Steven Ernst Stivers ( ; born March 24, 1965) is an American businessman, soldier, and politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2011 until 2021. He is a member of the Republican Party, and became chair of the

National Republican Congressional Committee The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is the United States Republican Party, Republican Hill committee which works to elect Republicans to the United States House of Representatives. The NRCC was formed in 1866, when the Repub ...

in 2017. Stivers previously served in the

Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of t ...

, representing the 15th district. He is a major general in the Ohio Army National Guard, serving as the Assistant Adjutant General, and served

active duty Active duty, in contrast to reserve duty, is a full-time occupation as part of a military force. Indian The Indian Armed Forces are considered to be one of the largest active service forces in the world, with almost 1.42 million Active Standin ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

as a

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

until December 2005. On May 16, 2021, he resigned his seat to become the president and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

Early life and education

Stivers was born and grew up in Ripley, Ohio, the son of Carol Sue (née Pulliam) and Ernst Bambach Stivers. Steve is a recipient of the Eagle Scout Award. Stivers attended the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

where he earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

and

international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

in 1989 and an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

in 1996. While attending Ohio State he joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity.

Career

Stivers spent seven years at

Bank One Bank One Corporation was an American bank founded in 1968 and at its peak the sixth-largest bank in the United States. It traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol ONE. The company merged with JPMorgan Chase & Co. on July 1, ...

, three years at the Ohio Company, two years as finance director for the Franklin County Republican Party and five years as a staff member in the

. Stivers worked as a Series 7 licensed securities trader with the Ohio Company.

Military service

Stivers has served in the Ohio Army National Guard since 1985 and holds the rank of Major General in the Logistics branch. Stivers was called to

while serving in the Ohio Senate in October 2004. It was then that Stivers served in

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

, and

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

as battalion commander until December 2005. He was awarded a

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

for his accomplishments as a battalion commander during

Operation Iraqi Freedom The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist governm ...

Ohio Senate

Elections

In December 2002, Republican Priscilla Mead resigned after serving in the

for only a year. Stivers was recommended by a Senate screening committee and was appointed by election of the Senate Republicans on January 4, 2003. He won re-election in 2004 to a full senate term with 58% of the vote.

Tenure

Stivers served in the

from January 9, 2003, until December 2008.

Committee assignments

Stivers was the Chairman of the Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee; Vice-Chair of the Finance and Financial Institutions Committee; and served on the Ways and Means Committee, the Judiciary Committee on Civil Justice, the Judiciary Committee for Criminal Justice, and the Controlling Board.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2008

In November 2007, Stivers announced he would run for election to Congress in Ohio's 15th District, a seat held by retiring Republican member Deborah Pryce. He won the Republican nomination and ran against Democratic Franklin

County Commissioner A county commission (or a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials (county commissioners) collectively charged with administering the County (United States)#County government, county government in some U.S. state, states of ...

Mary Jo Kilroy, who had nearly unseated Pryce in 2006,

Libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

Mark Noble and Independent Don Elijah Eckhart. Stivers lost by 2,311 votes, conceding on December 7, 2008, after a long vote recount.

2010

Stivers won the Republican primary with 82% of the vote. He again faced Democratic incumbent Mary Jo Kilroy along with Constitution Party nominee David Ryon and Libertarian nominee William J. Kammerer. On November 2, 2010, Kilroy conceded to Stivers, who won by a 54% to 42% margin.

2012

Redistricting after the 2010 census made the 15th much friendlier to Stivers. During his first term, he represented a fairly compact district covering all of Union and Madison counties, as well as most of downtown and western Columbus. The new map, however, pushed the 15th into more rural and exurban territory south and west of the capital. Stivers ran again in 2012 against Democratic nominee Pat Lang. He was endorsed by the NRA, National Right to Life, Ohio State Medical Association and

United States Chamber of Commerce The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is a business association advocacy group and is the largest lobbying group in the United States. The group was founded in April 1912 out of local chambers of commerce at the urging of President Will ...

. Stivers was re-elected by 76,397 votes.

2014

Stivers ran in 2014 against Democratic Scott Wharton. Gaining more than 66 percent of the vote, he was reelected for a third term.

2016

Stivers ran in 2016 against Democrat Scott Wharton for the OH-15 seat. Winning 66.2% (222,847) of the vote to Wharton's 33.8% (113,960).

Tenure

The Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy ranked Stivers as the 36th and 37th most bipartisan member of the U.S. House during the 114th (2015–17) and 115th Congresses. His resignation triggered a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

in 2021 which was won by fellow republican Mike Carey.

Budget, taxation, and other economic issues

Stivers has voted against raising the debt limit when there was no offset or systemic reform and supports prioritizing spending in the event that the debt limit is reached. Stiver voted in favor of a

Balanced Budget Amendment A balanced budget amendment or debt brake is a constitutional rule requiring that a state cannot spend more than its income. It requires a balance between the projected receipts and expenditures of the government. Balanced-budget provisions ha ...

to the U.S. Constitution.Tracking Congress in the Age of Trump: Steve Stivers
''

FiveThirtyEight ''FiveThirtyEight'', also rendered as ''538'', was an American website that focused on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging in the United States. The website, which took its name from the number of electors in the U ...

''. Stivers voted to offset the costs of disaster relief spending through discretionary budget cuts. Stivers took a pledge to not support any tax raises. He voted in favor of the Trump administration's 2017 tax legislation. Stivers voted in favor of legislation to dismantle

financial regulation Financial regulation is a broad set of policies that apply to the financial sector in most jurisdictions, justified by two main features of finance: systemic risk, which implies that the failure of financial firms involves public interest consi ...

s enacted by the

Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, commonly referred to as Dodd–Frank, is a United States federal law that was enacted on July 21, 2010. The law overhauled financial regulation in the aftermath of the Great Reces ...

. He voted to repeal a rule that would have barred some

financial services Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...

companies from including mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts. He voted to audit the

Federal Reserve System The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of ...

. Stivers voted in favor of a stopgap funding measure to end the January 2018 federal government shutdown, but during the December 2018 to January 2019 partial federal government shutdown, Stivers voted against several pieces of legislation to reopen the federal government without appropriating money for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. In March 2021, all House Republicans including Stivers voted against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, an

economic stimulus In economics, stimulus refers to attempts to use monetary policy or fiscal policy (or stabilization policy in general) to stimulate the economy. Stimulus can also refer to monetary policies such as lowering interest rates and quantitative e ...

bill aimed at speeding up the United States' recovery from the

economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction that occurs when there is a period of broad decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be tr ...

Health care

Stivers voted in favor of the American Health Care Act of 2017, legislation that would have partially repealed the

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...

Energy and environment

Stivers voted against a measure to block President Trump from withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement on

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. Stivers voted against

carbon tax A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions from producing goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the hidden Social cost of carbon, social costs of carbon emissions. They are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emis ...

. He voted in favor of

Congressional Review Act The Congressional Review Act (CRA) is a law that was enacted by the United States Congress as Subtitle E of the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996 () and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on March 29, 1996. The law empowers Co ...

legislation that repealed the Stream Protection Rule, and voted in favor of a measure to delay implementation of the

ozone Ozone () (or trioxygen) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic molecule with the chemical formula . It is a pale blue gas with a distinctively pungent smell. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope , break ...

National Ambient Air Quality Standards The U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS, pronounced ) are limits on atmospheric concentration of six pollutants that cause smog, acid rain, and other health hazards. Established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency ...

(NAAQS) program. He opposes federal regulations on efficiency standards.

Gun control

Stivers voted against legislation to require universal background checks for firearm purchases. He voted in favor of making concealed-carry permits issued in one state valid in other states. He voted against a measure to grant law enforcement agencies additional time to conduct firearm-purchase background checks.

Foreign policy

In 2019, Stivers voted against legislation to halt U.S. military assistance to the

Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen On 26 March 2015, Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa, launched a military intervention in Yemen at the request of Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who had been ousted from the capital, Sa ...

. He voted in favor of 2017 legislation to impose additional sanctions against Russia, Iran, and North Korea, which passed on a 419–3 vote.

Immigration and travel

Stivers opposed President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's issuance of

Executive Order 13769 Executive Order 13769, titled Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, labeled the "Muslim ban" by Donald Trump and his supporters and critics alike, and commonly known as such, or commonly referred to as the ...

, which imposed a temporary ban on entry to the U.S. to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, in 2017. Stivers stated: "I believe the executive order risks violating our nation's values and fails to differentiate mainstream Islamic partners from radical Islamic terrorists — setting back our fight against radical Islam. I urge the Administration to quickly replace this temporary order with permanent improvements in the visa vetting process." In 2019, Stivers voted against overriding Trump's veto of a bill to overturn Trump's declaration of an emergency to direct funding for the construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Privacy and technology

Stivers voted to rescind a

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

regulation that barred

Internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, no ...

s from sharing data on the Web activities of their customers. Stivers voted in favor of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008, including a provision reauthorizing a warrantless spying program. Strivers voted against a measure that would have curtailed the power of officials to "search and read private messages collected incidentally" under

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA, , ) is a Law of the United States, United States federal law that establishes procedures for the surveillance and collection of foreign intelligence on domestic soil. Stivers voted against the restoration of the net neutrality rule.

Social issues

Stivers voted in favor of federal legislation to ban abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy. He voted against repealing a rule that barred state and local governments from refusing to distribute federal funds to any Federally Qualified Health Center on the basis that that health center also performed abortions. Stivers voted against a measure to oppose the Trump administration's ban on openly transgender Americans serving in the U.S. military. ; Social Security In 2018, Stivers called for some form of bipartisan Social Security reform.

National Republican Congressional Committee

Stivers beat Representative

Roger Williams Roger Williams (March 1683) was an English-born New England minister, theologian, author, and founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Pl ...

to be elected to chair the

in November 2016. As the leader of the NRCC, which is charged with helping elect Republican House candidates, Stivers said his goal was to "defy history" by protecting his party's House majority in the 2018 elections. In June 2018, Stivers did not denounce the use of hacked materials in election campaigns, saying that as chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee he wouldn't "run down one of my candidates for using something that's in the public domain." In a later interview in September 2018, Stivers made it clear he did not condone the use of hacked material, telling the press, "We are not seeking stolen or hacked material, we do not want to be stolen or hacked material, we have no intention of using stolen or hacked material." In the aftermath of the 2018 election, in which Republicans lost their House majority, Stivers announced that he would not run for re-election as NRCC chair.

Candidate conduct

In response to congressional candidate

Greg Gianforte Gregory Richard Gianforte ( ; born April 17, 1961) is an American politician, businessman, and software engineer serving as the 25th governor of Montana since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Gianforte served as the U.S. representativ ...

being charged with

assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or consent, unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may ...

on the eve of Montana's

, Stivers characterized the assault as "out of character." He said, "we all make mistakes" and "need to let the facts surrounding this incident unfold." The assault was witnessed by four

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

reporters and the victim's account corroborated by their audio recording. In July 2018, Stivers and the NRCC withdrew support from New Jersey candidate Seth Grossman following reports he shared a post from a white supremacist. Additionally, days before the midterm elections, Stivers sent a tweet condemning white nationalist comments and actions from Congressman Steve King, saying "We must stand up against white supremacy and hate in all forms can and I strongly condemn this behavior."

Committee assignments

* Committee on Financial Services ** Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets ** Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy (Ranking member)

Caucus memberships

* Republican Study Committee * Republican Main Street Partnership * Congressional Arts Caucus * Congressional Civility and Respect Caucus * Republican Governance Group

Electoral history

Lawmaker ratings
at '' The Hill'' , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Stivers, Steve 1965 births Living people United States Army personnel of the Iraq War Recipients of the Meritorious Service Medal (United States) American stockbrokers Military personnel from Ohio National Guard (United States) generals Ohio National Guard personnel Republican Party Ohio state senators 21st-century members of the Ohio General Assembly Ohio State University Fisher College of Business alumni People from Ripley, Ohio People from Upper Arlington, Ohio Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio 21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives Delta Upsilon members