U.S. House of Representatives
Elections 2018 After
Jim Bridenstine resigned from the
United States House of Representatives in 2018 to become administrator of
NASA, Hern ran to succeed him in in the 2018 elections. Hern advanced to the runoff, where he defeated
Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris. He then advanced to the general election, where he defeated Democratic nominee Tim Gilpin. Outgoing Governor
Mary Fallin then appointed Hern to serve the rest of Bridenstine's third term. She was able to do so because under Oklahoma law, if a House seat falls vacant in an even-numbered year and the incumbent's term is due to end the following year, the governor can appoint someone to serve the remainder of the term. Accordingly, Hern was sworn into the House on November 13.
2020 Hern defeated Democratic nominee Kojo Asamoa-Caesar and Independent Evelyn L. Rogers in the November 2020 general election. Hern defeated Democratic nominee Adam Martin and Independent Evelyn L. Rogers in the November general election. He won the primary election with 87% of the vote.
Tenure In December 2020, Hern 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 prevailed over incumbent
Donald Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked
standing under
Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state. He also was among 147 congressional Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 election results. In July 2021, Hern voted against the bipartisan ALLIES Act, which would increase by 8,000 the number of
special immigrant visas for Afghan allies of the U.S. military during
its invasion of Afghanistan, while also reducing some application requirements that caused long application backlogs; the bill passed in the House 407–16.
January 2023 Speaker election On the eighth ballot of the 2023 Speaker of the House of Representatives election, Hern received two votes, from Representative
Lauren Boebert and Representative
Josh Brecheen. Hern himself voted for
Kevin McCarthy. He was officially nominated by Boebert on the ninth ballot and received three votes. He was again nominated by Boebert on the tenth ballot, and received seven votes. After the votes, Hern told
The Frontier he was not ruling out a run for the Speakership and he would "think and pray about [it] before deciding."
October 2023 Speaker election On October 4, 2023, Hern announced his campaign for
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives after McCarthy was removed by a
motion to vacate. He suspended his campaign on October 7, saying a three-way speaker race was not in the interest of the party. On October 11, he announced that he would seek the
House Majority Leader post vacated by
Steve Scalise; the same day he voted for Scalise to be Speaker of the House during the Republican house caucus vote. During his candidacy, Hern received news coverage for serving
McDonald's breakfast sandwiches to the Republican conference. After Scalise dropped out of the race, Hern then supported Jim Jordan for the nomination during the first three votes. On October 20, after Jim Jordan failed to be elected Speaker, Hern announced his reinstated candidature. He lost the conference vote on October 24 to
Tom Emmer after being eliminated in the third round of a four round vote. The same day he suspended his campaign and endorsed
Mike Johnson in the race.
April 2025 Trip to El Salvador In April 2025, Hern traveled to El Salvador and received a tour of
Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), a maximum security prison used by the
Trump administration to hold U.S. immigrants forcibly removed from the United States, including immigrants like
Kilmar Abrego Garcia who were illegally abducted and transported to the prison. After visiting the CECOT prison camp, Hern did not call for the repatriation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Committee assignments For the
119th Congress: •
Committee on Ways and Means •
Subcommittee on Health •
Subcommittee on Tax Caucus memberships •
Republican Study Committee • Chairman (118th Congress) •
Congressional Taiwan Caucus ==2026 U.S. Senate election==