Lois Capps | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia | |
| In office March 17, 1998 – January 3, 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Walter Capps |
| Succeeded by | Salud Carbajal |
| Constituency | 22nd district (1998–2003) 23rd district (2003–2013) 24th district (2013–2017) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Lois Ragnhild Grimsrud (1938-01-10)January 10, 1938 (age 87) Ladysmith, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Pacific Lutheran University (BS) Yale University (MA) University of California, Santa Barbara (MA) |
Lois Ragnhild Capps (néeGrimsrud; January 10, 1938) is an American politician who served as theU.S. representative forCalifornia's 24th congressional district from 1998 to 2017. She is a member of theDemocratic Party. The district, numbered as the 22nd District from 1998 to 2003 and the 23rd from 2003 to 2013, includes all ofSanta Barbara andSan Luis Obispo counties and a portion ofVentura County.
Capps served on theU.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where she was a member of the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee and the Subcommittee on Health. She was a member of theNew Democrat Coalition.
Capps was born Lois Ragnhild Grimsrud inLadysmith, Wisconsin, the daughter of Solveig Magdalene (née Gullixson) and Rev. Jurgen Milton Grimsrud, aLutheran minister. Both of her parents' families came fromNorway.[1] She has lived inSanta Barbara since 1964. She was educated atPacific Lutheran University with a bachelor's degree innursing. She earned a master's degree in religion atYale Divinity School in 1964[2] and aMaster of Arts degree in education at theUniversity of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 1990.[3][4]
Walter Capps was elected to Congress in 1996 in a rematch of his 1994 race againstRepublicanAndrea Seastrand. However, he died of a heart attack on October 28, 1997, only nine months into his term. His widow won the then-22nd District seat by defeating RepublicanTom Bordonaro in aspecial election on March 10, 1998. She was sworn into the 105th Congress on March 17. Lois Capps defended her seat against Bordonaro in a general election later that year and commenced her first full term in office.
In 2000, Capps retained the 22nd district seat, defeating Republican Mike Stoker with 53% of the vote. She was the first Democrat to hold the district for more than one term in over 50 years (the district, known as the 11th from its formation in 1943 until 1953, the 13th from 1953 to 1975, and the 19th from 1975 to 1993, had been held by Republicans from 1947 until Walter Capps was sworn in 1997).
Capps' district was renumbered as the 23rd after the 2000 census and made somewhat safer, and she was reelected without serious opposition in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010. Her district was renumbered as the 24th District after the 2010 census.[5] David Wasserman, House editor ofThe Cook Political Report, predicted that this would be a more difficult race, and local Republicans confirmed that Capps was one of their top targets in California.[6] The reconfigured district still includes Santa Barbara andSan Luis Obispo, but was redrawn to include most of the more Republican inland areas of Santa Barbara County.[7] Capps eventually beat her opponent,Abel Maldonado, with 54.8% of the vote.[8]
In 2014, Capps ran against RepublicanChris Mitchum, an actor, screenwriter, and businessman. Mitchum is the son of legendary film starRobert Mitchum. This was Mitchum's second consecutive try for the 24th district, having previously lost the 2012 primary to Abel Maldonado.[9] In the closest race of her entire congressional career, Capps ultimately won with only a 3.8% margin over Mitchum.[10]
Capps announced in April 2015 that she would not seek reelection in 2016.[11]
Capps has been described as a "solid liberal". InThe Washingtonian magazine's 2006 "Best and Worst of Congress" poll of congressional staffers, Capps was named the nicest member of Congress.[12]
In 2011, Capps voted for theNational Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 as part of a controversial provision that allows the government and the military to detain American citizens and others without trial indefinitely.[13]
Capps supported the Obama administration's economic stimulus and thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act.[14] She was strongly critical of theStupak–Pitts Amendment to the latter, which placed limits on taxpayer-funding of abortions (except in the cases of rape, incest, or threat to the mother's life). Capps had earlier sponsored theCapps Amendment, which was defeated and replaced by theStupak Amendment. Capps introduced theNational Pediatric Research Network Act of 2013 which would, if enacted, authorize theNIH to support, fund, and coordinate data from research on rare pediatric diseases.
In 2012, she was the only member of the House to vote "no" on Resolution 556 to condemn the government of Iran for its continued persecution, imprisonment, and sentencing ofYoucef Nadarkhani of the charge of apostasy. The resolution passed 417–1 with 15 non-votes.[15] Her spokeswoman later said that Capps strongly supported the resolution, but cast the no vote by mistake.[16]
In 2004, the House passed her legislation prohibiting "comprehensive inventory of oil and gas resources beneath the outer continental shelf." She was also a vocal opponent of drilling for oil in theLos Padres National Forest and offshore drilling off the coast of California.[12]
In 1960, while at Yale, she marriedWalter Capps, a divinity student who later became a prominent religious studies professor at UCSB; they eventually had three children. Walter died in 1997 and their eldest daughter died in 2000. Lois Capps worked for 20 years as a nurse and health advocate for the Santa Barbara public schools and also taught early childhood education part-time atSanta Barbara City College. Capps' daughter Laura was married toBill Burton, a political consultant who served asDeputy White House Press Secretary in theObama administration.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 22nd congressional district 1998–2003 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 23rd congressional district 2003–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 24th congressional district 2013–2017 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | Chair of theCongressional Women's Caucus 2007–2009 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chair of the Democratic Women's Working Group 2007–2009 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former US Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former US Representative | Succeeded byas Former US Representative |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
