U.S. House of Representatives
Elections Carter retired from the bench in 2001 to run for Congress in the newly created 31st District. After finishing second in the Republican primary, he defeated Peter Wareing in the runoff, which was
tantamount to election in what was then a heavily Republican district. For his first term, 2003–05, Carter represented a district that stretched from the suburbs of Austin to far western Houston, and included
College Station, home of
Texas A&M University. From the
2003 Texas redistricting until 2013, Carter represented a district stretching from the fringes of the
Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex through more rural portions of Central Texas. Redistricting after the 2010 census, which first affected the 2013–15 term, reduced the 31st to
Bell and
Williamson counties. The 31st now includes
Fort Hood, home of the U.S. Army's
3rd Cavalry Regiment and the
1st Cavalry Division. In 2016, Carter was reelected with 166,060 votes (58.4%) over
Democratic nominee Mike Clark and
Libertarian Scott Ballard, who received 103,852 (34.5%) and 14,676 (5.2%), respectively. In 2018, Carter defeated Democratic nominee
MJ Hegar with 144,680 votes (50.6%) to her 136,362 (47.7%). It was the smallest victory margin of his career.
Tenure Carter was the sponsor of the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act, which
George W. Bush signed into law in 2004. In the 110th Congress, Carter sponsored and co-sponsored a number of bills, including the
Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, the Terrorist Death Penalty Act of 2008, and a bill condemning the vandalism of the Vietnam War Memorial on the National Mall. On June 12, 2009, Carter co-sponsored
H.R. 1503, which would require the production of a birth certificate from presidential candidates. The bill was introduced as a result of
conspiracy theories that claimed that President Barack Obama is not a natural-born U.S. citizen. On September 15, 2009, in an opinion piece published in
The Hill, Carter called the 111th Congress a "house of hypocrisy" after the House of Representatives voted to rebuke Representative
Joe Wilson for an outburst but would not go after Representative and House Ways and Means chair
Charlie Rangel, who had been the subject of numerous ethical problems involving taxes and property. Carter is also a proponent of the "Rangel Rule," where
IRS penalties and interest would be eliminated if one paid back taxes, similar to the treatment Rangel,
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and former senator (and onetime secretary of health and human services nominee)
Tom Daschle received after their tax problems were publicized. Carter introduced a "Privileged Resolution" that would have forced Rangel's resignation as chair of the
Ways and Means Committee after he declined to resign voluntarily, citing the inaction of the
House Democratic Caucus and the ongoing investigations as reasons. The resolution failed largely along party lines, with two Democrats and six Republicans breaking ranks. Carter amended his financial disclosure forms in October 2009 to list nearly $300,000 in capital gains from the sale of
ExxonMobil stock in 2006 and 2007. Though he listed the sale of the assets, he did not list the actual amount of capital gains, on which he did pay taxes. On November 16, 2009, Carter introduced legislation to give combatant casualty status to the victims of the
2009 Fort Hood shooting, similar to those who were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2015, Carter cosponsored a resolution to
amend the US constitution to ban same-sex marriage. On May 16, 2018, Carter was named the new chair of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Appropriations after
Charlie Dent retired. He had previously chaired the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Appropriations. Carter co-sponsored H.R. 4760, the Securing America's Future Act of 2018, which failed to pass the House. On December 18, 2019, Carter voted against
both articles of impeachment against Trump. Of the 195 Republicans who voted, all voted against both impeachment articles. On January 6, 2021, Carter
voted against certifying the results of the 2020 United States presidential election based on spurious allegations of voter fraud. Carter was among the 71 Republicans who voted against final passage of the
Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 in the House. Carter voted to provide Israel with support following the
October 7 attacks.
2024 Republican primary Carter was named as part of the Trump campaign's Texas leadership team in March.
Committee assignments •
Committee on Appropriations •
Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (Chairman) •
Subcommittee on Defense Party leadership and caucus memberships • House Army Caucus (Co-chair) •
House Republican Conference (Secretary) •
United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus •
Republican Steering Committee • Sportsmen's Caucus •
Tea Party Caucus • Congressional Cement Caucus •
Congressional Western Caucus • I-14 Caucus •
Republican Study Committee == Electoral history ==