Kevin Kiley | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2023 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's3rd district | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | John Garamendi (redistricted) |
| Member of theCalifornia State Assembly from the6th district | |
| In office December 5, 2016 – November 30, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Beth Gaines |
| Succeeded by | Joe Patterson (redistricted) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Kevin Patrick Kiley (1985-01-30)January 30, 1985 (age 41) Rocklin, California, U.S. |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Education | Harvard University (BA) Yale University (JD) Loyola Marymount University (MA) |
| Signature |  |
| Website | House website Campaign website |
Kevin Patrick Kiley[1] (born January 30, 1985)[2] is an American politician, attorney, and former educator serving as the U.S. representative forCalifornia's 3rd congressional district since 2023.[3] A member of theRepublican Party, he represented the6th district in theCalifornia State Assembly from 2016 to 2022. Kiley was one of 53 candidates to replaceCalifornia governorGavin Newsom inthe recall election on September 14, 2021.[4]
Kiley grew up in theSacramento area, where his father was a physician and his mother was a special education teacher. He attended local public schools, includingCavitt Junior High School andGranite Bay High School.[5]
Kiley graduated with an undergraduate degree fromHarvard University in 2007,[6] completing a thesis titled "The Civil Rights Movement and the Reemergence of Classical Democracy".[7] Upon graduation, he became a teacher inLos Angeles throughTeach for America, teaching for two years atManual Arts High School while earning histeaching credentials atLoyola Marymount University.[6]
Kiley later graduated fromYale Law School,[6] worked as an editor of theYale Law Journal,[8] and clerked at theFederal Reserve Bank of New York.[9] He returned to California to join the law firmIrell & Manella, where he helped prepare anintellectual property theft case forT-Mobile against Chinese technology companyHuawei that was the basis for a federal criminal investigation.[6][10] He was an adjunct professor at theUniversity of the PacificMcGeorge School of Law.[11]
In 2016, Kiley was elected to theCalifornia State Assembly.[6] In May 2016, Kiley toldThe Sacramento Bee that he supported then-Ohio GovernorJohn Kasich in the2016 United States presidential election.[12] In 2018, Kiley authored legislation to make it easier for students to transferschool districts.[13]
After winning a second term in the State Assembly, Kiley ran for theState Senate in California's1st District. He finished second in the primary, but lost the runoff to fellow AssemblymanBrian Dahle. Soon after the start of the new legislative session, Kiley introduced legislation to close for private use a controversialDMV office that catered exclusively to state legislators and staff. In a statement toThe Sacramento Bee, Kiley said: "This is supposed to be a government of the people, by the people and for the people, not an oligarchy where a gilded political class enjoys privileges that aren’t available to the people that we represent."[14]
According to theAssociated Press, Kiley is "a conservative who often flirts with the fringes of the GOP".[6] He has said climate change is real, but opposed Governor Gavin Newsom's executive orders requiring all new vehicles sold in California to bezero emission by 2035 and banning oil-drilling by 2045.[15][6] He is a supporter ofcharter schools.[16] Kiley introduced legislation to ban local and state governments from implementingvaccine mandates.[17] After Joe Biden won the 2020 election andDonald Trump refused to concede while making claims of fraud, Kiley refused to say whether Biden won the 2020 election legitimately.[18] Kiley has said his position is to "stay out of national politics altogether", and that "national politics is a distraction that is used frankly by those in power in Sacramento [as] kind of a smokescreen for their own failures."[6]
Though he voted to authorize $1 billion of emergency pandemic spending for Governor Newsom in March 2020, saying "to trust in Governor Newsom’s leadership and listen to his guidance", Kiley later said Newsom "made a mockery of that trust" and, alongside fellow California legislatorJames Gallagher, sued in June 2020 to remove Newsom's emergency powers. Kiley lost the case on appeal.[6] Kiley published a book in January 2021 titledRecall Gavin Newsom: The Case Against America's Most Corrupt Governor.[19]
On July 6, 2021, Kiley announced his candidacy forgovernor of California in the2021 recall election.[20][21][22][23] According to theNew York Times, he was one of the "more moderate Republican recall candidates,"[24] while theLos Angeles Times deemed him andJohn Cox the "more traditional conservatives" in the election, which failed to remove Newsom from office.[18][25]
Kiley indicated his support forschool choice during the campaign and said teachers' unions in the state were too powerful (with theCalifornia Teachers Association having been Newsom's top donor), to students' detriment.[17] Though vaccinated against COVID-19, Kiley pledged to overturn vaccine and mask mandates Newsom implemented if he became governor.[6]
In 2020, Kiley urged passage of his bill that would require the potential successor of then-candidate for vice president and SenatorKamala Harris to be elected by California's voters and not appointed by the governor;[26] he reiterated that view during the 2021 gubernatorial recall campaign by pledging to allow voters to pick a replacement for SenatorDianne Feinstein if he became governor and her seat became vacant.[27] Kiley later flagged a constitutional issue with Newsom's appointment ofAlex Padilla to replace Harris and Padilla's expected service until January 2023, since theU.S. Constitution stipulates that such appointees serve "until the people fill the vacancies by election".[28]
After lawmakers in the state assembly passed a bill to address the issue that would require voters to select two senators for the same seat—one to serve in thelame-duck session from November 2022 to January 2023 and another for January 2023 to January 2029—Kiley said Newsom should have called a special election to fill Harris's seat much earlier, and that the bill would solve the problem in "the most undemocratic way possible".[28] Newsom eventually signed the bill, which meant California's voters had to vote simultaneously for both the lame-duck Senate seat and the next full Senate term.[29]
Kiley supports endingCalifornia High-Speed Rail.[30]
Kiley married Chelsee Gardner on December 30, 2023.[31] The ceremony took place at Pioneer Church in Auburn, California, the oldest church in Placer County. Chelsee and Kevin met at a community event in Rocklin, California, celebrating the Fourth of July. Kevin proposed to Chelsee in the summer of 2023 in the same park where they first met. The couple reside in Roseville.[32]
Kiley is anon-denominational Christian.[33]
On December 29, 2021, Kiley announced he would run for theU.S. House in California's newly redrawn3rd congressional district, which includes all or parts ofInyo,Sacramento,Mono,Alpine,El Dorado,Placer,Nevada,Sierra,Yuba, andPlumas counties.[4]
For the118th Congress:[34]
| Year | Office | Party | Primary | General | Result | Swing | Ref. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | % | P. | Total | % | P. | ||||||||
| 2016 | State Assembly | Republican | 22,019 | 16.34% | 2nd | 149,415 | 64.59% | 1st | Won | Hold | [38] | ||
| 2018 | Republican | 80,843 | 61.34% | 1st | 131,284 | 58.02% | 1st | Won | Hold | [39] | |||
| 2019 | State Senate | Republican | 54,290 | 27.88% | 2nd | 72,169 | 46.06% | 2nd | Lost | Hold | [40] | ||
| 2020 | State Assembly | Republican | 104,412 | 58.02% | 1st | 178,559 | 58.96% | 1st | Won | Hold | [41] | ||
| 2021 | Governor | Republican | Does not appear | 255,490 | 3.47% | 6th | Lost | Hold | [42] | ||||
| 2022 | U.S. House | Republican | 93,552 | 39.69% | 1st | 181,438 | 53.65% | 1st | Won | Win | [43] | ||
| 2024 | Republican | 137,397 | 55.9% | 1st | 234,246 | 55.5% | 1st | Won | Hold | [44] | |||
| Source:Secretary of State of California |Statewide Election Results | |||||||||||||
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 3rd congressional district 2023–present | Incumbent |
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| Preceded by | United States representatives by seniority 327th | Succeeded by |
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