Congressional Profile: Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO)

Blog Articles · Apr 16, 2012

Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-CO) currently scores a 94% on our Legislative Scorecard and is the ranked the most conservative member of the Colorado delegation.

Rep. Lamborn was born in Leavenworth, Kansas in 1954. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in journalism and received his Juris Doctor in 1986. After graduating, he moved to Colorado Springs, CO, where he has practiced business and real estate law for over 20 years.

In 1994, Rep. Lamborn ran for - and won - a seat in the Colorado House of Representatives was elected Republican House Whip in 1997. In 1998, he successfully ran for the Colorado Senate and was elected Senate President Pro-tem in 1999. During his tenure in the State Senate, Rep. Lamborn sponsored the largest tax cut in Colorado State history, and was named the top tax cutter in the Senate five times by the Colorado Union of Taxpayers, a state conservative activist group. In Colorado, Rep. Lamborn served on the State Military and Veterans Affairs committee, and the Appropriations committee.

In 2006, Rep. Lamborn was elected to represent Colorado's 5th Congressional district after ten-term incumbent Joel Hefley announced he would retire. Rep. Lamborn won the Republican primary, defeating five other candidates including the one supported by Hefley. Two of these other candidates challenged Rep. Lamborn in 2008, but he won the primary with 45% of the vote and held onto his seat during the Tea Party wave in 2010.

Rep. Lamborn led conservative Republicans to try and force the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to stop proposed regulations that would have affected accessibility to small arms ammunition. He is also one of the leading members of the effort to eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and NPR, two organizations that could survive without federal funding.

In 2010, the National Journal named Rep. Lamborn the most conservative Member of the House.

Rep. Lamborn currently sits on the House Armed Services committee, the Veterans' Affairs committee and is the Chairman of the Natural Resources subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. He is also a member of the Republican Study Committee and belongs to the Congressional Constitution Caucus, the Tea Party Caucus, the International Conservation Caucus and the United Kingdom Caucus. He is a co-founder of the House Sovereignty Caucus and is the co-chair of the Republican Israel Caucus.

When not in Washington, Rep. Lamborn can be found exploring the Colorado scenery and spending time with his wife of 36 years, Jeanie and their five children.