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Lance was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, into a political family. His parents were Anne M. (née Anderson) and Wesley Leonard Lance, who was a State Senator.[2][3] His great-uncle, H. Kiefer Lance, was also active in New Jersey politics.
Lance served as the law clerk to the Warren County Court in 1977 and 1978. He was assistant counsel for county and municipal matters to Governor of New JerseyThomas Kean from 1983 to 1990. He was a member of the New Jersey Council on the Humanities during the Whitman Administration by appointment of the Governor.
In 1987, he first ran for the General Assembly. He lost the Republican primary, ranking third with 17% in New Jersey's 23rd District.[5] Lance was appointed to the New Jersey General Assembly in February 1991 when then-Assemblyman William E. Schluter was appointed to the New Jersey Senate upon the ascension of Dick Zimmer from the New Jersey Senate to the United States House of Representatives in January 1991. After redistricting, Lance ran for the newly redrawn 23rd District in 1991, and won the Republican primary. In the general election, he ranked second with 30%, winning a seat. Incumbent Republican State Assemblyman Chuck Haytaian ranked first in the district with 33%.[6] In 1993, Lance won re-election to a second term with 40%.[7] In 1995, he won re-election to a third term with 34%.[8] In 1997, he won re-election to a fourth term with 30%.[9] In 1999, he won re-election to a fifth term with 36%.[10]
After redistricting, he ran for the New Jersey Senate in 2001 in the 23rd District. He defeated Democrat Frederick P. Cook 69%–31%.[11] In 2003, he won re-election to a second term with 68%.[12] In 2007, he won re-election to a third term with 67%.[13]
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
1996
In 1996, Lance sought the Republican nomination to replace Rep. Dick Zimmer, who was retiring from the House of Representatives to run for the United States Senate. Lance ran to represent New Jersey's 12th congressional district, which at that time included his residence in Clinton Township. Lance finished third in the primary behind Franklin Township Mayor Michael Pappas and New Jersey Senator John O. Bennett III. Pappas went on to win the general election.[14]
In 2008, Lance ran for Congress in the 7th congressional district, which now included his residence in Clinton Township. Republican Rep. Mike Ferguson was retiring after four terms in Congress. In the Republican primary, Lance faced seven candidates including former Summit Council President Kelly Hatfield, Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks, and Kate Whitman, daughter of former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman.[15] On June 3, 2008, Lance won the Republican primary with 40% of the vote.[16]
In the general election, Lance faced New Jersey Assemblywoman Linda Stender of Scotch Plains, as well as three independent and third-party candidates. Stender had been the Democratic nominee against Ferguson in 2006 and narrowly lost.[17]The Cook Political Report rated the race as a "toss up."[18] Lance was endorsed by The New York Times.[19] On November 4, Lance defeated Stender by 51% to 41%. Along with Erik Paulsen of Minnesota and Joseph Cao of Louisiana, Lance was one of three non-incumbent Republicans to be elected in a district won by President Barack Obama.[20]
In the 2008 presidential primaries, Lance supported Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. He later endorsed nominee John McCain.[21]
In 2010, Lance was challenged in the Republican primary by businessman David Larsen of Oldwick, IT consultant Alonzo Hosford of Milford, and real estate appraiser Bruce Baker of Westfield. Lance won the primary with 56% of the vote, ahead of Larsen with 31%, Hosford with 8% and Baker with 5%.[22][23] Unlike the 2008 election, the 2010 7th district general election race was not considered competitive.[24] Lance defeated educator Ed Potosnak 59% to 41%.[25]
Redistricting made Lance's district significantly more Republican than its predecessor.[26][27] The 7th was pushed to the north, losing its share of Democratic-leaning Middlesex County in exchange for more conservative territory in Morris and Warren Counties. It also absorbed all of Hunterdon County and regained Millburn in Essex County, which had been in the district prior to 2003.[28] In the Republican congressional primary, Lance was challenged for a second time by David Larsen. Lance defeated Larsen 61% to 39%.[29] In the general election, Lance defeated New Jersey Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula 57% to 40%.[30]
In the Republican presidential primaries, Lance endorsed Mitt Romney.[31]
Lance was challenged for a third time for the Republican nomination by David Larsen. Lance defeated Larsen 54% to 46%.[32] In the general election, Lance defeated Town of Clinton Mayor Janice Kovachs 59% to 39%.[33]
In the 2016 Republican congressional primary, Lance was challenged by David Larsen for a fourth time. Businessman Craig Heard of Roxbury also ran in the primary. Lance won the primary with 54% of the vote, ahead of Larsen with 33% and Heard with 13%.[34][35] In the general election, Lance faced social worker Peter Jacob. Jacob was one of 27 congressional candidates endorsed by presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.[36][37] Lance defeated Jacob 54% to 43%.[38]
Lance was sworn in as a Member of Congress on January 6, 2009, and was appointed to the House Financial Services Committee, where he worked on a wide range of issues relating to the financial services sector and the American economy. In 2011 Congressman Leonard Lance left the House Financial Services Committee and had been appointed to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.[39]
Lance voted in line with Donald Trump's position 86.5% of the time, about 19 percentage points higher than expected when compared to his district's votes in the Trump's 2016 margin.[45] Lance described himself as a "moderate conservative."[46] He was a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.[47] He was one of 23 Republicans to hold House districts that were won by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.[46] In 2017, his voting record was more liberal and less conservative than his lifetime record in Congress, causing Lance's ratings from conservative interest groups to dip while his ratings from liberal interest groups improved.[46]
In the 115th Congress (2017-2019), Lance voted with his party in 75.4% of the time, voted against his party 8.5% of the time, and missed 2.2% of votes.[49] He had a similar record in the preceding 114th Congress (2015-2017).[50]
As measured by the Lugar Center/McCourt School of Public Policy Bipartisan Index (which measures the frequency with which a member of Congress co-sponsors a bill introduced by a member of the opposite party, and the frequency with which bills introduced by the member are co-sponsored by members from the opposite party), Lance was the eighth-most bipartisan House member in the 115th Congress (2017-2019).[51]
Lance criticized Trump's 2017 executive order that curtailed the immigration of people from seven countries in the Middle East, calling it "rushed and poorly implemented."[57] Lance was supportive of Trump's nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court[58] and his Mexico City Policy.[59]
Lance supported TransCanada'sKeystone XL Pipeline, voting for the 2014 bill to authorize its construction.[62] However, Lance opposed the PennEast Pipeline, which would cross New Jersey, citing its impact on property owners, public lands, and preservation efforts.[63][64][65][66]
In 2014, Lance's chief of staff, Todd Mitchell, said that Lance accepted that "climate change is occurring and human activity is a contributing factor" but asserted that it was "uncertain how much of the warming is attributable to humans and how much is attributable to other factors."[73] In 2015, Lance voted to repeal the Clean Power Plan rules published by the EPA that would have established the first national carbon dioxide emission guidelines for existing power plants.[74][75][76] At a town hall in April 2017, he embraced the need to address man-made climate change.[77]
In 2008, after a group opposing his candidacy sent out a mailer criticizing Lance's environmental record, Jeff Tittel of the New Jersey Sierra Club defended Lance, saying he had "an excellent record."[78] In 2009, Lance was one of only eight Republicans in the House who voted in favor of the American Clean Energy and Security Act, a bill that included am emissions cap-and-trade provision to address global warming.[79][73] However, Tittel has since soured on Lance, suggesting in a 2018 op-ed in the New Jersey Star-Ledger that Lance "used to vote for the environment and now does not."[80]
Foreign policy
Lance was one of nine lawmakers investigated by the House Ethics Committee for taking a trip in May 2013 to Turkey and Azerbaijan paid for by the Azerbaijan state-owned oil company.[81] Lance said that he believed the Council of Turkic American Associations, a U.S.-based nonprofit, had funded the trip, which had originally been approved by the Ethics Committee based on that understanding, and said, "I'm furious if I was misled and the House Ethics Committee was misled."[81] Lance and the other House representatives were cleared of wrongdoing by the committee.[82]
According to a 2016 analysis by political nonprofit Vote Smart, Lance generally opposed gun control legislation.[87] In 2013, Lance was criticized by the father of a Virginia Tech shooting victim who wanted Lance to be more supportive of gun control measures.[88] In 2016, Lance disagreed with members of Congress who staged a sit-in to force a vote on gun control.[89]
In December 2017, Lance opposed the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, which would require states to honor concealed weapons permits for people who got them in other states. Lance was one of 24 co-sponsors on legislation that would ban bump stocks.[91]
In February 2018, Lance, along with 18 other Republican members of the U.S. House, urged House Speaker Paul Ryan to schedule a vote on legislation, introduced by U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R) and Chris Murphy (D), that would improve the national background check system for gun purchases, a measure to prevent gun violence.[92][93] That same month, he called for a lifting of the 1996 federal ban of research into gun violence by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and co-sponsored legislation which would lift the ban.[94][95]
Health care
Lance has been a critic of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) since its inception, voting against it in 2009 and voting to repeal it on multiple occasions. Lance voted to send the American Health Care Act of 2017, the Republican Party's replacement plan for Obamacare, out of committee.[96] He ultimately opposed the legislation on the House floor, becoming the first House Republican in New Jersey to oppose the legislation, and one of 20 who voted against the final bill.[97]
Lance is the Republican chairman of the Rare Disease Caucus, a group whose goal is to get Members of Congress to support passing bills that help people who have rare diseases.[98][99] In 2013, Lance re-introduced the Modernizing Our Drug and Diagnostic Evaluation and Regulatory Network Cures (MODDERN) Act, a bipartisan bill intended to encourage new innovative treatments for a variety of diseases and ailments.[98] The MODDERN Drug Act proposes to reevaluate and reintroduce drugs that were once in the development phase, back into production and testing. This bill would benefit patients with a variety of ailments including but not limited to: degenerative conditions, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.[98]
In 2014, Lance introduced the Excellence in Mental Health Act, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama later that same year. The legislation expanded access to mental health services by providing additional federal funding for community mental health centers. In 2016, Lance sponsored the Expand Excellence in Mental Health Act, which would expand the legislation's mental health planning grants into an additional 24 states.[100][101]
Immigration
Lance opposes amnesty and supports requiring employers to use the e-verify background check system.[102]
In June 2018, Lance became the lead Republican sponsor of the Reunite Children with their Parents Act, which was introduced by Democrat Brendan Boyle. The legislation seeks to "force President Donald Trump's administration to reunify the families split apart under his immigration policy." It would require the secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security and the United States Attorney General to reunite asylum-seeking children who were taken from their parents when crossing the U.S. border.[103]
Internet regulation
Lance was one of the 107 members of Congress who signed a letter of support towards the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) efforts to repeal net neutrality. Lance has received $290,550 in campaign contributions from ISP companies since 1989.[104]
In March 2017, Lance voted to reverse an FCC privacy rule that prevented internet service providers from selling their customers' browsing data.[105][45] Explaining his vote, Lance said that the regulation created a "false sense of privacy" by treating internet service providers differently.[106][107]
In 2009, he co-sponsored Barney Frank's Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a bill that would have prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity by employers, employment agencies, labor organizations, or joint labor-management committees.[111] He was also one of only 18 Republicans to vote for the Hate Crimes Prevention Act.[112]
Marijuana
Lance has a "D" rating from NORML regarding his voting record on cannabis-related matters.[113]
Personal life
Lance married his wife, Heidi A. Rohrbach, previously a VP at JPMorgan Chase and currently serving as Hunterdon County Surrogate, in August 1996.[114][115] They have a son named Peter Frank.
^Ellefson, Lindsey. "GOP congressman won't support Roy Moore", CNN, November 22, 2017. Accessed January 1, 2018. "Republican representative Leonard Lance during a Wednesday morning appearance on CNN's New Day supported the women who have come forward with allegations against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.... 'I believe the women and I do not think he should be elected to the United States Senate,' Lance told anchor Chris Cuomo.... He said he hoped 'the people of Alabama might write in a Republican,' which is what Shelby has stated he plans to do."
^ abJonathan D. Salant, June 22, 2015, NJ.com, House ethics panel continues probe of Lance trip, Retrieved January 26, 2017, "...questions arose about whether the trips complied with the requirements for such travel...."
^Jonathan D. Salant, August 1, 2015, NJ.com, N.J. Rep. Lance cleared in House ethics probe, Retrieved January 26, 2017, "... Because the House travelers acted in good faith, and the evidence was inconclusive as to the true source of funds for the travel, the committee concluded that the trips did not constitute an impermissible gift of travel, ..."
^NJ.com, January 2013, Suburban News, Father of school shooting victim demands action on guns from Rep. Lance, Retrieved January 15, 2017, "...father whose son was killed in the shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007 directed some tough talk to lawmakers today, especially Congressman Leonard Lance..."
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