Bob Gibbs

Robert Brian Gibbs (born June 14, 1954) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for OH's 7th congressional district from 2011 to 2023.

He is a member of the Republican Party.

In April 2022, Gibbs announced he was not seeking reelection.

Gibbs was born on June 14, 1954, in Peru, Indiana.

His family moved to Cleveland in the 1960s, and Gibbs graduated from Bay High School.

In 1974, he graduated from the Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute and moved to Lakeville, Ohio, where he co-founded Hidden Hollow Farms, Ltd. Formerly a producer of swine, Hidden Hollow Farms now produces corn and soybeans.

Gibbs served as president of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, Ohio's largest agriculture organization.

He first joined the Ohio Farm Bureau board of trustees in 1985.

Gibbs also served as a board member of the Farm Bureau Bank, the Ohio Livestock Coalition, the Ohio Cooperative Council, and the Ohio Farm Bureau Alliance.

He was president of the Loudonville Farmers Equity Company in Loudonville, Ohio, where he served on the board for 12 years.

Gibbs has also served as president of the Holmes County extension advisory committee, the Holmes County Farm Bureau, and as a supervisor for the Holmes County Soil & Water Conservation Service.

Gibbs was elected to the Ohio General Assembly in 2002, defeating Democrat Tom Mason of Ashland for a newly drawn district in the Ohio House.

He was reelected in 2004 in a rematch against Mason.

In the 2006 election, Gibbs defeated Democratic nominee James P. Riley, a former township trustee from Sullivan, Ohio, with 60% of the vote.

In 2006 Gibbs was appointed a member of the special task force to study eminent domain and its use and application in Ohio.

The committee spent most of the year studying the issue and issued its final report in August 2006 with recommendations to the General Assembly.

During his last term Gibbs was chairman of the House ways and means committee.

He was also a member of the agriculture & natural resources committee, financial institutions, real estate and securities committee, health care access and affordability committee, and the insurance committee.

On August 16, 2007, he announced his he candidacy for the 22nd district senate seat being vacated by the term-limited incumbent senator, Ron Amstutz.

Gibbs originally expected to face a primary challenge from state representative Jim Carmichael, but Carmichael dropped out of the race on October 21 in order to run for Wayne County commissioner.

In the general election Gibbs defeated Democratic nominee James E. Riley, a job/security representative for the U.A.W. international union, with 59% of the vote.

Gibbs won election to the Ohio Senate in 2008, and began his first term in 2009.

In 2009, Gibbs ran for Ohio Senate to fill the seat vacated by state senator Ron Amstutz due to term limits.

After winning election to Congress in 2010, Gibbs resigned from the Senate after serving half of one term.

Gibbs faced Democratic incumbent Zack Space and Constitution Party nominee Lindsey Sutton in the general election.

He won the Republican primary in an 8-way field.

Following close results and a recount, Gibbs was certified the winner on June 4, a month after the primary.

On November 2, Gibbs defeated Space in the general election by nearly 14%.

Gibbs won 14 of the 16 counties in the district.

After redistricting, Gibbs decided to run in the newly redrawn Ohio's 7th congressional district.

He defeated Democratic nominee Joyce Healy-Abrams in the November general election.

Gibbs was reelected to a third term unopposed.

Gibbs was reelected to a fourth term, defeating Democrat Roy Rich and independent Dan Phillip with 64% of the vote.

Gibbs was reelected to a fifth term, defeating Democrat Ken Harbaugh with 58.7% of the vote.

Gibbs was reelected to a sixth term, defeating Democrat Quentin Potter and Libertarian Brandon Lape with 67.5% of the vote.

On March 4, 2013, Gibbs introduced the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2013 (H.R. 935; 113th Congress), a bill that would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and states authorized to issue a permit under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) from requiring a permit for some discharges of pesticides authorized for use under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

In 2015, Gibbs cosponsored a resolution to amend the US constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

In 2018, Gibbs was supported by the Great America Committee, a political action committee registered by Vice President Mike Pence.

In December 2020, Gibbs was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated incumbent Donald Trump.

The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.