Ted Yoho

Early life, education, and veterinarian career

Yoho was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 13, 1955. At the age of 11 he moved to Florida with his family, where he attended school with his future wife, Carolyn, in the 4th grade. Yoho earned his AA degree at Broward Community College. He earned a bachelor's degree in Animal Science at the University of Florida in 1983 and attended the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Florida Veterinary Medical Association, Florida Association of Equine Practitioners, Florida Cattlemen’s Association, and the National Rifle Association.

2012 election

Yoho ran for the newly-redrawn Florida's 3rd congressional district. In the Republican primary he defeated longtime incumbent U.S. Congressman Cliff Stearns (who was first elected in 1988), State Senator Steve Oelrich, and Clay County Clerk of Court James Jett 34%–33%–19%–14%. Yoho defeated Stearns by 829 votes, or a 1.1 percentage point margin. Yoho won 11 of the district’s 13 counties. Stearns only carried Marion, his home county, and Clay County. Stearns had endorsements from U.S. Representatives Paul Ryan, Michele Bachmann, and Allen West.

Yoho won the November general election, 65% to 32%, against Democratic candidate J.R. Gaillot.

Tenure

Yoho took office on January 3, 2013. He is a member of the Tea Party Caucus and the House Liberty Caucus. He supports reduction in taxes: replacing the current tax code with the Fair Tax, reducing corporate tax rates, and eliminating federal programs that cannot be balanced with revenues. According to the CBO, there would still be a deficit even if all discretionary spending (all Federal programs except pensions, Medicare and Social Security) were stopped. Yoho is for reducing spending and reducing taxes, though has not yet introduced a plan that will lead to a balanced budget.

Yoho also is opposed to raising the debt ceiling unless significant spending cuts are made; he is also opposed to earmarks in legislation. His district is one of the lowest-taxed in Florida, located primarily within Suwannee River Management District (lower proportion of property taxes), per capita retail sales in the district are significantly lower than the state average, and it has the fewest number of non-farm related businesses of Florida's congressional districts. Yoho has not made any indication on his level support of the farm bill.

In 2014, Yoho was challenged by conservative Republican Jake Rush for his seat. Rush painted Yoho as a "liberal" and appealed to voters' conservatism to try and win the Republican nomination.

In 2015, Yoho mounted a campaign to challenge John Boehner for the Speakership of the US House of Representatives in an attempt to get the conference to the second ballot. The block of dissenting members were 4 votes shy of achieving their goal. Of the 435 congressmen and congresswomen eligible to vote, Yoho received only two votes.

Yoho and his Democratic colleague John Conyers offered bipartisan amendments to block the U.S. military training of Ukraine's Azov Battalion of the Ukrainian National Guard. Some members of the battalion are openly white supremacists.

In 2013 he became widely known for his position on breaching the debt ceiling and defaulting on the national debt, which he claimed "would bring stability to the world markets." This position was widely panned by Democrats and some Republicans such as fellow Republican Reid Ribble who called the position, "crazy talk".

Legislation

During his first term of office, Yoho sponsored a total of eighteen bills. One of the bills introduced during his first term, the Preventing Executive Overreach on Immigration Act of 2014, was passed by the House, but never voted on by the Senate.

Yoho coauthored the Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act of 2014 (H.R. 1528; 113th Congress), a bill that would amend the Controlled Substances Act to clarify that veterinarians are not required to have separate registrations to dispense controlled substances outside of their principal place of business, such as when treating animals on a farm.

Yoho is a cosponsor of the Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015 (H.R. 3134). It has not moved since passing the House on September 18, 2015.

On June 9, 2016, Yoho voted "Nay," on the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA, H.R. 5278) to restructure Puerto Rican debt. The Republican-authored bill passed the House with bilateral support from both major parties.

Committee assignments

Personal life

Yoho and his wife, Carolyn, have three children: Katie, Lauren, and Tyler. Katie is a member of the United States Coast Guard.