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Peter Allen Stauber (born May 10, 1966) is an American politician, former minor-league hockey player, and retired law enforcement officer from Minnesota serving as the United States representative for Minnesota's 8th congressional district. A member of the Republican Party, Stauber has represented the district since 2019.
Stauber was born and grew up in Duluth, Minnesota. He played college hockey for Lake Superior State University, where as a star player on the team, he led the Lakers to a national championship in the 1988 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. Stauber met his political idol President Ronald Reagan when the team visited the White House after winning the national championship. He later said this event formed his political ambition. He then had a brief career in minor-league hockey. Stauber served as a lieutenant in the Duluth Police Department from 1995 to 2017. During his service as a police officer, he was shot while on duty. He also served as a county commissioner in St. Louis County, Minnesota, from 2013 to 2019.
Stauber succeeded DFL incumbent Rick Nolan by defeating Democratic nominee Joe Radinovich in the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections. Representing a working-class and mostly rural district, Stauber is only the second Republican to represent his district since 1947.
After winning the national championship, the team was invited to the White House, where Stauber met President Ronald Reagan, an event he has called a pivotal moment in the formation of his interest in politics.
| 1984–85 | Austin Mavericks | MWJHL | — | — |
| 1985–86 | Rochester Mustangs | MWJHL | 58 | — |
| 1986–87 | Lake Superior State University | WCHA | 80 | — |
| 1987–88 | Lake Superior State University | WCHA | 103 | — |
| 1988–89 | Lake Superior State University | WCHA | 115 | — |
| 1989–90 | Lake Superior State University | WCHA | 90 | — |
| 1990–91 | Adirondack Red Wings | USHL | 2 | — |
| 1991–92 | Adirondack Red Wings | USHL | 14 | — |
| 1991–92 | Toledo Storm | ECHL | 46 | 46 |
| 1992–93 | Adirondack Red Wings | USHL | 8 | — |
The 8th district had an open seat in a previously Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL)-held district where the last two elections were close. Partisan funders on both sides of the aisle reserved "millions" of dollars for advertising in a race widely regarded as a potential Republican pickup of a seat that had been held since 2013 by Rick Nolan. In November, Stauber defeated the DFL nominee, former Nolan aide Joe Radinovich, to become only the fifth person to represent the district in 71 years, and the second Republican to do so. He won primarily by running up his margins in the district's more conservative western portion.
During his 2018 campaign, Stauber ran on a policy of allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, becoming only one of a handful of Republicans to endorse what was primarily a progressive idea. Stauber has since walked back from his campaign pledge.
On September 30, 2020, Stauber hosted Trump in a visit to his district, attending a rally of about 3,000 people at the Duluth International Airport. Along with two of his Minnesota Republican House colleagues, Stauber rode with Trump on Air Force One. After it was determined that Stauber had interacted with people who tested positive for COVID-19 in Washington D.C., including Trump, Stauber took a Delta flight in violation of Delta's rules, potentially exposing the other passengers to the virus.
In December 2020, Stauber was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated Trump.
A group of Ojibwe tribes from Stauber's district rebuked him for his attempts to block President Biden's nomination of Deb Haaland as United States Secretary of the Interior. The Midwest Alliance of Sovereign Tribes also complained about his actions. A member of the House subcommittee on Indigenous Peoples, Stauber cited Haaland's support of the Green New Deal and opposition to oil drilling. As a member of the House, he did not vote on the nomination.
During the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election in January 2023, Stauber consistently voted for Kevin McCarthy. In October 2023, he voted against removing McCarthy as speaker, which was unsuccessful and resulted in another election. Stauber backed Jim Jordan on the first ballot and Bruce Westerman on the next two ballots before voting for Mike Johnson on the fourth and final ballot. In December 2023, he was among the 105 Republicans who voted to expel George Santos from the House.
In April and May 2023, Stauber introduced a resolution and bill to end mineral withdrawal in Ely, Minnesota, as a response to a moratorium the Biden administration enacted the previous year. In April 2024, the House of Representatives passed Stauber's bill, 212–203. It was unlikely to pass the Democratic–controlled Senate, and the White House publicly voiced its opposition to it. With the Republicans having secured a federal government trifecta, Stauber announced in January 2025 that he was reintroducing the bill.
In a January 2025 interview, Stauber said the Trump administration's federal government grant pause was acceptable. He justified it by citing wasteful spending, claiming millions of dollars had been spent on condoms in the Gaza Strip.
Stauber and his brothers run the Stauber Brothers Military Heroes Hockey Camp, a summer program for children with parents in the military. The six co-own the Duluth Hockey Company, which began as a sporting goods retailer but since 2015 has specialized in hockey-related merchandise. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company received over $86,000 in relief funds from the Paycheck Protection Program.
As one of his sons has Down syndrome, Stauber has advocated for continuing medical research of the genetic disorder. He received the Quincy Jones Exceptional Advocacy Award from the Global Down Syndrome Foundation in 2023.
While on police duty in 1995, Stauber was shot and lightly wounded in the head when a bullet entered his squad car.
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