Bob Stump - Member of Congress

Member of Congress

He was first elected to the 95th Congress on November 2, 1976, originally as a Democrat from the 3rd Congressional District. Despite his Democratic affiliation, he considered himself a "Pinto", or rural, Democrat and his voting record was very conservative. He voted for Ronald Reagan'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. He briefly considered running for the Senate in 1986 after Barry Goldwater 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. office, and to open his own mail. Stump usually returned home to work his farm in Tolleson on weekends.

In his 26 years in the House he became a noted member of the House Armed Services Committee, 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 to non-citizen parents would not 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. He received very low scores from the National Council of Senior Citizens, the American Civil Liberties Union, the AFL-CIO, the NAACP, and the League of Conservation Voters.

Although his district included the entire northwestern portion of Arizona, the vast majority of its residence 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. Indeed, many of his constituents rarely saw him. He maintained his district office in downtown Phoenix, outside his own district, for many years.