Rep. Louie Gohmert (R)

The congressman from the 1st District is Louie Gohmert, a Republican first elected in 2004. Gohmert (GO-mert) grew up in Mount Pleasant, and got an Army scholarship at Texas A&M University, where he was class president. He went on get a law degree from Baylor University, and then served as a captain in the Army. He practiced law in Tyler and spent a decade as a district court judge. Republican Gov. Rick Perry named him chief justice of the Texas Appellate Court in 2002. While on the bench, Gohmert earned a reputation as a tough law-and-order judge with a knack for attracting attention. In 1996, he ordered an HIV-positive convicted car thief, as a condition of probation, to notify future sexual partners of his HIV status and to obtain written consent from them before engaging in sexual activity. After the 2003 redistricting, Gohmert was one of six Republicans who got into the primary to challenge four-term Democratic Rep. Max Sandlin, who had a moderate voting record but was a close ally of liberal Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Gohmert led in the primary with 42% of the vote to 30% for lawyer John Graves. In the month-long runoff campaign, few differences separated the two conservatives. Gohmert prevailed 57%-43%. Graves carried nine of the 13 counties, but Gohmert won 77% of the vote in his home base of Smith County, where half the votes were cast.

In the general election, Gohmert linked Sandlin to the national Democratic Party and their 2004 presidential nominee, John Kerry. In one debate, Gohmert repeatedly asked Sandlin about his choice for president; Sandlin sidestepped the question. Gohmert frequently mentioned his strong support for President Bush and, unlike Sandlin, attended his party’s national convention. Sandlin criticized Gohmert for his support from DeLay. The result wasn’t close. Gohmert won 61%-38%, with 79% in Smith County and 64% in Gregg County.

In the House, Gohmert has a mostly conservative voting record. His legislative work has been mostly on the Judiciary Committee. When the House in 2006 considered a bill to extend the Voting Rights Act, which allows extensive federal oversight of elections in states with histories of minority vote suppression, Gohmert tried to amend it to apply to every state. He said Southern states were unfairly targeted in the enforcement of the law. Gohmert voted for the final version. In 2005, the House passed his bill to upgrade security measures in courthouses to protect judges, prosecutors and witnesses, and to add penalties for carrying weapons in a courthouse. On the Natural Resources Committee, his legislation to establish a memorial to the victims of the space shuttle Columbia was enacted as part of a public lands bill in 2008. In January 2009, he proposed a two-month national tax holiday as an alternative to the Democrats’ economic stimulus bill.

Gohmert has been criticized for making comments of questionable judgment or taste. He drew fury from Jewish members of Congress when, during a 2007 debate on a bill prohibiting hiring discrimination in government-funded charitable organizations, he argued that religious groups should be allowed to hire employees of their own faith, otherwise Jewish organizations would be forced to hire Nazis. Later that year, he took, without asking, a sign in front of the office of Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., that showed the size of the national debt. Gohmert said he needed the sign to make a point during a debate on the House floor. Shuler called him a “gutless” thief.