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Thomas Miller McClintock II (born July 10, 1956) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2009 (known as the 4th congressional district until 2023). His district stretches from the Sacramento suburbs to the outer suburbs of Fresno; it includes Yosemite National Park. A member of the Republican Party, McClintock served as a California state assemblyman from 1982 to 1992 and from 1996 to 2000, when he became a California state senator, a position he held until 2008. He unsuccessfully ran for governor of California in the 2003 recall election and for Lieutenant Governor of California in the 2006 election.
After running for Congress in 1992 and for controller in 1994, McClintock ran for the Assembly again in 1996. He ran for California's 38th State Assembly district and defeated Democrat Jon Lauritzen 56%–40% to win his sixth Assembly term. In 1998, McClintock was reelected to a seventh term unopposed.
McClintock authored California's lethal injection use for California's death penalty law. He also opposed tax increases and supported spending cuts. He was a strong proponent of abolishing the car tax.
In 2008, McClintock voted against Proposition 2, which prohibits confining calves, pigs and hens in small cages in which they cannot extend their limbs. "Farm animals are food, not friends", he said in response to backlash to his vote. He also cited concern about increased grocery bills. In 2000, he was instrumental in proposing a two-thirds reduction in the vehicle license fee, or car tax. In 2003, he opposed then-Governor Gray Davis's attempt to rescind a rollback of a vehicle license fee. McClintock has also opposed deficit reduction efforts that would have increased taxes. He supported the Bureaucracy Reduction and Closure Commission and performance-based budgeting.
McClintock performed the best in Stanislaus County, where he received 24% of the vote. He also cracked 20% or higher in several other counties: Mariposa (23%), Tuolumne (22%), Tehama (21%), Calaveras (20%), Madera (20%), Modoc (20%), Shasta (20%), San Joaquin (20%), and Ventura (20%).
Upon McClintock's entry into the race, fellow Republicans Rico Oller and Eric Egland withdrew from the primary and endorsed him. He was also endorsed by the Republican Liberty Caucus, the Club for Growth, and U.S. Representative Ron Paul. McClintock faced former U.S. Representative Doug Ose, a moderate who represented the neighboring 3rd District from 1999 to 2005. Like McClintock, Ose lived outside the district and was painted as a carpetbagger and a liberal who had voted to raise taxes and who voted for earmarks. McClintock defeated Ose, 54–39%.
The Democratic nominee was retired Air Force Lt. Col. Charles D. (Charlie) Brown, who had run an unexpectedly strong race against Doolittle in 2006. In March 2008, Ose's campaign commercials criticized McClintock for receiving over $300,000 in per diem living expenses during his time in the state senate even though he lived in Elk Grove for most of the year. McClintock maintained that the payments were justified because his legal residence was in Thousand Oaks, in his district. He said, "Every legislator's Sacramento residence is close to the Capitol. My residential costs up here are much greater than the average legislator because my family is here." Ose's campaign commercials argued McClintock did not own or rent a home in the 19th district, but claimed his mother's home in Thousand Oaks as his state senate district residence. These attacks prompted a response from McClintock's wife, Lori, who said McClintock stayed with his mother to care for her after she fell ill and after the death of her husband. McClintock ran ads attacking Brown's participation at a 2005 protest by Code Pink, a prominent antiwar group, and argued Brown supported gay marriage but not the troops in Iraq. He also portrayed Brown as a clone of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
By November 23, McClintock led Brown by 1,566 votes (0.4% of the vote), 184,190 to 182,624. Subsequent returns expanded the margin slightly with the last returns coming in from El Dorado County shortly after Thanksgiving. On December 1, McClintock declared victory and Brown conceded on December 3. McClintock defeated Brown by a margin of 0.5%, or 1,800 votes. He prevailed by a 3,500-vote margin in Placer County, the district's largest county. Brown won three of the district's nine counties: Sierra (49.8%), Plumas (47.9%), and Nevada (42.3%). "United States Representative (final results)" Office of the California Secretary of State. Retrieved December 26, 2008 McClintock won mainly on the coattails from John McCain, who carried the 4th with 54% of the vote, his fifth-best total in the state.
Redistricting after the 2010 census pushed the 4th well to the south. Only three counties remained from the old 4th: Nevada, Placer, and El Dorado. The redrawn district cut out the 4th's share of Sacramento County, including the part of Elk Grove that includes McClintock's home. Elk Grove is now entirely within the borders of the neighboring 7th District, represented by Democrat Ami Bera, making McClintock one of only a few members of Congress who live outside the district they represent. House members are constitutionally required only to live in the state they represent, but longstanding convention holds that they live in or reasonably close to their districts. McClintock said in 2016 that he intended to move his residence inside the redrawn 4th as soon as home prices rebounded enough for him to sell his Elk Grove home. These California lawmakers don't live in the districts they represent. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
In 2012, California instituted its "top two" primary, in which candidates of all parties run against one another and the top two finishers, regardless of party, advance to the general election. McClintock and Democrat Jack Uppal were the only candidates in the "top two" primary, so the general election was a rematch. The reconfigured 4th was as strongly Republican as its predecessor, and McClintock was reelected to a third term, defeating Uppal 61%–39% in the general election. McClintock won all but two of the district's ten counties: Alpine (41%) and Nevada (37%).
In 2009, McClintock signed a pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any global warming legislation that would raise taxes.
McClintock voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. He voted against the first version of the bill, displeased with the removal of deductions related to medical expenses, student loan interest, and casualty loss. Those three items were addressed in the final version of the bill. McClintock said the bill would "restore American workers to an internationally competitive position." He expressed concern about the bill's impact on the budget deficit and anticipated that it would be addressed "by spending reforms this coming year."
In 2017, McClintock called for special prosecutor Robert Mueller to investigate President Donald Trump. McClintock felt that Trump's firing of James Comey justified a special prosecutor.
After Trump pulled 1,000 U.S. troops from Kurds-held territory on the Syrian border south of Turkey in 2019, a bipartisan resolution passed the House, 354–60, that condemned him for abandoning those U.S. allies that would allow the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to reestablish and regroup its forces, and allow the Turks to attack the Kurds. McClintock was one of the two members of California's congressional delegation to vote against it. Rep. Hunter votes against condemning Trump on Syria, saying 'You kick ass and you leave', The San Diego Union-Tribune, October 16, 2019. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
In 2020, McClintock was the sole House Republican to cosponsor the Ending Qualified Immunity Act, which was proposed in response to the murder of George Floyd and resultant widespread protests. The act was introduced by Justin Amash and Ayanna Pressley and cosponsored by 62 House Democrats in addition to McClintock. Because Amash was a registered Libertarian as of the act's introduction in June 2020, McClintock's support technically made the act the first tripartisan piece of federal legislation in modern U.S. history.
In the 118th Congress, McClintock voted against multiple motions to discipline certain Democrats in office, such as the first censure of Adam Schiff, the censure of Rashida Tlaib, and the impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas. In each, he lambasted their actions but believed the motions were an erosion of the standards to which such motions should be held. Despite making a speech supporting holding Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for the federal prosecution of Donald Trump, he would vote against holding him in contempt for refusing to release the audio files of the Hur interviews in the Joe Biden classified documents incident.
As of October 2021, McClintock had voted in line with Joe Biden's stated position 5% of the time.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement that called signing the amicus brief an act of "election subversion."
McClintock later became one of seven Republicans who did not support their colleagues' efforts to challenge the results of the election on January 6, 2021. These seven signed a letter that, while giving credence to election fraud allegations Trump made, said Congress did not have the authority to influence the election's outcome.
McClintock voted against impeaching Trump over his role in inciting the 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol.
In 2016, McClintock endorsed California's Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act. He stated: "Our current laws have failed us, and have created a violent and criminal black market that actively and aggressively markets to young people. Legalization takes the criminal profit out of the equation, and allows us to regulate marijuana the same way we currently regulate alcohol."
In 2020, McClintock was one of five House Republicans to vote for the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act to legalize cannabis at the federal level. In 2021, he was one of four original cosponsors of a Republican-led legalization bill named the States Reform Act.
/ref> The proposal would grant the President the authority to eliminate or reduce specific appropriations funding authorization bills.
In 2020, McClintock voted against the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021, which would prevent the president from withdrawing soldiers from Afghanistan without congressional approval.
In June 2021, McClintock was one of 49 House Republicans to vote to repeal the AUMF against Iraq.
In July 2021, McClintock was one of five House Republicans to vote against a bill that allocates $2.1 billion for Afghan visas and Capitol Hill security.
In 2023, McClintock was among 47 Republicans to vote in favor of H.Con.Res. 21, which directed President Joe Biden to remove U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days.
In June 2021, McClintock was one of 14 House Republicans to vote against legislation to establish June 19, or Juneteenth, as a federal holiday.
McClintock voted against the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 which authorizes DHS to nearly double the available H-2B visas for the remainder of FY 2020.
McClintock voted against Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 1158) which effectively prohibits ICE from cooperating with Health and Human Services to detain or remove illegal alien sponsors of unaccompanied alien children (UACs).
| Republican | Tom McClintock (incumbent) | 28,740 | 80.7 |
| Republican | Kevin Staker | 6,866 | 19.3 |
| Total votes | 35,606 | 100 | |
| Voter turnout | % | ||
| Republican | Tom McClintock | 20,163 | 34.5 |
| Republican | Sang Korman | 13,884 | 23.7 |
| Republican | Bill Spillane | 10,679 | 18.3 |
| Republican | Jim Salomon | 4,382 | 7.5 |
| Republican | Rob Meyer | 2,889 | 4.9 |
| Republican | Stephen Weiss | 2,238 | 3.8 |
| Republican | Nicholas Hariton | 1,805 | 3.1 |
| Republican | Robert Colaco | 1,582 | 2.7 |
| Republican | Harry Wachtel | 902 | 1.5 |
| Total votes | 58,524 | 100 | |
| Voter turnout | % | ||
| Republican | Tom McClintock | 1,112,435 | 60.8 |
| Republican | John Morris | 717,681 | 39.2 |
| Total votes | 1,830,116 | 100 | |
| Voter turnout | % | ||
| Republican | Tom McClintock | 13,999 | 38.2 |
| Republican | Ross Hopkins | 7,425 | 20.3 |
| Republican | Bob Larkin | 4,774 | 13.0 |
| Republican | Robert Hamlin | 4,068 | 11.1 |
| Republican | Stephen Frank | 3,308 | 9.0 |
| Republican | Peggy Freeman | 3,093 | 8.4 |
| Total votes | 36,667 | 100 | |
| Voter turnout | % | ||
| Republican | Tom McClintock | 99,135 | 52.5 |
| Democratic | Daniel Gonzalez | 56,739 | 30.0 |
| Republican | Judy Mikels | 33,255 | 17.5 |
| Total votes | 189,129 | 100 | |
| Voter turnout | % | ||
| Republican | Tom McClintock | 948,539 | 45.8 |
| Republican | Dean Andal | 736,317 | 35.5 |
| Republican | Snow Hume | 194,883 | 9.4 |
| Republican | Nancy Beecham | 194,583 | 9.3 |
| Total votes | 2,074,322 | 100 | |
| Voter turnout | % | ||
For a complete list of all candidates who participated in the 2003 recall election, see 2003 California gubernatorial recall election.
| Republican | Tom McClintock | 1,760,667 | 93.8 |
| Republican | Tony Farmer | 117,335 | 6.2 |
| Total votes | 1,878,002 | 100 | |
| Voter turnout | % | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| Republican | Tom McClintock | 51,655 | 53.5 |
| Republican | Doug Ose | 37,802 | 39.2 |
| Republican | Suzanne Jones | 4,920 | 5.0 |
| Republican | Theodore Terbolizard | 2,249 | 2.3 |
| Total votes | 96,626 | 100 | |
| Voter turnout | % | ||
| Republican | Tom McClintock (incumbent) | 89,443 | 78.5 |
| Republican | Michael Babich | 24,528 | 21.5 |
| Total votes | 113,971 | 100 | |
| Voter turnout | % | ||
| Republican | Tom McClintock (incumbent) | 80,999 | 56.2 |
| Republican | Arthur "Art" Moore | 32,855 | 22.8 |
| Independent | Jeffrey Gerlach | 30,300 | 21.0 |
| Total votes | 144,154 | 100 | |
| Voter turnout | % | ||
| Republican | Tom McClintock (incumbent) | 126,784 | 60.0 |
| Republican | Arthur "Art" Moore | 84,350 | 40.0 |
| Total votes | 211,134 | 100 | |
| Voter turnout | % | ||
| Republican | Tom McClintock (incumbent) | 135,626 | 61.5 |
| Democratic | Robert Derlet | 60,574 | 27.5 |
| Democratic | Sean White | 24,460 | 11.1 |
| Republican | Tom McClintock (incumbent) | 220,133 | 62.7 |
| Democratic | Robert W. Derlet | 130,845 | 37.3 |
| Total votes | 350,978 | 100 | |
| Republican | Tom McClintock (incumbent) | 184,401 | 54.1 |
| Democratic | Jessica Morse | 156,253 | 45.9 |
| Total Votes | 340,654 | 100 |
| Republican | Tom McClintock (incumbent) | 247,291 | 55.9 |
| Democratic | Brynne Kennedy | 194,731 | 44.1 |
| Total Votes | 442,022 | 100 |
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