representative August Pfluger was elected as the chair of the RSC, ...

* Republican Governance Group * Republican Main Street Partnership *

* Veterinary Medicine Caucus * Climate Solutions Caucus * Congressional Cannabis Caucus (Co-Chair) * Problem Solvers Caucus * Congressional Coalition on Adoption *

Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus The Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus (CWRC) is a large bi-partisan Congressional Member Organization in the U.S. House of Representatives formed to support the National Wildlife Refuge System The National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) i ...

Political positions

Health care

Joyce opposes the

(Obamacare) and has voted 31 times to repeal it. In 2017, he voted against a Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, saying it "was too partisan".

Jobs

In August 2013, Joyce said that part of the problem with unemployment numbers in the U.S. is that employers "can't find people to come to work sober, daily, drug-free and want to learn the necessary skills going forward to be able to do those jobs."

Immigration

In March 2016, Joyce said that he had co-sponsored "several bills that ensured refugees underwent stricter scrutiny in order to prevent a Paris-style attack from happening in the United States."David Joyce, candidate for U.S. Representative Ohio 14th District seat, March 2016 primary election;The News Herald; March 8, 2016; http://www.news-herald.com/government-and-politics/20160308/david-joyce-candidate-for-us-representative-ohio-14th-district-seat-march-2016-primary-election He supports the Visa Waiver Program in order to "ensure terrorists with Western passports don't enter our country," for restrictions on transferring Guantanamo detainees, and for enhancements in cybersecurity infrastructure. He said, in summary, that he was "committed to giving our soldiers and our intelligence community all of the resources they need to do the job." Joyce voted for the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 which authorizes DHS to nearly double the available H-2B visas for the remainder of FY 2020. Joyce voted for the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 1158), which effectively prohibits ICE from cooperating with Health and Human Services to detain or remove illegal alien sponsors of unaccompanied alien children (UACs).

Transportation

In 2014, Joyce introduced the Safe Streets Act with Congresswoman

Doris Matsui Doris Okada Matsui ( ; born Doris Kazue Okada; , September 25, 1944) is an American politician, who has served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from since 2005. She succeeded her husband, Bob Matsui. The district, numb ...

. The bill would nationalize transportation "design elements" so that streets would be designed with the safety of drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists in mind.

Cannabis

Joyce has supported a number of congressional efforts to reform cannabis laws. He reintroduced the

Rohrabacher–Farr amendment The Rohrabacher–Farr amendment (also known as the Rohrabacher–Blumenauer amendment) is legislation introduced by U.S. Representative Maurice Hinchey in 2001, prohibiting the Justice Department from spending funds to interfere with the impleme ...

in 2018 to prohibit the Justice Department from spending funds to interfere with the implementation of state medical cannabis laws. He also introduced the

STATES Act The Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act () was a bill proposed in the 115th United States Congress that would recognize legalization of cannabis and the U.S. state laws that have legalized it through their le ...

in 2018 and 2019 to protect states from federal interference regarding both medical and recreational use. Also in 2018, Joyce cosponsored the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act. In January 2019, he was named a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus. In 2021, Joyce introduced the Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act to legalize medical cannabis for military veterans and allow

Veterans Affairs Veterans' affairs is an area of public policy concerned with relations between a government and its communities of military veterans. Some jurisdictions have a designated government agency or department, a Department of Veterans' Affairs, Minist ...

doctors to prescribe the drug. Also in 2021, he introduced the Cannabis Reform for Veterans, Small Businesses, and Medical Professionals Act to remove cannabis from the

Controlled Substances Act The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) is the statute establishing federal government of the United States, federal drug policy of the United States, U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use, and distribution of ...

and direct federal agencies to develop regulations for cannabis similar to alcohol. Later in 2021, he and Representative

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (born October 13, 1989), also known as AOC, is an American politician and activist who has served since 2019 as the United States House of Representatives, US representative for New York's 14th congressional distric ...

introduced the Harnessing Opportunities by Pursuing Expungement (HOPE) Act to provide grants for state and local governments to expunge cannabis offenses. Joyce endorsed Ohio Issue 2 in 2023 which legalized cannabis for recreational use in his home state.

Impeachments of Donald Trump

Joyce voted "no" on the

first impeachment of Donald Trump Donald Trump, serving as the 45th president of the United States, was impeached for the first time on December 18, 2019. On that date, the House of Representatives adopted two articles of impeachment against Trump: abuse of power and obstru ...

on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress on December 18, 2019. On January 13, 2021, he voted against Trump's second impeachment for incitement of insurrection.

January 6 commission

On May 19, 2021, Joyce was one of 35 Republicans who joined all Democrats in voting to approve legislation to establish the January 6 commission meant to investigate the storming of the U.S. Capitol.

Censure of Paul Gosar

In November 2021, Joyce refused to vote to censure Paul Gosar, a House member who approvingly shared an animated video himself killing a fellow member and assaulting the president. Joyce voted "Present."

LGBT rights

On July 19, 2022, Joyce and 46 other Republican representatives voted for the

Respect for Marriage Act The Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA; ) is a landmark United States federal law passed by the 117th United States Congress in 2022 and signed into law by President Joe Biden. It repeals the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), requires the U.S. federal ...

, which would codify the right to same-sex marriage in federal law.

Suspending the US Constitution

In a nationally broadcast December 2022 interview, Joyce said that, regardless of Donald Trump's calls to suspend the

Constitution of the United States The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

, he would support him for president were Trump to win the Republican nomination in 2024.

SANEs Act

In February 2022, Joyce and Representative Deborah Ross introduced the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) Act, which is designed to address the nationwide shortage of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners and improve care for survivors of sexual violence. The bill was endorsed by RAINN, the

American Nurses Association The American Nurses Association (ANA) is a 501(c)(6) professional organization to advance and protect the profession of nursing. It started in 1896 as the Nurses Associated Alumnae and was renamed the American Nurses Association in 1911. It is b ...

, and the National Network to End Domestic Violence.

Personal life

Joyce married Kelly in 1990. They live in Russell Township with their three children. Joyce is a member of the National District Attorney Association and the Ohio Prosecuting Attorney Association. He is also director of Geauga Bluecoats Inc. He is Catholic.

Electoral history

References

External links

Congressman David Joyce
official U.S. House website * * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Joyce, David 1957 births Living people 21st-century Ohio politicians 21st-century Roman Catholics 21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives American Roman Catholics Catholic politicians from Ohio County district attorneys in Ohio People from Geauga County, Ohio Public defenders Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio University of Dayton alumni