Steve Stivers | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2020 | |
| Chair of theNational Republican Congressional Committee | |
| In office January 3, 2017 – January 3, 2019 | |
| Leader | Paul Ryan |
| Preceded by | Greg Walden |
| Succeeded by | Tom Emmer |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromOhio's15th district | |
| In office January 3, 2011 – May 16, 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Mary Jo Kilroy |
| Succeeded by | Mike Carey |
| Member of theOhio Senate from the16th district | |
| In office January 6, 2003 – December 31, 2008 | |
| Preceded by | Priscilla Mead |
| Succeeded by | Jim Hughes |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Steven Ernst Stivers (1965-03-24)March 24, 1965 (age 60) Ripley, Ohio, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Karen Stivers |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Ohio State University (BA,MBA) United States Army War College (MA) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1985–present |
| Rank | Major General |
| Commands | 371st Sustainment Brigade |
| Awards | Bronze Star Meritorious Service Army Commendation Medal Reserve Good Conduct National Defense Service Medal |
Steven Ernst Stivers (/ˈstaɪvərz/STY-vərz; born March 24, 1965) is an American businessman, soldier, and politician who was theU.S. representative forOhio's 15th congressional district from 2011 until 2021. He is a member of theRepublican Party, and became chair of theNational Republican Congressional Committee in 2017. Stivers previously served in theOhio Senate, representing the 15th district. He is amajor general in theOhio Army National Guard, serving as the Assistant Adjutant General, and servedactive duty inIraq as abattalioncommander until December 2005. On May 16, 2021, he resigned his seat to become the president and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.[1]
Stivers was born and grew up inRipley, Ohio, the son of Carol Sue (née Pulliam) and Ernst Bambach Stivers.[2] Steve is a recipient of theEagle Scout Award.[3]
Stivers attended theOhio State University where he earned aBachelor of Arts degree ineconomics andinternational relations in 1989 and anMBA in 1996.[4] While attending Ohio State he joined theDelta Upsilon fraternity.[5]
Stivers spent seven years atBank One, three years at the Ohio Company, two years as finance director for theFranklin County Republican Party and five years as a staff member in theOhio Senate.[6] Stivers worked as aSeries 7 licensed securitiestrader with the Ohio Company.[6]
Stivers has served in theOhio Army National Guard since 1985 and holds the rank of Major General in theLogistics branch. Stivers was called toactive duty while serving in the Ohio Senate in October 2004. It was then that Stivers served inIraq,Kuwait,Qatar, andDjibouti as battalion commander until December 2005. He was awarded aBronze Star for his accomplishments as a battalion commander duringOperation Iraqi Freedom.[6]
In December 2002, RepublicanPriscilla Mead resigned after serving in theOhio Senate for only a year.[7] Stivers was recommended by a Senate screening committee and was appointed by election of the Senate Republicans on January 4, 2003.He won re-election in 2004 to a full senate term with 58% of the vote.[8]
Stivers served in theOhio Senate from January 9, 2003, until December 2008.
Stivers was the Chairman of the Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee; Vice-Chair of the Finance and Financial Institutions Committee; and served on the Ways and Means Committee, the Judiciary Committee on Civil Justice, the Judiciary Committee for Criminal Justice, and the Controlling Board.[9]
In November 2007, Stivers announced he would run for election to Congress in Ohio's 15th District, a seat held by retiring Republican memberDeborah Pryce. He won the Republican nomination and ran against DemocraticFranklinCounty CommissionerMary Jo Kilroy, who had nearly unseated Pryce in 2006,Libertarian Mark Noble and Independent Don Elijah Eckhart. Stivers lost by 2,311 votes, conceding on December 7, 2008, after a long vote recount.[10]
Stivers won the Republican primary with 82% of the vote.[11][12] He again faced Democratic incumbent Mary Jo Kilroy along with Constitution Party nominee David Ryon and Libertarian nominee William J. Kammerer. On November 2, 2010, Kilroy conceded to Stivers, who won by a 54% to 42% margin.[10]
Redistricting after the 2010 census made the 15th much friendlier to Stivers. During his first term, he represented a fairly compact district covering all ofUnion andMadison counties, as well as most of downtown and western Columbus. The new map, however, pushed the 15th into more rural and exurban territory south and west of the capital.[citation needed]
Stivers ran again in 2012 against Democratic nominee Pat Lang.[13] He was endorsed by the NRA, National Right to Life, Ohio State Medical Association andUnited States Chamber of Commerce. Stivers was re-elected by 76,397 votes.[14]
Stivers ran in 2014 against Democratic Scott Wharton. Gaining more than 66 percent of the vote, he was reelected for a third term.[15]
Stivers ran in 2016 against Democrat Scott Wharton for the OH-15 seat. Winning 66.2% (222,847) of the vote to Wharton's 33.8% (113,960).[16]
The Lugar Center and theMcCourt School of Public Policy ranked Stivers as the 36th and 37th most bipartisan member of the U.S. House during the114th (2015–17) and 115th Congresses.[17][18] His resignation triggered aspecial election in 2021 which was won by fellow republicanMike Carey.
Stivers has voted against raising thedebt limit when there was no offset or systemic reform and supports prioritizing spending in the event that the debt limit is reached.[19][20] Stiver voted in favor of aBalanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[21] Stivers voted to offset the costs of disaster relief spending through discretionary budget cuts.[20]
Stivers took apledge to not support any tax raises.[19] He voted in favor of the Trump administration's2017 tax legislation.[21]
Stivers voted in favor of legislation to dismantlefinancial regulations enacted by theDodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.[21] He voted to repeal a rule that would have barred somefinancial services companies from includingmandatory arbitration clauses in contracts.[21]
He voted to audit theFederal Reserve System.[19]
Stivers voted in favor of a stopgap funding measure to end theJanuary 2018 federal government shutdown, but during theDecember 2018 to January 2019 partial federal government shutdown, Stivers voted against several pieces of legislation to reopen the federal government without appropriating money for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.[21]
In March 2021, all House Republicans including Stivers voted against theAmerican Rescue Plan Act of 2021, aneconomic stimulus bill aimed at speeding up the United States' recovery from theeconomic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoingrecession.[22]
Stivers voted in favor of theAmerican Health Care Act of 2017, legislation that would have partially repealed theAffordable Care Act.[21]
Stivers voted against a measure to block President Trump fromwithdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement onclimate change.[21] Stivers voted againstcarbon tax.[21] He voted in favor ofCongressional Review Act legislation that repealed theStream Protection Rule, and voted in favor of a measure to delay implementation of theozoneNational Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) program.[21] He opposes federal regulations on efficiency standards.[19]
Stivers voted against legislation to requireuniversal background checks for firearm purchases.[21] He voted in favor of makingconcealed-carry permits issued in one state valid in other states.[21] He voted against a measure to grant law enforcement agencies additional time to conductfirearm-purchase background checks.[21]
In 2019, Stivers voted against legislation to halt U.S. military assistance to theSaudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.[21] He voted in favor of 2017 legislation to impose additional sanctions against Russia, Iran, and North Korea, which passed on a 419–3 vote.[21]
Stivers opposed PresidentDonald Trump's issuance ofExecutive Order 13769, which imposed a temporary ban on entry to the U.S. to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, in 2017. Stivers stated: "I believe the executive order risks violating our nation's values and fails to differentiate mainstream Islamic partners from radical Islamic terrorists — setting back our fight against radical Islam. I urge the Administration to quickly replace this temporary order with permanent improvements in the visa vetting process."[23]
In 2019, Stivers voted againstoverriding Trump's veto of a bill to overturn Trump'sdeclaration of an emergency to direct funding for the construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall.[21]
Stivers voted to rescind aFederal Communications Commission regulation that barredInternet service providers from sharing data on the Web activities of their customers.[21] Stivers voted in favor of theForeign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008, including a provision reauthorizing a warrantless spying program.[21] Strivers voted against a measure that would have curtailed the power of officials to "search and read private messagescollected incidentally" underForeign Intelligence Surveillance Act authorities.[21]
Stivers voted against the restoration of thenet neutrality rule.[21]
Stivers voted in favor of federal legislation toban abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy.[21] He voted against repealing a rule that barred state and local governments from refusing to distribute federal funds to anyFederally Qualified Health Center on the basis that that health center also performed abortions.[21] Stivers voted against a measure to oppose theTrump administration's ban on openly transgender Americans serving in the U.S. military.[21]
In 2018, Stivers called for some form of bipartisanSocial Security reform.[24]
Stivers beat RepresentativeRoger Williams to be elected to chair theNational Republican Congressional Committee in November 2016. As the leader of the NRCC, which is charged with helping elect Republican House candidates, Stivers said his goal was to "defy history" by protecting his party's House majority in the2018 elections.[25] In June 2018, Stivers did not denounce the use of hacked materials in election campaigns, saying that as chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee he wouldn't "run down one of my candidates for using something that's in the public domain."[26] In a later interview in September 2018, Stivers made it clear he did not condone the use of hacked material, telling the press, "We are not seeking stolen or hacked material, we do not want to be stolen or hacked material, we have no intention of using stolen or hacked material."[27]
In the aftermath of the 2018 election, in which Republicans lost their House majority, Stivers announced that he would not run for re-election as NRCC chair.[28]
In response to congressional candidateGreg Gianforte being charged withassault on the eve ofMontana'sspecial election,[29] Stivers characterized the assault as "out of character." He said, "we all make mistakes" and "need to let the facts surrounding this incident unfold."[30] The assault was witnessed by fourFox News reporters and the victim's account corroborated by their audio recording.[31]
In July 2018, Stivers and the NRCC withdrew support from New Jersey candidate Seth Grossman following reports he shared a post from a white supremacist.[32]
Additionally, days before the midterm elections, Stivers sent a tweet condemning white nationalist comments and actions from Congressman Steve King, saying "We must stand up against white supremacy and hate in all forms can and I strongly condemn this behavior."[33]
| Election results[39] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Office | Election | Subject | Party | Votes | % | Opponent | Party | Votes | % | Opponent | Party | Votes | % | Opponent | Party | Votes | % | |||||
| 2004 | Ohio Senate | General | Steve Stivers | Republican | 95,251 | 57.58% | Katherine Thomsen | Democratic | 55,656 | 33.65% | Don Eckhart | Independent | 14,509 | 8.77% | |||||||||
| 2008 | U.S. House of Representatives | General | Steve Stivers | Republican | 137,272 | 45.18% | Mary Jo Kilroy | Democratic | 139,584 | 45.94% | Mark M. Noble | Libertarian | 14,061 | 4.63% | Don Eckhart | Independent | 12,915 | 4.25% | * | ||||
| 2010 | U.S. House of Representatives | General | Steve Stivers | Republican | 119,471 | 54.16% | Mary Jo Kilroy | Democratic | 91,077 | 41.29% | William Kammerer | Libertarian | 6,116 | 2.77% | David Ryon | Constitution | 3,887 | 1.76% | ** | ||||
| 2012 | U.S. House of Representatives | General | Steve Stivers | Republican | 205,277 | 61.56% | Pat Lang | Democratic | 128,188 | 38.44% | |||||||||||||
| 2014 | U.S. House of Representatives | General | Steve Stivers | Republican | 128,496 | 66.02% | Scott Wharton | Democratic | 66,125 | 33.98% | |||||||||||||
| 2016 | U.S. House of Representatives | General | Steve Stivers | Republican | 222,847 | 66.17% | Scott Wharton | Democratic | 113,960 | 33.84% | |||||||||||||
| 2018 | U.S. House of Representatives | General | Steve Stivers | Republican | 166,632 | 58.54% | Rick Neal | Democratic | 112,546 | 39.54% | Jonathan Miller | Libertarian | 5,477 | 1.92% | |||||||||
| 2020 | U.S. House of Representatives | General | Steve Stivers | Republican | 243,103 | 63.43% | Joel Newby | Democratic | 140,183 | 36.57% | |||||||||||||
*Write-in candidate Travis Casper received 6 votes (0.00197%)
**Write-in candidate Bill Buckel received 45 votes (0.02%)
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromOhio's 15th congressional district 2011–2021 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chair of theNational Republican Congressional Committee 2017–2019 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
 | ||