John Garamendi
U.S. Representative from CA, District 8
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Biography
John Garamendi is a California Democratic congressman and senior Armed Services member representing the 8th District, former lieutenant governor.
John Raymond Garamendi represents California's 8th Congressional District, a district extending from the Sacramento area west to Solano County, as a Democrat first elected in a 2009 special election and now serving his ninth term in the 119th Congress. A Camp Blanding, Florida, native who grew up on a California cattle ranch, Garamendi earned degrees from UC Berkeley and Harvard Business School, served in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia with his wife, and held multiple state and federal offices before entering Congress. He served in the California State Assembly and State Senate, as the first elected insurance commissioner of California, as deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior under President Clinton, and as lieutenant governor of California. In the 119th Congress, Garamendi serves on the House Committee on Armed Services as a senior member and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Readiness, and on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. His legislative priorities include advocating for Travis Air Force Base and shipbuilding at Mare Island, water and levee management in the Delta, maritime policy, and veterans' issues affecting his district.