Mike Doyle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania | |
| In office January 3, 1995 – December 31, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Rick Santorum |
| Succeeded by | Summer Lee (redistricting) |
| Constituency | 18th district (1995–2003) 14th district (2003–2019) 18th district (2019–2022) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1953-08-05)August 5, 1953 (age 72) Swissvale, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Susan Doyle |
| Children | 4 |
| Education | Pennsylvania State University (BS) |
| Signature |  |
Mike Doyle speaks in support of H.R.357, the GI Bill Tuition Fairness Act of 2014 Recorded February 3, 2014 | |
Michael F. Doyle Jr. (born August 5, 1953) is an American politician who was theU.S. representative forPennsylvania's 18th congressional district, serving from 1995 to 2022. He is a member of theDemocratic Party. His district was based inPittsburgh and included most ofAllegheny County.
A native ofSwissvale and graduate of thePennsylvania State University, Doyle previously served as a member of the Swissvale Borough Council (1977–1981) and an aide to Republican State SenatorFrank Pecora (1979–1994). He was first elected to Congress in1994. Doyle announced that he would retire from Congress in2022.[1][2]
Doyle was born inSwissvale, Pennsylvania, to Michael F. and Rosemarie Fusco Doyle.[3] He graduated from Swissvale Area High School in 1971, and then enrolled atPennsylvania State University. He worked insteel mills during his summers in college, and earned aBachelor of Science degree in community development in 1975.
After college, Doyle worked as executive director of Turtle Creek Valley Citizens Union (1977–1979) and was elected to the Swissvale Borough Council in 1977. In 1979, he began work aschief of staff toPennsylvania State SenatorFrank Pecora. Like Pecora, Doyle was once aRepublican who later switched parties to become aDemocrat. In addition to his work for Pecora, he joined Eastgate Insurance Company as an insurance agent in 1982.
In 1994, Doyle was elected to Congress as a Democrat from the state's 18th district, which at the time was in Pittsburgh's eastern suburbs. The incumbent Republican,Rick Santorum, was elected to theUnited States Senate. Doyle won by almost 10 points, in one of the few bright spots in a bad year for Democrats. He was reelected three times with no substantial opposition.
In 2002, the Pennsylvania state legislature reconfigured Doyle's district, combining it with the Pittsburgh-based district of fellow DemocratWilliam J. Coyne. In the process, the state legislature redrew most of western Pennsylvania's heavily Democratic areas into just two districts—the reconfigured 14th district and the 12th district ofJohn Murtha. The potentially explosive situation of having two Democraticincumbents face each other in the primary was defused when Coyne announced his retirement (even though the district contained more of Coyne's former territory than Doyle's), leaving Doyle as the sole incumbent. The new district was by far the most Democratic district in western Pennsylvania, and Doyle was completely unopposed in 2002 and 2004; in 2006 and 2008, his only opposition wasGreen Party candidateTitus North.[4][5]
In 2020, Doyle won the Democratic nomination against a progressive challenger, Jerry Dickinson, a law professor from theUniversity of Pittsburgh School of Law.[6] He did not seek reelection in 2022.
| Year | Office | Party | Primary | General | Result | Swing | Ref. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | % | P. | Total | % | P. | |||||||||
| 1994 | U.S. House | 18th | Democratic | 16,571 | 19.84% | 1st | 101,784 | 54.80% | 1st | Won | Gain | [7] | ||
| 1996 | 45,967 | 74.39% | 1st | 120,410 | 56.01% | 1st | Won | Hold | [8] | |||||
| 1998 | 42,288 | 65.08% | 1st | 98,363 | 67.68% | 1st | Won | Hold | [9] | |||||
| 2000 | 47,827 | 99.89% | 1st | 156,131 | 69.40% | 1st | Won | Hold | [10] | |||||
| 2002 | 14th | 72,886 | 99.97% | 1st | 123,323 | 99.93% | 1st | Won | Hold | [11] | ||||
| 2004 | 63,033 | 100.00% | 1st | 220,139 | 99.93% | 1st | Won | Hold | [12] | |||||
| 2006 | 54,213 | 75.76% | 1st | 161,075 | 89.78% | 1st | Won | Hold | [13] | |||||
| 2008 | 134,298 | 100.00% | 1st | 242,326 | 91.26% | 1st | Won | Hold | [14] | |||||
| 2010 | 71,511 | 100.00% | 1st | 122,073 | 68.79% | 1st | Won | Hold | [15] | |||||
| 2012 | 50,323 | 79.93% | 1st | 251,932 | 76.89% | 1st | Won | Hold | [16] | |||||
| 2014 | 57,039 | 84.06% | 1st | 148,351 | 100.00% | 1st | Won | Hold | [17] | |||||
| 2016 | 103,710 | 76.37% | 1st | 255,293 | 74.26% | 1st | Won | Hold | [18] | |||||
| 2018 | 18th | 52,080 | 75.60% | 1st | 231,472 | 96.08% | 1st | Won | Hold | [19] | ||||
| 2020 | 90,353 | 66.89% | 1st | 266,084 | 69.10% | 1st | Won | Hold | [20] | |||||
| Source:Federal Election Commission |Election Results | ||||||||||||||
Doyle came under fire in the 2000s for living in theC Street Center, a home run by RepublicanChristian fundamentalists in D.C. Additionally, he traveled with the group, or TheFellowship, to the Middle East in April 2009. The trip included travel to Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel on behalf of the Fellowship Foundation.[21] Doyle met with political and religious leaders to help spread the Fellowship's agenda. Doyle's time with the Fellowship was mentioned in Jeff Sharlet's 2010 bookC Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy. Sharlet documented trips and events made by Doyle and other politicians on the Fellowship's behalf. Sharlet's books were the basis for the 2016 Netflix docuseriesThe Family.
Doyle voted against authorizingmilitary force in Iraq and against the $87 billion emergency spending bill to fund U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is the co-founder and co-chair of the Coalition on Autism Research and Education,[24] also known as the Congressional Autism Caucus, and he offered an amendment that was included in thehealth reform law to ensure that insurance companies cover treatments for people withautism.[25] He has also introduced legislation to provide better services for adults with autism.[26]
Early in his career, Doyle opposed abortion, but he began to support abortion rights in the 2010s,[27] receiving more favorable ratings from interest groups likeNARAL while scoring a 0 with groups such as theNational Right to Life Committee.[28] In the early 2000s, he voted to prohibit "partial-birth/late term abortions".[29] Doyle has also voted for the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother's life is in danger.[30] He supports using federal dollars forTitle X, family planning services, andPlanned Parenthood, with the existing provision that federal funds may not be used to perform abortions.[31]
Doyle has fought against gun laws that would allow people to bring firearms into national parks, repeal any part of the assault or military style weapon ban,[31] or repeal parts of the D.C. gun ban.[32] This has led to declining ratings fromgun rights interest groups such as theNRA Political Victory Fund (42% lifetime rating in 2000 to 0% in 2006) andGun Owners of America. Conversely, he has received high ratings fromgun control groups, receiving a 90% in theBrady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in 2003.[33]
Doyle supports comprehensiveimmigration reform, voting for a bill that would repeal certain green card limitations, as well as theDREAM Act.[34] These views have got him negative ratings from interest groups such asEnglish First (0%) and theFederation for American Immigration Reform (0%). His immigration reviews resonate stronger with the National Latino Congreso/William C. Velásquez Institute andAmerican Immigration Lawyers Association, from both of which he has received perfect scores.[35]
Liberals have praised Doyle for his stance oncopyright issues[36] and his support ofnet neutrality. He was the lead sponsor of HR 1147, theLocal Community Radio Act of 2009, which will expandlow-power broadcasting to hundreds of newcommunity radio stations. In 2010, he was given the Digital Patriot Award,[37] along withVint Cerf, one of the creators of the technology that runs theInternet. In February 2013, he became one of the sponsors of theFair Access to Science and Technology Research Act to expedite open access to taxpayer-funded research.[38] Doyle is a strong supporter of letting local governments provide Internet services in order to increase competition, improve service, and decrease prices.[39]
Doyle used his position on theHouse Energy and Commerce Committee to lead negotiations on legislation addressingclimate change and promoting energy independence while protecting clean domestic manufacturing.[40] He has been criticized for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from the fossil fuel industry.[41] Doyle backs the CLEAN Act, which has been criticized as less aggressive than theGreen New Deal, with goals for 2050 as opposed to 2030.[42]
Doyle is an outspoken critic of the genocide inSudan andDarfur. In a rally on April 28, 2007, he urged President Bush to uphold his promise of sending 20,000 peacekeepers to Darfur. He drew loud cheers when he said, "If we can have a surge in Iraq, there needs to be one in Sudan." He has said he supportsLGBT rights, but voted for the 1996Defense of Marriage Act,[43] which prohibited same-sex marriage.[44]
On October 16, 2012, Doyle released a statement criticizing the Republican budget introduced byPaul Ryan, saying that it would "be devastating for seniors in Pittsburgh." According to his report, this budget would eliminate new preventive care benefits for 113,000Medicare beneficiaries in the district, as well as other cuts toMedicaid, affordable housing, and food stamps. "That's why I voted against the Ryan budget when it was considered by Congress earlier this year, and why I am fighting hard to oppose Congressional Republicans' misguided priorities."[45]
On December 18, 2019, Doyle voted for both articles of impeachment against PresidentDonald J. Trump.[46]
Doyle has hadfour of his bills passed into law since he took office: the Methane Hydrate Research and Development Act of 2000, the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007, the Local Community Radio Act of 2010, and "To designate the United States courthouse located at 700 Grant Street in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as the "Joseph F. Weis Jr. United States Courthouse".
Doyle was ranked the 38th most bipartisan member of the House of Representatives during the114th United States Congress (and the third most bipartisan member of the House from Pennsylvania) in the Bipartisan Index created byThe Lugar Center and theMcCourt School of Public Policy that ranks members of the United States Congress by their degree of bipartisanship (by measuring the frequency each member's bills attract co-sponsors from the opposite party and each member's co-sponsorship of bills by members of the opposite party).[51]
Doyle isRoman Catholic.[52]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania's 18th congressional district 1995–2003 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania's 14th congressional district 2003–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania's 18th congressional district 2019–2022 | Succeeded by Constituency abolished |
