David Kustoff
Official portrait, 2023
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromTennessee's8th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2017
Preceded by	Stephen Fincher
United States Attorney for theWestern District of Tennessee
In office March 16, 2006 – May 16, 2008
President	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Terrell Harris
Succeeded by	Edward L. Stanton III
Personal details
Born	David Frank Kustoff (1966-10-08)October 8, 1966 (age 59) Memphis,Tennessee, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Roberta Kustoff
Children	2
Education	University of Memphis (BA,JD)
Website	House website Campaign website
Kustoff's voice Kustoff honoring Major General Jackie Wood, former Tennesseeadjutant general. Recorded May 1, 2024

David Frank Kustoff (/ˈkʌstɒf/KUST-off;^[1] born October 8, 1966) is an American politician and attorney serving as theUnited States representative fromTennessee's 8th congressional district. The district includes the bulk ofWest Tennessee, but most of its population is in the eastern part of theMemphis area, including the eastern fourth of Memphis itself. From 2006 to 2008, Kustoff served as aUnited States attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. He is one of four Jewish Republicans inCongress, alongsideMax Miller,Randy Fine andCraig Goldman.

David Frank Kustoff was born inMemphis on October 8, 1966, and raised in the Memphis area.^[2][3] He graduated from Memphis'sWhite Station High School in 1985.^[4] Kustoff attended theUniversity of Memphis, graduatingOmicron Delta Kappa and with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1989. He then attended theCecil C. Humphreys School of Law, graduating in 1992.^[5]

In 1998, Kustoff opened a law firm withJim Strickland, whom he met at the University of Memphis. Both became active in Tennessee politics; Strickland was electedmayor of Memphis in2015.^[6]

Kustoff became active in politics during the 1990s, when he chaired the Republican Party of Shelby County. He served asGeorge W. Bush's campaign chair in Tennessee during the2000 and2004 presidential elections. On August 8, 2002, Kustoff was named campaign chair forLamar Alexander's2002 Senate campaign.^[7] In December 2002, he criticized Senate minority leaderTrent Lott after Lott praisedStrom Thurmond for the harm that it would do to Republican outreach to minorities.^[8]

In 2002, RepresentativeEd Bryant announced that he would not seek reelection inTennessee's 7th congressional district, which at the time included Kustoff's home in eastern Memphis, and would instead run in thesenatorial election. On April 3, Kustoff announced that he would seek the Republican nomination to succeed Bryant. He lost the Republican primary to state senatorMarsha Blackburn, who won with a plurality of 40.32%. Kustoff finished second with 20.24% of the vote and performed the best in the Memphis area, but two other Memphians split that region's vote.^[9] During the primary campaign Kustoff said he had an A+ rating from theNational Rifle Association of America (NRA); in fact, the NRA had never rated him. Kustoff had filled out a questionnaire that the NRA said would have given him an A rating; Kustoff's campaign said that the candidate misspoke when he made his claim.^[10]

In 2006, President Bush nominated Kustoff as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. The U.S. Senate confirmed him.^[4][11] During his tenure in office, Kustoff prosecuted theOperation Tennessee Waltz, after whichJohn Ford, a prominent Tennessee politician, and others were sent to prison.^[12][13] Kustoff also worked to reduce crime in theMemphis area, joining a group of Memphis leaders and law enforcement officials called Operation Safe Community.^[14]

Kustoff resigned as U.S. attorney shortly before the 2008 election and returned to his private practice.^[11][15]

In February 2016,Stephen Fincher announced that he would not run for reelection in Tennessee's 8th congressional district. Kustoff announced his campaign in February; eastern Memphis had been shifted from the 7th to the 8th in the 2010 redistricting. Kustoff began to emerge from the crowded pack when he was endorsed by former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidateMike Huckabee, who filmed ads for Kustoff and campaigned with him.^[16][11][17] He narrowly won the primary with a plurality of 27.45% of the vote.Shelby Countycommissioner George Flinn finished second with 23.08%. Kustoff faced Democratic nominee Rickey Hobson, aDelta Air Lines manager andSomerville, Tennessee resident, in the general election. He visited all 15 counties in the district and urged skeptical Republicans to supportDonald Trump for the presidency.^[18] Kustoff defeated Hobson in the general election,^[19] but had effectively assured himself of a seat in Congress with his primary victory. The addition of the Memphis suburbs had turned the 8th into one of the most Republican districts in the nation; with aCook Partisan Voting Index of R+15, it was the most Republican district in the state outside East Tennessee.

In2018 George Flinn ran against Kustoff for the Republican nomination and spent millions on his campaign, but Kustoff won with 56.00% of the vote to Flinn's 39.67%.^[20]

For the119th Congress:^[21]

• Committee on Ways and Means
  • Subcommittee on Health
  • Subcommittee on Tax

• Republican Study Committee^[22]

Kustoff voted for theAmerican Health Care Act in May 2017. "[O]ur current health care system is failing Tennesseans", he said. Later that month, a woman angrily confronted him about that vote during atown hall meeting at theUniversity of Tennessee at Martin; after the meeting ended and Kustoff along with some of his staff got into their car, she gave chase and allegedly attempted torun them off the road, then confronted them again about Kustoff's vote, reportedly banging on the windows of his car in the process. Police later arrested her on afelony charge ofreckless endangerment.^[23]

Kustoff supported Trump's 2017executive order to impose a temporary ban on entry to the U.S. to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, saying, "I believe President Trump is putting American safety first, and I will encourage a long-term plan that is consistent with the values and compassion on which our great nation was founded."^[24]

In December 2022, Kustoff was one of 169 Republicans who voted against theRespect for Marriage Act which would require all U.S states to recognize same-sex marriage.^[25] Kustoff voted against theEquality Act which would amend the originalCivil Rights Act of 1964 to protect people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.^[26]

In December 2020, Kustoff was one of 126 Republican members of theHouse of Representatives to sign anamicus brief in support ofTexas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at theUnited States Supreme Court contesting the results of the2020 presidential election, in whichJoe Biden prevailed over incumbentDonald Trump.^[27] The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lackedstanding underArticle III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.^[28][29][30]

Kustoff is Jewish and married to Roberta Kustoff, who is also a lawyer at the Kustoff and Strickland Firm. They have two children.^[31] They live inGermantown, an eastern suburb of Memphis.

Along withMax Miller,Randy Fine, andCraig Goldman, Kustoff is among the only four Republican Jewish members of the House of Representatives.^[32]

Kustoff served on the board of directors of BankTennessee and as a member of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.^[33][34]

• List of Jewish American jurists
• List of Jewish members of the United States Congress

• Official U.S. House website
• Official campaign website

• Biography at theBiographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at theFederal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at theLibrary of Congress
• Profile atVote Smart
• Appearances onC-SPAN

• 1966 births
• 21st-century American Jews
• 21st-century United States representatives
• 21st-century Tennessee politicians
• Candidates in the 2002 United States elections
• Jewish United States representatives
• Lawyers from Memphis, Tennessee
• Living people
• Politicians from Memphis, Tennessee
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee
• Tennessee lawyers
• United States attorneys for the Western District of Tennessee
• University of Memphis alumni

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