Peter King | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew York | |
| In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Robert J. Mrazek |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Garbarino |
| Constituency | 3rd district (1993–2013) 2nd district (2013–2021) |
| Chair of theHouse Homeland Security Committee | |
| In office January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Bennie Thompson |
| Succeeded by | Michael McCaul |
| In office August 2, 2005 – January 3, 2007 | |
| Preceded by | Christopher Cox |
| Succeeded by | Bennie Thompson |
| Ranking Member of theHouse Homeland Security Committee | |
| In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Bennie Thompson |
| Succeeded by | Bennie Thompson |
| Comptroller ofNassau County | |
| In office January 1, 1982 – January 3, 1993 | |
| Preceded by | Hallstead Christ |
| Succeeded by | Alan Gurein |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Peter Thomas King (1944-04-05)April 5, 1944 (age 81) New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence(s) | Seaford, New York, U.S. |
| Education | St. Francis College (BA) University of Notre Dame (JD) |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1968–1974 |
| Rank |  Specialist 5[1] |
| Unit | |
King, as chair of theHouse Homeland Security Committee, speaks in support of H.R.4942, the Promoting Antiterrorism Capabilities Through International Cooperation Act Recorded September 26, 2006 | |
Peter Thomas King (born April 5, 1944) is an American former politician and novelist who representedNew York in theU.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2021. A member of theRepublican Party, he represented aSouth ShoreLong Island district that includes parts ofNassau County andSuffolk County and was numbered as the3rd and later the2nd district.
King was formerly chair of theHouse Committee on Homeland Security. He stepped down because of Republican conference term limits, but remained a member of the committee. On November 11, 2019, King announced he would not seek re-election in the 2020 elections and would retire after his current term expired.[2] He resigned from theFinancial Services Committee on January 15, 2020. King also previously served on theHouse Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
King's professional papers are held at the University of Notre Dame Archives.[3]
King was born in theNew York City borough ofManhattan and raised in theSunnyside neighborhood in nearbyQueens. He is the son of Ethel M. King (née Gittins) and Peter E. King, aNew York City police officer.[4] His paternal grandparents wereIrish immigrants from the island ofInishbofin inCounty Galway. His maternal grandfather wasWelsh, and his maternal grandmother was alsoIrish, fromCounty Limerick.[5]
He graduated fromSt. Francis College in 1965 with aB.A. inpolitical science, and earned hisJ.D. fromNotre Dame Law School in 1968. That same year, he began service in the165th Infantry Regiment of theNew York Army National Guard. He worked for theNassau County district attorney's office until 1974, when he was honorably discharged from the 165th infantry regiment.[6]
King and his wife, Rosemary, reside inSeaford, New York, and have two adult children.[7] His daughter, Erin King Sweeney, served on thetown council forHempstead, New York.[8]
King isRoman Catholic.[9]
King first sought public office in 1977, running for an at-large seat on theHempstead, New York town council and winning with the backing of the then-powerfulNassau County Republican Partymachine led byJoseph Margiotta. In 1981, he successfully ran for Nassau county comptroller, again with Margiotta's support. The next year, when several prominent Republican politicians, led by then senatorAlfonse D'Amato, sought to displace Margiotta, King joined them in this internal Republican dispute; at one point, he was the only Nassau politician to do so.[10] King was re-elected in 1985 and 1989. As comptroller, he displayed independence, often criticizing the budget proposals of county executivesFrancis Purcell andThomas Gulotta, both Republicans.[11]
King ran forattorney general of New York in1986, and won the Republican primary afterUlster CountyDistrict Attorney E. Michael Kavanagh dropped out torun for lieutenant governor.[12] However, he was defeated by a large margin by incumbent Democratic attorney generalRobert Abrams.[13]
King was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992. WhenDemocratic Party Rep.Robert Mrazek announced his short-lived 1992 U.S. Senate candidacy against Republican incumbentAl D'Amato, King ran for the 3rd district congressional seat that had been held by Mrazek. Despite being outspent 5-to-1,[14] King won 49.6% to 46.5%. From 1993 to 2008, he sometimes faced only token opposition,[15] while in other races, he ran against candidates who could self-finance their campaigns. Although King was outspent in those races, he won by double-digit margins.[16]
In 2006, Nassau county legislator Dave Mejias challenged King. While some pundits believed this race would be close due to dissatisfaction withGeorge W. Bush,[17] King defeated Mejias 56% to 44%. King again sought re-election to Congress in 2008. The Democrats fielded 25-year-old newcomer Graham Long in a long-shot bid to defeat King.[18] King won the 2008 election with 64% of the vote.[citation needed]
In 2013,St. John's University honored King with a Doctor of Laws degree, and he gave their commencement address. He was recognized for assisting New York City followingHurricane Sandy.[19]
King had contemplated running for Senate in 2000 againstHillary Clinton,[20] and even created an exploratory committee in 2003 to challengeChuck Schumer.[21] On both occasions he ultimately decided not to pursue the challenge.[22]
After briefly contemplating running forgovernor of New York in 2010,[23] King announced that he was seriously considering running for U.S. Senate in aspecial election for the last two years of the term won in 2006 byHillary Clinton, who had been appointedU.S. secretary of state.[24] WhenKirsten Gillibrand, the representative ofNew York's 20th congressional district, was appointed to fill the seat byDavid Paterson, King initially said he would consider holding off on making a run for the seat.[25] However, two days after the Gillibrand pick, King demanded Paterson justify his selection of the congresswoman, saying there were more qualified candidates.[26] In August 2009, King ruled out a Senate run; however, in January 2010, he said he was reconsidering a run.[27] King ultimately decided to run for re-election, which he won with 72% of the vote.[28]
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During a 2013 radio interview in New Hampshire, King said that he was in the state "because right now I'm running for president," for the2016 election.[29] However, during a March 2014CNN interview, King said he was considering running, not actively running.[30] In a July 2015 interview withWolf Blitzer onCNN, King announced he would not be running for president.[31] King had earlier characterized a potential candidacy as being opposed to potentialTea Party movement candidates such asRand Paul andTed Cruz, whom he criticized for their national defense policies.[32] He later opposed Republican efforts to tie the repeal of delay of theAffordable Care Act to acontinuing resolution before and during the2013 government shutdown.[33][34]
King was ranked as the mostbipartisan member of the U.S. House of Representatives during the114th United States Congress in the Bipartisan Index created byThe Lugar Center and theMcCourt School of Public Policy that ranks members of the U.S. Congress by the frequency by which each member's bills attract co-sponsors from the opposite party and each member's co-sponsorship of bills by members of the opposite party.[35][36] He was a member of theRepublican Main Street Partnership.[37] In 2010, whenCharles Rangel of New York was censured for ethical violations, King, along with Alaska RepresentativeDon Young, were the only two Republicans voting against.[38]
Although he supportedJohn McCain for president in 2000, and despite his earlier disagreements with George W. Bush,[39][40] King later became a Bush supporter.[41] He opposed McCain's calls for an end to coercive interrogation methods used with suspectedterrorists, as well as the senator's 2007 effort to enact a path to citizenship for current undocumented immigrants.[41]
On April 19, 2016, King stated that he would "take cyanide" should Ted Cruz ever win the Republican nomination for president, stating:
I hate Ted Cruz, and I think I'll take cyanide if he ever got the nomination. Now, having said that, I think you're going to seeDonald Trump scoring a big victory tonight. I have not endorsed Donald Trump. In fact, I actually voted byabsentee ballot forJohn Kasich.[42][43]
The animosity stemmed from the Texas senator not supporting a9/11-related healthcare bill for police and firefighters, and a statement from Cruz that New York values are socially liberal.[43]
King, like all 195 Republican members of the House present, voted against both articles of impeachment against Donald Trump during Trump'sfirst impeachment in 2019.[citation needed]
King voted for the 2008Wall Street bailout, saying it was "necessary for the financial health of New York and his district."[41] He opposed the2009 economic stimulus package.[44]
King was one of five New York Republicans in the House to vote against theTax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.[45] He voted against it due to the $10,000 cap the bill would impose on the deductibility of state, local, and property taxes and the impact that would have in New York, a high-tax state.[46] Upon the possibility of a second round of cuts, King reiterated he would be "forced to oppose" more tax cuts if legislation included a provision "permanently extending the $10,000 cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction".[47] Only twelve Republican members of Congress in total voted against the bill.[48]
King was considered a pro-union Republican.[49] At times, King was highly critical of his party's leadership for being, in his view, "anti-union."[49] During his time in Congress, King's voting record was significantly more pro-labor than most members of his party. In 2019, theAFL-CIO gave King a score of 55%; compared to a House Republican average of 31% for that same year. King holds a lifetime score of 54%. 2019 marked the first time since 2010 (when King scored the GOP average of 7%) that King's score was not at least double the Republican average.[50]
King is pro-gun control. He cites his support of gun control based on his experiences in New York, "Virtually every time there's a murder in New York, the gun tracked comes from another state," he states, expressing that without stricter gun control, people in New York will get killed.[51]
King authored legislation to close what is known as the "terror gap," which would ban individuals on the terrorist watch list from purchasing guns.[52][53] He also supports the banning ofbump stocks, in the wake of the2017 Las Vegas shooting. He describes the banning of bump stocks as being "morally, legally, and common sense-wise the right thing to do."[54]
King supports expandingbackground checks for commercial gun sales (including at gun shows), and co-sponsored a bipartisan bill on this issue withMike Thompson in 2013.[51]
TheNRA Political Victory Fund gave King a rating of D in 2014,[55][56] falling to an "F" in 2016.[57]
On May 4, 2017, King voted in favor of repealing theAffordable Care Act and replacing it with theAmerican Health Care Act.[58][59]
King was a member of theHouse Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. In 2018, he voted to release theNunes memo,[60] written by Committee staff at the request of Republican Committee ChairmanU.S. RepresentativeDevin Nunes, over the objections of senior FBI leaders and all Democratic members of the committee.[61] The memo states that the FBI "may have relied on politically motivated or questionable sources" to obtain aForeign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant on Trump adviserCarter Page in October 2016, and in three subsequent renewals, during the early phases of the FBI's investigation into possibleRussian interference in the 2016 United States elections.
At the time Trump asserted that the memo discredited theinvestigation intoRussian interference in the 2016 United States elections.[62] The FBI was asserted that "material omissions of fact ... fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy."[63]
King began actively supporting theIrish republican movement in the late 1970s. He frequently traveled toNorthern Ireland to meet with senior members of theparamilitary group, theProvisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), many of whom he counted as friends.[39][64] King comparedGerry Adams, the leader ofSinn Féin, the political wing of the Irish republican movement, toGeorge Washington, and said that the "British government is a murder machine".[65] King met Adams in person in 1984.[66]
King became involved withIrish Northern Aid (NORAID), an organization that the British, Irish, and U.S. governments had accused of financing IRA activities and providing them with weapons.[39][67][68][69] Regarding theIRA's violent campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland, King said, "If civilians are killed in an attack on a military installation, it is certainly regrettable, but I will not morally blame the IRA for it."[70]
King called the IRA "the legitimate voice of occupiedIreland".[71] Speaking at a pro-IRA rally in 1982 inNassau County, New York, King pledged support to "those brave men and women who this very moment are carrying forth the struggle against British imperialism in the streets ofBelfast andDerry."[39][72] In 1985, the Irish government boycotted New York's annualSt. Patrick's Day celebrations in protest over King serving as Grand Marshal of the event; the Irish government condemned him as an "avowed" supporter of "IRA terrorism".[73] At the parade he again offered words of support for the IRA.[74]
During the murder trial of an IRA member in the 1980s, a judge in Northern Ireland ejected King from the courtroom, describing King as "an obvious collaborator with the IRA".[39][75]
In 1993, King lobbied unsuccessfully for Gerry Adams to be a guest at the presidential inauguration ofBill Clinton.[74] King was a go-between during theNorthern Ireland peace process,[76] and has said the IRA was a "legitimate force that had to be recognized" to have peace.[77]
In 2002, King denounced congressional investigation of the IRA-FARC links in theColombia Three case.[78][79]
Although disgruntled by Sinn Féin's opposition to the2003 United States invasion of Iraq,[39] King supported bail in 2008 for an IRAMaze escapee, Pól Brennan. Brennan was facing charges for illegally entering the U.S. and was deported to theRepublic of Ireland in April 2009.[80][81]
In a 2005 interview, King said he had "cooled on Ireland", blaming an epidemic of what he called "knee-jerk anti-Americanism" that swept through Ireland after the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. "I don't buy that it's just anti-Bush. There's a certain unpleasant trait that the Irish have, and it's begrudgery ... and resentment towards the Americans."[82] King said he had turned down an offer from the Obama administration to be the US ambassador to Ireland in 2009.[83] At a September 2011 hearing conducted by theUK Parliament'sHome Affairs Select Committee as part of its "Roots of Violent Radicalisation" inquiry,[84] King defended his 1985 "If civilians are killed" remarks and extolled his role in the peace process as an "honest mediator". His office citedCongressional Research Service andHouse of Commons researchers noting that King became the first member of Congress to testify before a UK parliamentary hearing.[85]
In 2011, King said that his ties to the IRA had been "entirely distorted", arguing that if the accusations were true then "I doubt the president of the United States would have offered me the position of ambassador to Ireland."[86]
King has faced criticism over concerns of his treatment and views towards the civil rights of minority communities, especially that of Muslim Americans.[87][88] Some observers have credited King with demonizing Muslim Americans and giving political influence towards anti-Muslim views and activism.[89][88][87]
During the 1990s, King enjoyed a close relationship with the Muslim community in his congressional district. King often gave speeches at the Islamic Center of Long Island in Westbury, NY, held book signings in the prayer hall, hired Muslim interns, and was one of the few Republicans who supported U.S. intervention in the 1990s to help Muslims inBosnia andKosovo. The Muslim community thanked King for his work by making him the guest of honor for the 1993 opening of a $3 million prayer hall. For years, a picture of King cutting the ceremonial ribbon hung on the bulletin board by the mosque's entrance.[90]
In a September 2007 interview with the websitePolitico.com, King said "There are too many mosques in this country ... There are too many people sympathetic to radicalIslam. We should be looking at them more carefully and finding out how we can infiltrate them."[91] King later said he meant to say that too many mosques in the United States do not cooperate with law enforcement.[92]
In late 2016, King suggested to Donald Trump that a federal program be formed aimed at surveilling the activities of American Muslims.[87]
King supported theIraq War.[41] King supported PresidentBarack Obama's order to killOsama bin Laden, saying that he knew it was a "tough decision" to make in the situation room. He also approved of Obama's surprise trip to Afghanistan in May 2012.[93]
The New York Times wrote in 2006 that King had been "thePatriot Act's most fervent fan."[94] In 2008, King told theTimes, "Look, we have not been attacked in seven years and it's not because of luck."[41]
Since 2009, King has argued against holding terrorist trials in New York City, saying that enormous security risks and financial costs would accompany the public trials. In April 2011, he called forattorney generalEric Holder to resign due to Holder's plans to transferKhalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other alleged co-conspirators in theSeptember 11, 2001, attacks from Guantanamo to New York City for trials in U.S. federal court. King denounced Holder's plan "as the most irresponsible decision ever made by any attorney general."[95]
King continued to challenge Holder in April 2011, demanding to know why theCouncil on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), its co-founderOmar Ahmad, the Islamic Society of North America, the North American Islamic Trust, and other unindicted "co-conspirators" in theHoly Land Foundation "terrorism financing" trial, were not being prosecuted by theUnited States Department of Justice. In a letter to Holder, King wrote he had recently learned that the decision had been made by high-ranking Justice Department officials "over the vehement and stated objections of special agents and supervisors of theFederal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the prosecutors at the U.S. attorney's office inDallas", adding that "there should be full transparency into the Department's decision."[96] Holder responded that the decision not to prosecute had been made during theBush administration. The U.S. attorney in Dallas said he alone had been responsible for the decision, which had been made based on an analysis of the law and the evidence, with no political pressure involved.[97]
In December 2009, King commented on reports that accused attempted airline bomber,Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, had admitted to being trained and equipped in Yemen and on then pending plans to release several Guantanamo prisoners to Yemen: "I don't think Guantanamo should be closed, but if we're going to close it I don't believe we should be sending people to Yemen where prisoners have managed to escape in the past . ... Obviously, if [Abdulmutallab] did get training and direction from Yemen, it just adds to what is already a dangerous situation", he said.[98]
King criticized the activities ofWikiLeaks and in December 2010 suggested that the group be designated a "terrorist organization" and treated as such by U.S. agencies.[99] In 2011, King became a co-sponsor of theStop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).[100] He praised Obama's nominations ofLeon Panetta forUnited States Secretary of Defense andDavid Petraeus for director of theCentral Intelligence Agency, saying, "Director Panetta has done an outstanding job at the CIA, and General Petraeus has distinguished himself as one of the great American military leaders. Both men ... will be instrumental as we continue to combat the terrorist threat."[101] On June 11, 2013, King stated thatEdward Snowden should be punished for releasing classified information to the American public, and added that journalistsGlenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras should also be punished for publishing classified documents provided by Snowden. On June 12, 2013, onFox News, King called for prosecution of Greenwald, alleging that the journalist was said to be in possession of names of CIA agents around the world and would be "threatening to disclose" them. Via Twitter, Greenwald immediately refuted King's claim and called it a "blatant lie".[102]
King suggested in 2014 that "foreign policy was not a major issue" for Obama, as hehad worn a light tan suit in August in Washington the day before. He also said that "There's no way any of us can excuse what the president did yesterday" in reference to wearing the light tan suit as he addressed the media.[103]
King and Rep.Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) asked Congress on March 11, 2015, to makeanthrax vaccines that are about to expire and otherwise would be disposed of available to emergency responders. They made their request in a letter to fellow members of Congress shortly after King introduced the bill (H.R. 1300)[104] on March 4, 2015.[105] King previously introduced the bill in September 2014, but it was not enacted.[106]
King supported Trump's 2017executive order to temporarily curtailimmigration to the United States from someMuslim-majority countries until better screening methods are devised. He stated that "I don't think the Constitution applies to people coming in from outside the country, especially if there is a logical basis for it."[107]
In December 2010, King announced that, when he became chairman of theHouse Homeland Security Committee, he would hold hearings on the allegedradicalization of someAmerican Muslims. While allowing that, "The overwhelming majority of Muslims are outstanding citizens," he claimed someIslamic clerics were telling their congregations to ignore extremism and to refrain from helping government investigators.[108] King citedJustice Department statistics showing that, over the previous two years, 50 U.S. citizens had been charged with major acts of terrorism and that all were motivated by radical Islamic ideologies.[90]
The first hearing, held on March 10, 2011, was entitled "The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community's Response." The hearing included testimony from congressmenJohn D. Dingell ofMichigan,Keith Ellison ofMinnesota, who was one of two Muslims in the U.S. Congress at the time,Frank Wolf (R-VA), andLos Angeles county sheriffLeroy Baca.[citation needed]
Others to provide testimony included Dr. MZuhdi Jasser, a secular Muslim and founder of theAmerican Islamic Forum for Democracy; Melvin Bledsoe, whose son Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, a Muslim convert, is serving a life sentence for killing a soldier and wounding another in the2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting;[109][110] and Abdirizak Bihi, the Director of the Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center.[111] TheCouncil on American Islamic Relations submitted a statement to the committee.[112]
In an article for theNational Review, King announced that his second and third Homeland Security Committee hearings onradicalization would focus on foreign money coming into American mosques andal Shabab's efforts to recruit young Muslim men inMinneapolis, Minnesota. The second hearing was set for mid-May while the third was tentatively scheduled for July. King stated he would continue to hold radicalization hearings as long as he is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.[113]
Bennie Thompson (D-MS), theranking Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, responded by saying that "none of these law enforcement and intelligence officials have backed King's assertions that the Muslim community has not been helpful in thwarting terrorist attacks."[114] Thompson wrote King, demanding that the scope of the hearings be widened to include allextremist groups in the United States, irrespective of ideology or religion.[115]
Los Angeles County sheriff Lee Baca said there was nothing to support King's claims of non-cooperation by American Muslims, and invited King to Los Angeles to show the reported cooperation between Muslim-Americans and federal law enforcement.[116] TheMuslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), in a letter to King, claimed that his call was sweeping and misguided and called for a meeting with him to discuss his initiatives, the proposed hearings, and the efforts of the Muslim American community to fight radicalization.[117]
TheCouncil on American Islamic Relations joined fifty other activist and Human Rights organizations, includingAmnesty International, theSikh Coalition, theJapanese American Citizens League andUnitarian Universalist Service Committee in signing a letter toSpeaker of the HouseJohn Boehner (R-OH) andMinority LeaderNancy Pelosi (D-CA), comparing the hearings to those held bySenator Joe McCarthy in the 1950s and calling them "divisive and wrong", and "an affront to fundamental [American] freedoms"[118][119]
Seema Jilani, a freelance journalist writing an opinion piece inThe Guardian, described King as "America's new McCarthy", who was instigating "a bigoted witchhunt."[120]
Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the conservative religious organizationAmerican Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which opposed the building of thePark51 Community Center,[121] declared his support for King and the hearings and remarked, "This hearing isn't aboutprofiling — it's about protecting our homeland."[122]
Frank Gaffney, founder and president of the American Center for Security Policy, praised King for holding a hearing "about an issue that has long been deemed politically untouchable" and opined that King had indeed shown there is "a problem of 'extremism' within the American Muslim community."[123] Several members of Congress, includingRepresentativesMike Rogers andJoe Walsh, wrote letters of support for King's hearings. Rogers wrote that radicalization could happen anywhere in the United States, and thus it is an issue all Americans have to deal with.[124] Walsh added that "Homegrown terrorists are the number one threat facing American families right now, and it would be irresponsible and negligent not to try and identify the causes of their radicalization."[125]
In the 114th Congress, King had a score of 4 out of 100 from theHuman Rights Campaign for his voting record onLGBT rights issues.[126] He does not supportsame-sex marriage and opposed the Supreme Court taking on the landmarkObergefell v. Hodges case.[127]
King identifies as "pro-life."[128] While in Congress, King consistently received a score of 0%, from NARAL-Pro Choice America, an abortion rights organization.[129] When asked at the Republican National Convention in 2012, King said, "[The] main purpose of government is to protect innocent life, no matter where that life is." In the same interview, King said a woman should not be punished for getting an abortion but doctors who perform the procedure should be.[130][better source needed]
King had a "C" rating fromNORML regarding his voting record oncannabis-related matters. He has twice voted against providing veterans access tomedical marijuana via theVeterans Health Administration.[131][failed verification]
King was harshly critical of theOccupy Wall Street movement from the beginning; commenting on October 7, 2011:
We have to be careful not to allow this to get any legitimacy. I'm taking this seriously in that I'm old enough to remember what happened in the 1960s when the left-wing took to the streets and somehow the media glorified them and it ended up shaping policy. We can't allow that to happen.[132][133]
King supported New York City mayor Bloomberg's decision to have the NYPD forcibly evict the Occupy protestors from Manhattan's Zuccotti Park; calling them, "low life dirtbags" and "losers", who "live in dirt."[134][135] Bloomberg received widespread bipartisan support for the removal.
On July 5, 2009, shortly afterthe death ofMichael Jackson, King made a video statement chiding the media for its coverage of Jackson's death:
Let's knock out the psychobabble. He was a pervert, achild molester, he was apedophile. And to be giving this much coverage to him, day in and day out, what does it say about us as a country? I just think we're toopolitically correct. No one wants to stand up and say we don't need Michael Jackson. He died, he had some talent, fine. There's men and women dying every day in Afghanistan. Let's give them the credit they deserve.[136][137]
King's statement generated national media coverage. In reaction to the controversy, King said, "I believe I'm articulating the views of a great majority of the American people".[138]
Responding to the 2014death of Eric Garner by police, King said, "If he had not had asthma, and a heart condition, and was so obese, almost definitely he would not have died from this."[139]
In the wake of the 2016Orlando nightclub shooting, King posted onFacebook that it was a "vicious Islamic terrorist attack" and said the "Islamic threat to the United States is greater than at any time since9/11." He proceeded to then critique "leftwing editors at theNew York Times and the liberal ideologies" of theAmerican Civil Liberties Union, saying both the newspaper and the organization were attempting to "intimidate" critics of radical Islam.[140]
On May 26, 2018, responding to the owner of theNew York Jets supporting the right ofNational Football League players to kneel in protest during the national anthem, King likened the protest to that of "Nazi salutes"[141]
King's committee assignments for the116th United States Congress:
King was a member of theHouse Baltic Caucus,[142] theCongressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus[143] and theClimate Solutions Caucus.[144]
Third party candidates omitted, so percentages may not add up to 100%.
| Year | Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Peter T. King (R) | 124,727 | 50% |
| Steve Orlins (D) | 116,915 | 46% | |
| 1994 | Peter T. King (R) | 115,236 | 59% |
| Norma Grill (D) | 77,774 | 40% | |
| 1996 | Peter T. King (R) | 127,972 | 55% |
| Dal LaMagna (D) | 97,518 | 42% | |
| 1998 | Peter T. King (R) | 117,258 | 64% |
| Kevin Langberg (D) | 63,628 | 35% | |
| 2000 | Peter T. King (R) | 143,126 | 60% |
| Dal LaMagna (D) | 95,787 | 40% | |
| 2002 | Peter T. King (R) | 121,537 | 72% |
| Stuart Finz (D) | 46,022 | 27% | |
| 2004 | Peter T. King (R) | 171,259 | 63% |
| Blair Mathies (D) | 100,737 | 37% | |
| 2006 | Peter T. King (R) | 101,787 | 56% |
| David Mejias (D) | 79,843 | 44% | |
| 2008 | Peter T. King (R) | 135,648 | 64% |
| Graham Long (D) | 76,918 | 35% | |
| 2010 | Peter T. King (R) | 126,142 | 72% |
| Howard Kudler (D) | 48,963 | 28% | |
| 2012 | Peter T. King (R) | 142,309 | 59% |
| Vivianne Falcone (D) | 100,545 | 41% | |
| 2014 | Peter T. King (R) | 91,701 | 65% |
| Patricia Maher (D) | 40,009 | 28% | |
| 2016[145] | Peter T. King (R) | 181,506 | 62% |
| Du Wayne Gregory (D) | 110,938 | 38% | |
| 2018 | Peter T. King (R) | 128,078 | 53% |
| Liuba Grechen Shirley (D) | 113,074 | 47% |
King has authored three novels,Terrible Beauty (1999),[146]Deliver Us From Evil (2002),[147] andVale of Tears (2003).[148]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Comptroller ofNassau County 1981–1992 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forAttorney General of New York 1986 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew York's 3rd congressional district 1993–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew York's 2nd congressional district 2013–2021 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theHouse Homeland Security Committee 2005–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theHouse Homeland Security Committee 2011–2013 | 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 | |
