Gosar is the representative for Arizona’s 4th congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 3, 2013. Gosar is next up for reelection in 2020.
He was previously the representative for Arizona’s 1st congressional district as a Republican from 2011 to 2012.
Alleged misconduct & resolution
In February 2018, a resolution to reprimand Rep. Gosar for attempting to pressure Capitol Police via Twitter to arrest State of the Union 2018 guests he described as "illegal aliens" was tabled (i.e. failed) on party lines, 231-187. Several Democratic representatives brought undocumented immigrants who are currently part of the DACA program to the speech.
| Jan. 30, 2018 | Asked Capitol Police to arrest DACA recipients attending the 2018 State of the Union address. |
| Feb. 6, 2018 | House of Representatives tabled resolution of reprimand, 231-187 |
![Photo of Rep. Paul Gosar [R-AZ4]](/static/legislator-photos/412397-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2018 Report Card for Gosar.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Gosar is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Gosar has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Oct 18, 2019. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Paul Gosar sits on the following committees:
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House Committee on Natural Resources
- Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
- Member, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
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House Committee on Oversight and Reform
- Member, Subcommittee on Environment
- Member, Subcommittee on National Security
Enacted Legislation
Gosar was the primary sponsor of 10 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 1268: Bureau of Reclamation Transparency Act
- H.R. 755: Black Mountain Range and Bullhead City Land Exchange Act of 2019
- H.R. 756: Embry-Riddle Tri-City Land Exchange Completion Act of 2019
- H.R. 274: Cottonwood Land Exchange Act of 2019
- H.R. 304: La Paz County Land Conveyance Act of 2019
- H.R. 6304 (114th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 501 North Main Street in Florence, Arizona, as the “Adolfo ‘Harpo’ Celaya Post Office”.
- H.R. 3027 (113th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 442 Miller Valley Road in Prescott, Arizona, as the “Barry M. Goldwater Post Office”.
Does 10 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
Gosar sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Public Lands and Natural Resources (33%) Immigration (16%) Government Operations and Politics (15%) Health (8%) Environmental Protection (8%) Water Resources Development (7%) Crime and Law Enforcement (7%) Energy (7%)
Recent Bills
Some of Gosar’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 4445: District of Columbia Home Rule Improvement Act
- H.R. 4444: Western Area Power Administration Transparency Act
- H.R. 4027: Stop the Censorship Act
- H.R. 4028: RPPA Commercial Recreation Concessions Pilot Program Act of 2019
- H.R. 3794: Public Land Renewable Energy Development Act of 2019
- H.R. 3564: Fairness for High-Skilled Americans Act of 2019
- H.R. 3565: Veterans Health Savings Account Act
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2011 to Oct 2019, Gosar missed 363 of 5,915 roll call votes, which is 6.1%. This is much worse than the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.
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
