Ted Deutch | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2016 | |
| CEO of theAmerican Jewish Committee | |
| Assumed office October 1, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | David Harris |
| Chair of theHouse Ethics Committee | |
| In office January 3, 2019 – September 30, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Susan Brooks |
| Succeeded by | Susan Wild |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromFlorida | |
| In office April 13, 2010 – September 30, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Wexler |
| Succeeded by | Jared Moskowitz |
| Constituency | 19th district (2010–2013) 21st district (2013–2017) 22nd district (2017–2022) |
| Member of theFlorida Senate from the 30th district | |
| In office November 7, 2006 – April 13, 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Ron Klein |
| Succeeded by | Maria Sachs |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Theodore Eliot Deutch (1966-05-07)May 7, 1966 (age 59) Bethlehem,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | University of Michigan (BA,JD) |
Deutch supporting the U.S.-Israel Cooperation Enhancement and Regional Security Act. Recorded July 23, 2019 | |
Theodore Eliot Deutch (/dɔɪtʃ/DOYTCH; born May 7, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician who served as theU.S. representative fromFlorida's 22nd congressional district from 2010 to 2022. His district, numbered as the19th district from 2010 to 2013 and as the21st from 2013 to 2017, included much of northernBroward County and southernPalm Beach County inSouth Florida. A member of theDemocratic Party, he first entered Congress in 2010 after aspecial election following the resignation ofRobert Wexler.
Deutch chaired theHouse Ethics Committee from 2019 until his resignation, a position in which he succeededSusan Brooks. He served as theFlorida state senator from the 30th district from 2006 to 2010.
On February 28, 2022, Deutch announced he would not seek reelection in the2022 United States House of Representatives elections,[1] instead taking a job as chief executive officer of theAmerican Jewish Committee by October 1, 2022.[2] On September 30, 2022, Deutch resigned from the House.[3]
Deutch was born inBethlehem, Pennsylvania, the son of Jean (née Mindlin) and the late Bernard Deutch. He isJewish.[4] His grandparents wereJewish immigrants from Belarus and Russia.[5] A graduate ofLiberty High School in Bethlehem,[6] Deutch graduated from theUniversity of Michigan, where he served as editor-in-chief ofConsider magazine and was awarded theHarry S. Truman Scholarship. He received hisJ.D. degree from theUniversity of Michigan Law School.
As a member of the National Young Leadership Cabinet ofUnited Jewish Communities, Deutch organized over 2,500 people to march onCapitol Hill inWashington, D.C., to pressure Congress on a slate of issues affecting children and the elderly. At the end of his tenure in the state senate, Deutch served as vice chair of the Committee on Regulated Industries and the Policy and Steering Subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee.[7]
In late 2009, Deutch declared his candidacy in a special election to fill the19th congressional district seat formerly held byRobert Wexler, who left Congress to lead theCenter for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation. He won the Democratic primary with 85% of the vote, and on April 13, 2010, won thespecial election, defeating RepublicanEdward J. Lynch.[8]
Deutch defeated Republican nominee Joe Budd and write-in candidate Stan Smilan.[9]
After Florida underwent redistricting in 2012, Deutch's district was renumbered as the21st district.[10] Deutch won the November 6 general election with no major-party opposition.[11]
In the general election, against write-in opposition, Deutch won with 99.6% of the vote.[12]
In December 2015, Florida underwent redistricting due to aSupreme Court ruling. Most of Deutch's territory became the 22nd district, and was pushed further into Broward County. In the process, it absorbed the portion of Broward County that had previously been in the neighboring 22nd district represented byLois Frankel, which had been renumbered as the 21st. This came after the state supreme court suggested it was better to have only one district splitting the two counties. After the new lines were announced, Deutch announced he would run in the new 22nd. Although the new lines put his home near Boca Raton just inside the borders of the 21st, members of Congress are required only to live in the state they wish to represent. In a statement, Deutch stressed his longstanding ties to Broward County, which accounted for 80% of the reconfigured district. He had represented much of the Broward County portion of the district for a decade at the federal and state levels. TheSun Sentinel also noted that staying in a Broward-based district would increase Deutch's statewide and national profile by allowing him to advertise on Miami/Fort Lauderdale television.[13]
Deutch defeated Republican Nicolas Kimaz in the November 8, 2018, general election, 62% to 38%[14]
Deutch was sworn in as a member of theUnited States House of Representatives on April 15, 2010.
In the wake of theStoneman Douglas High School shooting, Deutch spoke out in favor of expanded gun control legislation. Stoneman Douglas is in his district. He spoke at a CNN town hall meeting and urged action. "A lot of people have told this community—people from all around the world—that it's too soon," he said. "It's too soon to get together to have this kind of forum. It's too soon to talk about preventing another tragedy like the one that struck our community from happening anywhere again. It's too soon to talk about getting weapons of war out of our communities. It is not too soon. It is too late for the 17 lives that were lost."[15]
Shortly after his election, Deutch introduced the Preserving our Promise to Seniors Act, which aims to keep Social Security benefits in line with retirees' costs and gradually raises the cap on FICA taxes over a period of seven years.[16]
During the 2011 debate on the debt ceiling, Deutch assembled and brought to the House floor an elaborate, game-show-style wheel to illustrate which government services he claimed would be endangered by a default on the national debt.[17]
On November 19, 2011, Deutch introduced a resolution[18] proposing "an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to expressly exclude for-profit corporations from the rights given to natural persons by the Constitution of the United States, prohibit corporate spending in all elections, and affirm the authority of Congress and the states to regulate corporations and to regulate and set limits on all election contributions and expenditures". Deutch's amendment is a blend of "ideas from "Move to Amend, Free Speech for People, Public Citizen, People For the American Way, Common Cause, and the Center for Media and Democracy".[19]
In November 2018, Deutch and other members of Congress introduced legislation to enact acarbon tax within the Dividend the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.[20]
On December 18, 2019, Deutch voted to impeach PresidentDonald Trump.[21]
Deutch voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the117th Congress, according to aFiveThirtyEight analysis.[26]
Along with RepresentativeVern Buchanan, Deutch authored the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act, which made maliciousanimal cruelty a federalfelony and authorized federal law enforcement agencies to prosecute animal cruelty cases. The PACT Act was signed into law in November 2019.[27][28]
Deutch supports federal funding for the research and development ofcultivated meat, which is produced withoutanimal slaughter. In April 2021, Deutch led a letter by 20 members of Congress calling for the appropriation of $100 million in research funding foralternative proteins.[29] In May 2021, he told theBreakthrough Institute that he supports funding alternative proteins through Congressional appropriations and theUnited States Department of Agriculture.[30]
On November 28, 2018, Deutch introduced acarbon fee and dividend bill, theEnergy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2018, saying, "this aggressivecarbon pricing scheme introduced by members from both parties marks an important opportunity to begin to seriously address the immediate threat of climate change."[31] After the bill died at the end of the115th Congress, he reintroduced it as theEnergy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2019, saying, "climate change is an urgent threat that demands urgent bipartisan action. With this legislation, we are making clear to our colleagues that bipartisanship is possible—even necessary—to address climate change in this Congress."[32]
Deutch believes that limitations can be placed on theSecond Amendment right to bear arms, saying, "the majority of people in this country now understand that there are limitations on the Second Amendment. You cannot own an automatic weapon. You cannot own a bazooka. And so there is no reason to continue to sell to people a weapon of war like this," referencing semi-automatic rifles.[33]
During his tenure in Congress, Deutch has voted on several pieces of gun legislation. He voted againstH. R. 38 (theConcealed Carry Reciprocity Act), which would enableconcealed carry reciprocity among all states.[34]
Deutch also voted againstH. J. Res. 40, which ultimately passed and used theCongressional Review Act toblock implementation of an Obama-era Amendment to theNICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 that was aimed at preventing the mentally infirm from legally purchasing firearms.[35]
Deutch has an F rating from theNRA Political Victory Fund, indicating that it does not believe he adequately supports gun rights.[36][37]
After theStoneman Douglas High School shooting, Deutch endorsed several gun control measures. He cosponsoredH. R. 5087, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2018, saying, "Americans don't own tanks or missiles; so why should our streets be flooded with weapons of war made for the sole purpose of killing people?"[38]
Deutch also announced his support forH. R. 4909, theSTOP School Violence Act of 2018. The STOP School Violence Act would allow grants to train school staff how to identify troubled students and intervene before crises. The grants could also be used for developing an anonymous reporting system for students to submit concerns, as well as improving the physical infrastructure of schools against attacks.[39]
Deutch also supportsuniversal background checks, banningbump stocks, raising the minimum age to buy a rifle to 21, and repealing the 1996Dickey Amendment.[33]
On January 5, 2017, Deutch voted in favor of a House resolution condemningUN Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemnedIsraeli settlement building in thePalestinian territories as a violation of international law, saying, "it ignores Palestinian terrorism, incitement to violence, and payments to families of terrorists."[40]
Deutch supported PresidentDonald Trump's decision torecognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, saying: "The president's decision today is a recognition of existing U.S. law that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and that the U.S. embassy should ultimately be located in the capital."[41]
Deutch identifies as a "proudZionist who strongly defends[Congress's] close connection to Israel" and supportsanti-BDS legislation, saying the movement is "rooted in the antisemitic belief that the only Jewish state in the world doesn’t have a right to exist."[42]
Deutch accused fellow DemocratRashida Tlaib ofantisemitism after she citedHuman Rights Watch in calling Israel anapartheid state on the House floor.[43]
On October 1, 2020, Deutch co-signed a letter to Secretary of StateMike Pompeo that condemnedAzerbaijan’s offensive operations against theArmenian-populated enclave ofNagorno-Karabakh, denouncedTurkey’s role in theNagorno-Karabakh conflict, and called for an immediate ceasefire.[44]
In 2013, Deutch and RepresentativeGus Bilirakis created a bipartisan group of Greek-American and Jewish-American members of Congress called the Congressional Hellenic Israel Alliance. It was announced at a special congressional event.[45][46][47][48]
On February 28, 2022, Deutch announced he would not seek reelection in2022,[1] instead taking a job as chief executive officer of theNew York City-based nonprofitAmerican Jewish Committee.[2]
On September 30, 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives was notified that Deutch was resigning at the end of the day.[49]
Deutch is married and has three children.[50] He is a vegan.[50]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromFlorida's 19th congressional district 2010–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromFlorida's 21st congressional district 2013–2017 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromFlorida's 22nd congressional district 2017–2022 | |
| Preceded by | Chair of theHouse Ethics Committee 2019–2022 | 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 |
| International | |
|---|---|
| People | |
| Other | |
