Raúl Labrador

Early life, education, and career

Born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Labrador relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada, as a child and graduated from Las Vegas High School in 1985. He attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and spent two years as a Mormon missionary in Chile, from 1987 to 1989. Labrador returned to BYU and received a B.A. in 1992, in Spanish with an emphasis in Latin American literature. He was admitted to the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle and received his J.D. in 1995.

Married in 1991, Labrador relocated to his wife's home state of Idaho and practiced law and immigration law in private practice from 1995 until his election to the Idaho House of Representatives in 2006.

Idaho House of Representatives

When then-Representative Stan Bastian sought the District 14 Senate seat, Labrador ran for and won the Republican nomination for House Seat B and the general election. He was reelected in 2008.

Committee assignments

Labrador served on the Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee in 2007, the Judiciary, Rules, and Administration Committee from 2007-2010, the State Affairs Committee from 2007-2010, and the Transpiration and Defense Committee from 2009-2010.

Tenure

Days after the election he sharply criticized the losing presidential candidate Mitt Romney's comments about Hispanics.

Labrador was a member of the "Group of Eight," a bipartisan group of House members working on immigration reform legislation, but on June 5, 2013, he left the negotiations because he wanted language in the bill requiring that undocumented immigrants be responsible for their own health care costs. Labrador said he would use his position on the House Judiciary Committee to pass immigration reform legislation.

On June 18, 2013, he joined a majority of his Judiciary Committee colleagues in voting for the "SAFE Act" to bolster interior enforcement of immigration laws. On June 19, 2013, he joined a majority of his Judiciary Committee colleagues in voting for the "AG Act" to improve the temporary agricultural guest worker program.

On the July 6, 2014 episode of Meet the Press Labrador stated that what the Obama administration needed to do was "immediately deport" young undocumented immigrants. The comment came as part of a discussion about the estimated 52,000 unaccompanied minors from Central America who had tried to cross the border since October, 2013.

Labrador supports the repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act because he believes it will raise costs and kill jobs. He believes the best way to give Americans more affordable health insurance is with market-based policies that will decrease healthcare costs.

In October 2011, Labrador introduced the American Education Act, intended to address the lack of students entering high-tech fields such as engineering and medical technology by providing incentives to do so. The bill would also allow foreign students in these fields who had job offers from American companies to acquire residency. While in the Idaho State House of Representatives, Labrador voted for several bills to fund online education within the state of Idaho.

Labrador believes alternative energy sources should be explored, including nuclear, hydroelectric, carbon neutral biomass, wind, solar and geothermal, but opposes government subsidies for the development of these resources, saying they will develop on their own. He has made clear that he thinks the government needs to decrease regulation of geothermal energy, claiming Idaho's development of it is being impeded by governmental regulation, and has sponsored legislation to relax the regulations.

In July 2012 Labrador supported extending the budget for an extra six months in order to "prevent a crisis."

In 2010 Labrador signed a pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any Global Warming legislation that would raise taxes.

Labrador voted for the farm bill on January 29, 2014.

In June, 2015, Labrador introduced HR 2802, titled the "First Amendment Defense Act" (FADA) which was said to protect those who oppose same-sex marriage based on their religious beliefs from action by the federal government. Critics, like Ian Thompson of the American Civil Liberties Union claimed that the bill would "open the door to unprecedented taxpayer-funded discrimination against LGBT people, single mothers, and unmarried couples.".

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Elections

In 2010, Labrador defeated Vaughn Ward in the Republican primary 48%–39% on May 10, in what was widely considered a major upset. In the general election, Labrador defeated first-term Democratic incumbent Walt Minnick 51%–41%.

Labrador was challenged in the Republican primary by Reed McCandless, but defeated him 81%–19%. In the general election, Labrador won reelection to a second term, defeating former NFL wide receiver Jimmy Farris, 63%–31%.

On August 14, 2013, Labrador decided not to challenge incumbent Idaho Governor Butch Otter in the Republican primary, instead running for reelection to Congress for a third term.

On August 19, 2013, Democratic State Representative Shirley Ringo decided to challenge Labrador instead of running for an eighth term in the Idaho state legislature.

In early June 2014 House majority leader Eric Cantor of Virginia lost the Republican primary for his Congressional seat, and announced he would step down from his leadership role July 31, 2014. Labrador announced on June 13 that he would challenge House Majority Whip, Representative Kevin McCarthy for the leadership position. In a vote held June 19, 2014 the House selected McCarthy.

Personal life

Labrador lives in Eagle, Idaho, with his wife, Rebecca, and their five children. He is the first member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to represent Idaho's 1st district.