Nunes was the representative for California’s 22nd congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 2013 to 2021.
He was previously the representative for California’s 21st congressional district as a Republican from 2003 to 2012.
Our work to hold Congress accountable only matters if elections are decided by counting votes. President Trump, his senior government advisors, and Republican legislators collaborated to have the 2020 presidential election decided instead by incumbent politicians running in the very same election. Their attempts to suppress entire state-certified vote counts without adjudication in the courts and using a disinformation campaign of lies and conspiracy theories was a months-long, multifarious attempted coup.
Nunes was among the Republican legislators who participated in the attempted coup. On January 6, 2021 in the hours after the violent insurrection at the Capitol, Nunes voted to reject the state-certified election results of Arizona and/or Pennsylvania (states narrowly won by Democrats), which could have changed the outcome of the election. These legislators pumped the lies and preposterous legal arguments about the election that motivated the January 6, 2021 violent insurrection at the Capitol. The January 6, 2021 violent insurrection at the Capitol, led on the front lines by militant white supremacy groups, attempted to prevent President-elect Joe Biden from taking office by disrupting Congress’s count of electors.
Alleged misconduct & resolution
In 2018, the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) announced it was investigating Nunes for receiving campaign contributions in excess of limits and from prohibited entities. This and other investigations appear to have been resolved as issues of inadequate accounting with a range of fines paid and revised disclosures. Nunes resigned at the beginning of 2022.
| Mar. 20, 2018 | Federal Elections Commission sent a letter to Nunes' campaign treasurer |
| Oct. 27, 2012 | The FEC appears to have had many interactions with the Nunes campaign for over a decade, which as of late 2021, appear to have been resolved via fines and revised discloures. |
| Jan. 1, 2022 | Nunes resigned. |
![Photo of Rep. Devin Nunes [R-CA22, 2013-2021]](/static/legislator-photos/400297-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Nunes is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2022 positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Nunes sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Dec 27, 2022. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Nunes was the primary sponsor of 7 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 4478 (115th): FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017
- H.R. 4127 (114th): Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016
- H.R. 3043 (113th): Tribal General Welfare Exclusion Act of 2014
- H.R. 4849 (112th): Sequoia and King Canyon National Parks Backcountry Access Act
- H.R. 5825 (110th): Hubbard Act
- H.R. 2383 (109th): To redesignate the facility of the Bureau of Reclamation located at 19550 Kelso Road in Byron, California, as the “C.W. `Bill’ Jones Pumping Plant”.
- H.R. 4015 (109th): Milk Regulatory Equity Act of 2005
Does 7 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Nunes sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Armed Forces and National Security (32%) Health (32%) Taxation (26%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (11%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Nunes recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 4394 (117th): Clean Energy Protection Act
- H.R. 3788 (117th): Protecting American Innovation Act
- H.R. 7555 (116th): To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to add a new …
- H.R. 7556 (116th): To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make a portion …
- H.R. 7181 (116th): Holding China Accountable Act
- H.R. 5817 (116th): Fair and Honest Advance Cost Estimate for Patients Act of 2020
- H.R. 340 (116th): Tulare Youth Recreation and Women’s History Enhancement Act
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2003 to Dec 2021, Nunes missed 342 of 12,714 roll call votes, which is 2.7%. This is on par with the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2021. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
