Robert Lee Stump (April 4, 1927 – June 20, 2003) was an American politician who served as a
U.S. Congressman from
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
. He served as a member from the
Democratic Party from 1977 to 1983 and then later a member of the
Republican Party until the end of his tenure as congressman.
Early life and career
Stump was born in
Phoenix, and was a
U.S. Navy World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
combat veteran, where he served on the
USS ''Tulagi'' from 1943 to 1946. He graduated from
Tolleson Union High School in 1947, and
Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
in 1951 where he was a member of the
Delta Chi
Delta Chi () is an international collegiate social fraternity. It was formed in 1890 at Cornell University as a professional fraternity for law students, becoming a social fraternity in 1922. In 1929. Delta Chi became one of the first internat ...
fraternity. He owned a cotton and grain farm in the Phoenix suburb of
Tolleson for many years.
He served four terms in the
Arizona House of Representatives
The Arizona House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. The upper house is the Arizona Senate, Senate. The House convenes in the le ...
from 1959 to 1967, and five terms in the
Arizona State Senate, from 1967 to 1976. He served as President of the Arizona State Senate from 1975 to 1976.
Member of Congress
He was first elected to the
95th Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
on November 2, 1976, originally as a
Democrat from the
3rd Congressional District, a vast district stretching from western Phoenix through
Prescott to
Lake Havasu City and the
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile ().
The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...
. He defeated state senate minority leader Fred Koory with 47 percent of the vote.
Stump wore his party ties very loosely. He considered himself a "Pinto Democrat," the popular name for conservative Democrats from rural Arizona, and his voting record was strongly conservative. His profile was similar to those of conservative Democrats from the South. He voted for
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
's tax cuts in 1981. Shortly after that vote, he announced he would become a
Republican when Congress reconvened in January 1982. Regardless of his party affiliation, he never faced serious competition at the ballot box. After his initial run for Congress, he only dropped below 60 percent of the vote once, in 1990. He only faced an independent in 1978, and was completely unopposed in 1986.
He briefly considered running for the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
in 1986 after
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Re ...
decided to retire.
Described as "quiet" and "assiduously private",
Stump kept a fairly low profile for most of his tenure. He had only a skeleton staff; he was known to answer the phone himself at his
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
office, and to open his own mail.
Stump usually returned home to work his farm in Tolleson on weekends.
Stump voted against the
Abandoned Shipwrecks Act of 1987. The Act asserts United States title to certain abandoned shipwrecks located on or embedded in submerged lands under state jurisdiction, and transfers title to the respective state, thereby empowering states to manage these cultural and historical resources more efficiently, with the goal of preventing
treasure hunters and salvagers from damaging them. Despite his vote against it, President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
signed it into law on April 28, 1988.
In November 1997, Stump was one of eighteen Republicans in the House to co-sponsor
a resolution by
Bob Barr that sought to launch an
impeachment inquiry against President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
.
The resolution did not specify any charges or allegations.
This was an early effort to
impeach
Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements.
In Euro ...
Clinton, predating the eruption of the
Clinton–Lewinsky scandal
The Clinton–Lewinsky scandal was a sex scandal involving Bill Clinton, the president of the United States, and Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. Their sexual relationship began in 1995—when Clinton was 49 years old and Lewinsky ...
. The eruption of that scandal would ultimately lead to a more serious effort to impeach Clinton in 1998. On October 8, 1998, Stump voted in favor of legislation that was passed to open
an impeachment inquiry.
On December 19, 1998, Stump voted in favor of all four proposed
articles of impeachment against Clinton (only two of which received the majority of votes needed to be adopted).
In his 26 years in the House he became a noted member of the
House Armed Services Committee
The U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, commonly known as the House Armed Services Committee or HASC, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is responsible for funding and oversight of the Department of ...
, serving as chairman from 2001 to 2003. He'd chaired the
House Veterans' Affairs Committee from 1995 to 2001, when he was forced to give that post up due to caucus-imposed term limits. He is one of the few members of the House to chair both committees. He consistently supported increased spending on the military and veterans.
The 2003 military appropriations authorization act was named after him in recognition of his commitment to the military as the Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003.
Stump sponsored bills to make
English the official language for government business and to alter laws so that children born on US soil to non-citizen parents would not automatically be citizens.
According to Amy Silverson, he was "best known in Congress as a perpetual naysayer, casting votes against almost all spending programs."
Between 1976 and 2002, he accumulated a lifetime score of 97 (out of 100) from the
American Conservative Union
The American Conservative Union (ACU) is an American political organization that advocates for Conservatism in the United States, conservative policies, ranks politicians based on their level of conservatism, and organizes the Conservative Poli ...
. He received very low scores from the
National Council of Senior Citizens, the
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million.
T ...
, the
AFL–CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...
, the
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
, and the
League of Conservation Voters
The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is an American environmental advocacy group. LCV says that it "builds political power for people and the planet." Through its affiliated super PAC, it is a major supporter of the Democratic Party. The org ...
.
Although his district included the entire northwestern portion of Arizona, the great majority of its residents lived in the West Valley. Stump was often accused of addressing himself mainly to the West Valley and ignoring the other portions of his sprawling district, even though the district's center of gravity had moved to the West Valley as early as the 1970s. Indeed, many of his constituents rarely saw him. He maintained his district office in downtown Phoenix, outside his own district, for many years.
Although he claimed his farm in Tolleson as his residence in the district, his main residence was in another portion of Phoenix outside the district. However, Stump told ''
The Arizona Republic
''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain.
History
Early years
The newspap ...
'' that he saw the farm as "my place of business," and knew that "nobody ever thought I resided there." He believed that "you declare your residency wherever you want. Stump would have been well within his rights to claim his Phoenix home as his official residence, as members of the House are only required to live in the ''state'' they represent.
Bob Hope announcement
After the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
mistakenly placed
Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...
's obituary on its web site in June 1998, Stump announced on the floor of the House that the entertainer had died. This was quickly denied by his daughter and publicist; Hope outlived Stump by five weeks, dying in 2003 at the age of 100.
Death and legacy

He decided not to run for re-election in 2002 due to declining health. He endorsed his longtime chief of staff, Lisa Jackson Atkins, as his successor in what was then numbered as the 2nd District. Atkins had been very visible in the district, to the point that many thought ''she'' actually represented it rather than Stump. However, Atkins was defeated in a seven way Republican primary by
Trent Franks, who held the seat
until December 2017. Stump died June 20, 2003, of
myelodysplasia, a blood disorder and was buried at
Greenwood/Memory Lawn Mortuary & Cemetery in Phoenix with
full military honors.
In 2004, the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in
Prescott, Arizona
Prescott ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. As of 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the city's population was 45,827.
In 1864, Prescott was designated as the capital of the Arizona Territory, r ...
, was renamed the Bob Stump Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Stump is no relation to the member of the
Arizona Corporation Commission
The Arizona Corporation Commission is the Public Utilities Commission of the Arizona, State of Arizona, established by Article 15 of the Constitution of Arizona, Arizona Constitution. Arizona is one of only fourteen states with elected commission ...
of the same name. In 2006, SR 303L was renamed the
Bob Stump Memorial Highway.
In 2018, Stump's widow issued a letter, criticizing an Arizona state government politician
of the same name for allegedly capitalizing on her late husband's name. The letter was met with a sharp rebuke by the state government politician's mother.
See also
*
*
List of United States representatives who switched parties
References
External links
*
*
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stump, Bob
1927 births
2003 deaths
Arizona state senators
Arizona State University alumni
Members of the Arizona House of Representatives
Politicians from Phoenix, Arizona
Presidents of the Arizona Senate
United States Navy sailors
United States Navy personnel of World War II
American Seventh-day Adventists
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Arizona
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Arizona
20th-century members of the Arizona State Legislature
21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives
People from Maricopa County, Arizona
Delta Chi members