The congressman from the 31st District is John Carter, a Republican first elected in 2002. He was re-elected in 2010 to a third term as House Republican Conference secretary, a position he has used to become a high-profile critic of Democrats. Read More

The congressman from the 31st District is John Carter, a Republican first elected in 2002. He was re-elected in 2010 to a third term as House Republican Conference secretary, a position he has used to become a high-profile critic of Democrats.

Carter grew up in Houston and graduated from Texas Tech University and the University of Texas law school. He practiced law in Williamson County and served as a municipal judge in Round Rock. He was appointed a district judge in 1981 by Republican Gov. Bill Clements and in 1982 stood for election. Judicial elections are partisan in Texas, and Carter was the first Republican judge elected in Williamson County. Carter became known as the father of the county Republican Party. In 2001, after a three-judge district court created a new Republican 31st District stretching from Williamson County to Houston, Carter retired from the bench and ran for Congress. The real contest in this district was among the eight candidates for the Republican nomination. Carter’s main rivals were Peter Wareing, the son-in-law of Texas oilman Jack Blanton, and Brad Barton, son of Rep. Joe Barton of the 6th District. In the primary, Wareing led with 37% to 26% for Carter and 16% for Barton.

In the four-week runoff campaign, Carter attacked Wareing as a liberal in disguise, pointing to his campaign contributions to Democrats like Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston. When Wareing proposed that each candidate sign a “clean campaign pledge,” Carter offered what he called a “homestead pledge”—a ploy to highlight his charge that Wareing was a Houston carpetbagger who had rented an apartment in the district in order to run for the seat. Rep. Barton endorsed Carter as “the only true conservative in this race.” Wareing outspent Carter more than 2-to-1, but Carter won 57%-43%. He got 78% of the vote in Williamson County, which cast 33% of the vote. Carter won the general election easily and has had little trouble winning re-election.

In the House, Carter has been a reliable conservative. He joined the Tea Party Caucus when it formed in July 2010 and was among the co-sponsors of the so-called “birther” bill in 2009 requiring future presidential candidates to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. He accused the Pentagon of watering down a 2010 report on the Fort Hood shootings to avoid discussing Islamic terrorism. When Republicans took over the majority in the House in January 2011, he introduced a resolution seeking to block the Environmental Protection Agency from issuing new air pollution regulations on cement kilns, drawing criticism from environmental groups. He also promised that his party would make frequent use of the Congressional Review Act—a measure requiring federal agencies to submit major proposed regulations for a 60-day review—to force votes on what he called “many of the heavy-handed regulations attempted by the Obama administration.” But in addition to his attack dog role, Carter has had a few legislative accomplishments. On the Judiciary Committee, he won passage of a bill to establish penalties for identity theft and also was successful in passing his Terrorist Penalties Enhancement Act.

Carter became the chief antagonist of New York Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel in 2009. He introduced several resolutions seeking to remove Rangel as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee during the investigation of ethics allegations against him. Rangel ultimately was removed as head of the committee and censured for his transgressions. But Carter himself drew Democrats’ fire for an alleged ethical lapse after he reportedly failed to disclose nearly $300,000 in profits from sales of oil stocks in 2006 and 2007. Carter responded by taking the offensive, noting that he had paid all taxes on his stock transactions and had admitted his errors, and then challenged Rangel to do the same.

In 2005, with help from then-Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, Carter got a coveted seat on the Appropriations Committee. He criticized Republican conservatives who objected to the appropriators’ heavy use of earmarking, the practice of funding projects for individual lawmakers’ districts rather than on a merit system. But he abided by the GOP’s decision not to seek any earmarks in 2010 or 2011.