James Comer

James Richardson Comer Jr. (born August 19, 1972) is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky who represents the state's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.

He grew up in Monroe County, Kentucky, graduating from Monroe County High School, Tompkinsville, Kentucky, in 1990.

He received a BS in Agriculture from Western Kentucky University in 1993.

In college he served as president of the Kentucky Future Farmers of America.

After college, he and his family started James Comer, Jr. Farms, a 950 ha farm, and he also co-owns Comer Land & Cattle Co. He served as a director of the South Central Bank for 12 years.

Comer served as president of the Monroe County Chamber of Commerce from 1999 to 2000.

In 2000, Comer was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives at the age of 27 following the retirement of incumbent Billy Polston.

Comer defeated Polston's wife Donnie for the Republican nomination.

In 2011, Comer ran for agriculture commissioner.

The incumbent, Richie Farmer, was term-limited.

In the election, Comer was the only Republican to win election to a statewide executive office, and worked with a team of Democratic officials and under a Democratic governor.

He had the highest percentage of the vote of any candidate on the ballot, and raised $606,766 to his opponent's $204,287.

Comer served as Kentucky's agriculture commissioner from 2012 to 2016 and in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 2000 to 2012.

He took office in January 2012.

One of Comer's first actions in office was to team up with Democratic Auditor Adam Edelen to investigate his Republican predecessor's ethics while in office.

That year Comer, became chair of the Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission, and shortly after taking office, he called the legalization of industrialized hemp his top priority, and was "instrumental in getting the hemp industry up and running", including by founding several pilot programs in an effort to restart Kentucky's industrial hemp industry.

He also filed suit against the DEA, which resulted in the DEA allowing hemp seeds to be delivered to Kentucky farmers for the first new crops.

Between 2014 and 2015, Kentucky's hemp crops grew from 33 to 1,700 acres.

Comer also advocated for national hemp deregulation.

Comer founded the Kentucky Proud Farm to Campus program, and created a mobile science centers program for primary and secondary school students to learn about agricultural sciences.

On August 2, 2014, during the annual Fancy Farm picnic, Comer announced he would seek the Republican nomination for governor of Kentucky in the 2015 election.

His running mate was State Senator Christian McDaniel.

At the conclusion of voting in the May 19 election, Comer was 83 votes behind businessman Matt Bevin.

The Associated Press, calling the race a "virtual tie", did not call it for either candidate.

Comer refused to concede and said he would request a recanvass.

The request was filed with the Kentucky Secretary of State's office on May 20, with Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes ordering the recanvass to begin at 9:00 a.m. on May 28.

After the recanvass, Grimes announced that Bevin remained 83 votes ahead of Comer.

She also said that should Comer want a full recount, it would require a court order from the Franklin Circuit Court.

On May 29, Comer announced he would not request a recount and conceded the nomination to Bevin.

He unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor of Kentucky in the 2015 election.

A year later, he won the Republican nomination for KY's 1st congressional district to succeed Ed Whitfield.

A member of the Republican Party, he has served in the Congress of the United States of America since 2016, during the 114th United States Congress.

He previously served in the Kentucky House of Representatives and also served as the Agriculture Commissioner of Kentucky.

As the chair of the Oversight Committee from 2023, Comer has declined or stopped investigations into former President Donald Trump.

Comer is currently leading an investigation into the Biden family.

Despite his claims of having uncovered "a mountain of evidence," he and his Republican colleagues have failed to produce any concrete proof to support their allegations.

On November 8, 2016, Comer won both a full term to the seat for the next Congress and a special election that allowed him to serve the remainder of Whitfield's term.

Comer is a native of Carthage, Tennessee.

In 2016, Comer entered the Republican primary election for the 1st congressional district of Kentucky against two other competitors.

Before the primary, he was endorsed by the NRA Political Victory Fund and the US Chamber of Commerce.