David Dreier

David Timothy Dreier OAE (/draɪər/; born July 5, 1952) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from California from 1981 to 2013.

He was one of the youngest members ever elected to the United States Congress.

As well as being the only Californian to hold that position, he is the third-longest-serving chairman of the Rules Committee and the longest-serving chairman since 1967.

He challenged incumbent Democrat James Fredrick Lloyd, who had first won in a Republican-leaning district in 1974.

Though unknown and living in Phillips Hall at Claremont McKenna College, Dreier lost by 54% to 46%, less than expected.

In 1978, Dreier ran for the United States House of Representatives at the age of 25.

In 1980, Dreier ran again and defeated Lloyd 52% to 45%, winning on the coattails of former California Governor Ronald Reagan's presidential election.

Dreier was sworn into office as one of the youngest members of the House of Representatives in U.S. history.

After the 1980 United States census, his district was renumbered to the 33rd.

Dreier defeated Congressman Wayne Grisham 57% to 43% in the Republican primary of 1982.

Dreier became the first person ever to defeat two incumbent members of Congress in back to back elections.

He won the 1982 general election with 65% of the vote.

Along with House colleagues Jim Kolbe and Jerry Lewis, Dreier was the first member of Congress to propose a North American free trade agreement in 1987.

His district was renumbered to the 28th after the 1990 United States census and to the 26th district after the 2000 United States census.

He was instrumental in passing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993.

After leaving Congress, Dreier served on the Foreign Affairs Policy Board under President Barack Obama.

He was instrumental in the creation and passage of what became NAFTA in 1993.

During the signing ceremony for NAFTA, President Bill Clinton recognized Dreier's contribution to the ultimate success of the legislation.

Dreier opposed President Donald Trump's threats to abandon NAFTA, instead advocating for an updated NAFTA, which would include digital trade, among other subjects.

Dreier has been a longstanding supporter of closer ties between the United States and the countries of Latin America and has met frequently with executive and legislative branch leaders throughout the region.

Dreier was the youngest chairman of the House Rules Committee in U.S. history, serving from 1999 to 2007 and from 2011 to 2013.

Beginning with Dreier's chairmanship in 1999, the chairman of the Rules Committee became part of the nine-member elected Republican leadership.

He won re-election every two years after that with at least 57% of the vote until his 2004 re-election.

In 2004, Dreier faced strong criticism for his position on illegal immigration from opponent Cynthia Matthews and several talk radio hosts who felt he was not tough enough on illegal immigrants.

Dreier won with 54% of the vote.

Following the indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on September 28, 2005, House Speaker Dennis Hastert asked Dreier to assume temporarily the position of majority leader, as Dreier had consistently adhered to the views of the Republican leadership on many issues and would have been willing to relinquish the title should DeLay have returned to the position.

However, rank-and-file Republican representatives disapproved of the choice of Dreier allegedly because many conservative members believed that he was "too politically moderate".

According to Dreier spokeswoman Jo Maney, Dreier did not seek the temporary Majority Leader position because he "would have had to give up his chairmanship of the Rules Committee to move to another position, and that's not something that he wanted to do".

The position instead went to then-Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri, though both Dreier and then-Deputy Majority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia shared in some duties.

In 2006, he won reelection in a rematch against Matthews 57% to 38%, despite Republicans losing the majority that year.

When the Democrats gained control of the House in the 2006 midterm elections, Dreier served as ranking member for the 110th and 111th Congresses.

In 2008, Dreier won reelection against Democrat Russ Warner with 53% of the vote.

In 2010, he defeated Warner in a rematch with 54% of the vote.

Dreier ceased all campaign fundraising for more than a year, leading many to believe that he was planning to leave Congress.

After the 2010 United States census, the voter-created California Citizens Redistricting Commission renumbered Dreier's district as the 31st district, and reconfigured it as a Democratic-leaning, majority-Latino district.

With the Republicans regaining control of the House in the 2010 midterm elections, Dreier again assumed the chairmanship during the 112th Congress.

Dreier chose not to run for reelection in 2012 and encouraged his Republican colleague Gary Miller to move into the 31st after Miller's old district was merged with the district of another Republican, Ed Royce.

Dreier is the youngest chairman of the House Rules Committee in U.S. history.

He served as the chairman of the Tribune Publishing Company from 2019 to 2020.

Dreier is also founder and chair of the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation.