Lois Capps

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 Ladysmith, Wisconsin,U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Walter Capps ​ ​ (m.1960; died 1997)​
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. representativeforCalifornia's 24th congressional districtfrom 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 BarbaraandSan Luis Obispocounties 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.

Early life and education

Capps was born Lois Ragnhild Grimsrud inLadysmith, Wisconsin,the daughter of Solveig Magdalene (née Gullixson) and Rev. Jurgen Milton Grimsrud, aLutheranminister. Both of her parents' families came fromNorway.She has lived inSanta Barbarasince 1964. She was educated atPacific Lutheran Universitywith a bachelor's degree innursing.She earned a master's degree in religion atYale Divinity Schoolin 1964and aMaster of Artsdegree in education at theUniversity of California, Santa Barbarain 1990.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

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 Districtseat by defeating RepublicanTom Bordonaroin aspecial electionon March 10, 1998. She was sworn into the 105th Congress on March 17. Lois Capps successfully 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.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.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.Capps eventually beat her opponent,Abel Maldonado,with 54.8% of the vote.

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.In the closest race of her entire congressional career, Capps ultimately won with only a 3.8% margin over Mitchum.

Capps announced in April 2015 that she would not seek reelection in 2016.

Political positions

Capps has been described as a "solid liberal". InThe Washingtonianmagazine's 2006 "Best and Worst of Congress" poll of congressional staffers, Capps was named the nicest member of Congress.

In 2011, Capps voted for theNational Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012as part of a controversial provision that allows the government and the military to indefinitely detain American citizens and others without trial.

Health care

Capps supported the Obama administration's economic stimulus and thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act.She was strongly critical of theStupak–Pitts Amendmentto 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 2013which would, if enacted, authorize theNIHto support, fund, and coordinate data from research on rare pediatric diseases.

Foreign policy

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 Nadarkhaniof the charge of apostasy. The resolution passed 417–1 with 15 non-votes.Her spokeswoman later said that Capps strongly supported the resolution, but cast the no vote by mistake.

Environmental policy

In 2004, the House passed her piece of legislation to prohibit "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 Forestand offshore drilling off the coast of California.

Legislation sponsored

• To provide for the conveyance of a small parcel of National Forest System land in Los Padres National Forest in California (H.R. 3008; 113th Congress)- Capps introduced this bill, which would swap a parcel offederal landwith theWhite Lotus Foundationin exchange for a parcel of their land.The White Lotus Foundation offers training inyogaand wants the land to build better access to their site.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Energy and Commerce
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Power
  • Subcommittee on Environment and Economy
  • Subcommittee on Health

Caucus membership

• Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues
• Co-Chair of the National Marine Sanctuary Caucus
• Co-Chair of the Congressional Coastal Caucus
• Co-Chair of the Biomedical Research Caucus
• Co-Chair of the House Cancer Caucus
• Co-Chair of the Congressional Heart and Stroke Coalition
• Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Infant Health and Safety
• Founded the Congressional Nursing Caucus
• Founded the School Health and Safety Caucus
• Member of theVeterinary Medicine Caucus

Personal life

In 1960, while at Yale, she marriedWalter Capps,a divinity student at Yale who later became a prominent religious studies professor at UCSB; they eventually had three children. Walter died in 1997 and their eldest daughter Lisa 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 Secretaryin theObama administration.

See also

• Women in the United States House of Representatives

External links

• Lois CappsatCurlie
• Biographyat theBiographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office)at theFederal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsoredat theLibrary of Congress
• ProfileatVote Smart
• AppearancesonC-SPAN