Summary

Current: US Senator since 2011
Affiliation: Republican
 Leadership: Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining (Committee on Energy and Natural Resources) and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights – (Committee on the Judiciary)

History: Mike Lee is the sone of Rex E. Lee, who was solicitor general under President Ronald Reagan. Lee’s older brother Thomas Rex Lee is a former justice of the Utah Supreme Court.

Lee began his career as a clerk for the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah before clerking for Samuel Alito, who was then a judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.  Lee then entered private practice at the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm Sidley Austin, specializing in appellate and Supreme Court litigation.

From 2002 to 2005, Lee was an assistant United States attorney for the District of Utah. He joined the administration of Utah governor Jon M. Huntsman Jr., serving as the general counsel in the governor’s office from 2005 to 2006. Lee again clerked for Alito after he was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Quotes:  The mission of my office is to drive the message of constitutionally limited government, while being accessible, responsive, and connected to the citizens of Utah. I will work to restore the federal government to its constitutionally limited scope by supporting a balanced budget amendment, term limits, earmark reform, entitlement reform, peace through military strength, and measures designed to promote energy independence.

Featured Video:Mike Lee To Biden Nominee: Your Comments Are ‘An Insult’ To The Civil Rights Movement

OnAir Post: Mike Lee – UT

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About

Mike Lee 2Elected in 2010 as Utah’s 16th Senator, Mike Lee has spent his career defending the fundamental liberties of all Americans and advocating for America’s founding constitutional principles.

Senator Lee acquired a deep respect for the Constitution early in life while watching his father, Rex E. Lee, serve as the Solicitor General under President Ronald Reagan. He attended most of his father’s arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, giving him a unique and up-close understanding of government.

Lee graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Political Science, and served as BYU’s Student Body President in his senior year. He graduated from BYU’s Law School in 1997 and went on to serve as law clerk to Judge Dee Benson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, and then with future Supreme Court Justice Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Lee spent several years as an attorney with the law firm Sidley & Austin specializing in appellate and Supreme Court litigation, and then served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Salt Lake City arguing cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Lee served the state of Utah as Governor Jon Huntsman’s General Counsel and was later honored to reunite with Justice Alito, now on the Supreme Court, for a one-year clerkship. He returned to private practice in 2007.

Throughout his career, Lee earned a reputation as an outstanding practitioner of the law based on his sound judgment, abilities in the courtroom, and thorough understanding of the Constitution.

Lee and his wife Sharon live in Utah County, and have three children, John, James, and Eliza. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served a two-year mission for the Church in the Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Committees
Senator Lee serves as the Ranking Republican on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, and on the Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining.

In addition, Senator Lee continues to lead Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee as the Ranking Member, after spending the last two Congresses as Vice Chairman and Chairman, respectively. He also serves on the Senate Commerce Committee and the Senate’s Special Committee on Aging.

Personal

Full Name: Michael ‘Mike’ Lee

Gender: Male

Family: Wife: Sharon; 3 Children: John, James, and Eliza

Birth Date: 06/04/1971

Birth Place: Mesa, AZ

Home City: Provo, UT

Religion: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Source: Vote Smart

Education

JD, Law, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, 1997

BS, Political Science, Brigham Young University, 1994

Political Experience

Chair, Senate Republican Steering Committee, 2023-present

Senator, United States Senate, 2010-present

Candidate, United States Senate, Utah, 2022

Candidate, Utah State House of Representatives, District 32, 2006, 2008

Professional Experience

Lawyer, Howrey Limited Liability Partnership, 2007-present

Former Law Clerk, Judge Dee Benson, United States District Court for the District of Utah

Former Attorney, Sidley & Austin, law firm

Law Clerk, Justice Samuel Alito, Jr., United States Supreme Court, 2006-2007

General Counsel, Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, 2005-2006

Assistant United States Attorney, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2002-2005

Law Clerk, Judge Samuel Alito, Jr., United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Court, 1998

Offices

Ogden
James V. Hansen Federal Building

324 25th Street, Suite 1410

Ogden, Utah 84401

Phone: 801-392-9633

Fax: 801-392-9630

Salt Lake City
Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building

125 South State, Suite 4225

Salt Lake City, UT 84138

Phone: 801-524-5933

Fax: 801-524-5730

St.George
Office of Senator Michael S. Lee

196 East Tabernacle Street Suite #21

St. George, UT 84770

Phone: 435-628-5514

Washington, D.C.
361A Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

Phone: 202-224-5444

Contact

Email: Government

Web Links

Politics

Source: none

Finances

Source: Open Secrets

Committees

Senator Lee serves as the Ranking Republican on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, and on the Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining.

In addition, Senator Lee continues to lead Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee as the Ranking Member, after spending the last two Congresses as Vice Chairman and Chairman, respectively. He also serves on the Senate Commerce Committee and the Senate’s Special Committee on Aging.

New Legislation

 Sponsored and Cosponsored

Issues

Source: Government page

My Mission

is to drive the message of constitutionally limited government, while being accessible, responsive, and connected to the citizens of Utah. I will work to restore the federal government to its constitutionally limited scope by supporting a balanced budget amendment, term limits, earmark reform, entitlement reform, peace through military strength, and measures designed to promote energy independence.

National Security

Protecting the American people from foreign threats is a fundamental function of the federal government. In crafting the U.S. Constitution, our Founders understood the immense power and control vested in the ability to raise and command an Army and Navy as well as to declare war. While the President serves as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, Congress is the only branch with the power to declare war and raise a military through the power of the purse. This authority was given to Congress because it is the branch held most accountable by the people.

Congress and the President also share the responsibility of engaging with foreign nations. Congress is explicitly charged with the power to regulate foreign commerce, and the Senate’s power to ratify treaties and offer advice and consent on ambassador nominations serves as a check on the President’s diplomatic power.

Over the years, the checks and balances and appropriate division of this power has weakened, resulting in a concentration of both defense and foreign relations powers in the executive branch. Therefore, one of Senator Lee’s missions is to reassert and reinvigorate the constitutional role of Congress in shaping U.S. military and foreign policy. He continues to lead major legislation on war powers, military spending, and restraining international institutions. He believes very strongly that actions that would put American blood and treasure on the line must be debated and discussed where the risks and benefits can be carefully weighed and the American people can influence such decisions through their elected leaders. The U.S. Congress is the only body that meets both parameters.

Another major component of protecting our national security and sovereignty is securing our borders. We must know who is entering and exiting our country to protect Americans domestically and ensure that we enforce our immigration laws so as not to incentivize those who want to enter the United States to do so illegally.

While the Framers understood the importance of national security, they also understood that protecting civil liberties by limiting the government’s power to search and spy on its citizens was an essential protection against tyranny. As James Madison said when framing a government where men govern men “the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and the next place, oblige it to control itself.” Senator Lee believes the federal government must follow warrant requirements enshrined in the Fourth Amendment to protect Americans against unauthorized government surveillance and preserve the civil liberties granted by our Constitution.

Natural Resources

When Utah first entered the Union, a ratified agreement called the Utah Enabling Act stipulated that “public lands lying within said State… shall be sold by the United States subsequent to the admission of said State into the Union.” Unfortunately, the federal government has not held up its end of the bargain and has retained vast amounts of Utah acreage limiting Utahns’ ability to maintain, conserve, recreate, and responsibly produce on the lands within their own state.

Senator Lee believes much of this land should be transferred to the state as promised so that Utah’s natural resources can be better managed to conserve the land, provide for the state’s constituents, and serve its multi-use purposes. Utah has a great track record of responsibly managing public lands and caring for its environment, while ensuring economic prosperity for its communities, families, and industries dependent on access to the land, like agriculture, energy, and outdoor recreation.

As Utah’s population grows, access to the land will become even more urgent and necessary. Some will need to accommodate affordable housing, roads to ease congestion, schools, etc; other acreage that contains critical minerals and energy sources will need to be responsibly and safely tapped; and finally, others will need to be preserved for fishing, hunting, climbing, and other outdoor sports that bring families together and are simply a way of life in the west.

Additionally, Senator Lee believes the federal government should not pick winners and losers in the energy sector or agriculture sector and that the free market and the demands of the public will result in the most efficient use of funds, reliable supply of energy to fuel the country and food to feed our population, and innovative solutions to keep our environment clean and food supply safe. But again, safe, responsible, and reliable access to the land is necessary to accomplish this.

Jobs

While the Constitution charges Congress with regulating interstate commerce, Senator Lee believes that authority should be used to ensure goods and services can be properly sold and traded amongst the 50 states and the rest of the world. He does not think it gives the federal government blanket authority to micromanage the country’s economy.

Congress should allow American businesses and families to thrive without the burdensome hand of government getting in the way. Workers succeed when businesses have access to the capital they need, and capital becomes more readily available when government is not overregulating or spending beyond its means.

Throughout our nation’s history, Americans have proven they have an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit to better not only their own lives but the lives of their neighbors, local communities, and the world at large. Senator Lee believes Americans, not government, have built businesses, employed workers, supported families, and provided the ideas to improve the lives of each generation.

The federal government can appropriately help support the continuation of these successes by removing unnecessary regulations, increasing access to foreign markets through free and fair trade agreements, simplifying our tax code and making it more competitive, protecting the integrity of the dollar, and protecting American workers by ensuring our legal immigration system supplements our workforce only where there is a gap.

Jobs also depend on free markets, and free markets require vigilance to protect them from anticompetitive monopolies. Senator Lee, through his leadership on the Senate Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, works to ensure that our antitrust enforcers vigorously enforce U.S. law to protect consumers and free markets.

The Family

The family is the most basic and essential building block of American society, and strong families are the best predictor of financial, educational, and emotional success in life. Accordingly, Senator Lee consistently pursues policies that strengthen family ties and works to undo government interventions that penalize or weaken the family.

Since every human life holds innate and profound dignity and worth from conception, it is essential that the federal government respect each human life. Every individual deserves respect and protection to freely exercise and live out their religious and moral beliefs without fear of oppression or persecution as guaranteed by the First Amendment to our Constitution.

The importance of the family and the social capital that comes from active, local communities motivates much of Senator Lee’s work – everything from tax policy to welfare policy to criminal justice reform. He believes America must renew civil society and the federal government should not crowd-out civil society’s role or Americans’ participation in associational life and the institutions that secure it.

For instance, Senator Lee believes the tax code should not penalize marriage, our entitlement system should not penalize parents, and our criminal code should provide flexibility to judges in sentencing non-violent offenders. Ensuring that the federal government places married couples and parents on a level-playing field as other Americans and provides those that have been convicted of non-violent crimes the opportunity to rehabilitate themselves and return to their families and communities are important reforms that Senator Lee has made a focus of his work.

Healthcare

Access to affordable, high-quality healthcare is a critical component of a productive and vibrant society. Unfortunately, due to government intrusion, many Americans cannot afford the care and treatment they need.

Each of our 50 states has different populations with different health-care needs, so Senator Lee believes there is no reason all Americans should be forced to purchase the same “essential health benefits” package while shopping for health insurance. Good health-care policy is flexible and customizable, since what is essential to one family or individual may not be essential to another.

While Senator Lee opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, he believes the problems of federal intervention in the health-care sector started decades earlier. Exempting employer-provided health insurance from taxation was one of the first issues that inappropriately incentivized the employer-sponsored model over the individual consumer model. For many Americans, this has resulted in fewer insurance choices and has tied them to their jobs.

While immediately ending the tax deduction for healthcare provided through an employer would be unsettling for many Americans, Senator Lee believes its reform must be a topic for debate. But possibly the most important health-care reform needed is a liberalization of health savings accounts. Freeing these accounts from federal government restrictions could allow Americans to save more for their health-care needs, allow them to transfer from jobs without losing their insurance, and equip them to be more active and engaged consumers. With a more informed consumer base, its influence over the market could truly turn things around, improving quality, cost, and accessibility.

Additionally, Senator Lee believes Congress must reform the Food and Drug Administration to make medical devices and drugs (and their generics) available sooner and at a lower cost. Medicaid must also be addressed to ensure it is targeted for the truly vulnerable who are unable to provide for themselves, such as children, pregnant women, and the disabled; and reforms must be made to the Department of Health and Human Services so that all life, including the lives of the unborn and the elderly, is always protected.

Education

Human capital – the knowledge, skills, and abilities of every person – is one of our nation’s greatest resources. Because an education is essential for many to pursue the American dream, Senator Lee believes reforms are needed to empower students and their families with options that best meet their unique needs.

Children’s first teachers are their parents, and parents must carry the primary responsibility to oversee and direct their children’s education. Therefore, it’s important that families have choices – whether that be home schooling, public school, charter school, private school, etc. – and the federal government should not incentivize one over another.

While the four-year formalized college education is held as the gold standard by many, it really shouldn’t be. For some it is absolutely the right route, but for others, higher education may not be necessary or they may be better served and prepared for work through an apprenticeship program or short-term, highly focused instruction. Again, Senator Lee believes choice and options are important. At the end of the day, higher education should prepare the upcoming generation for success in today’s workforce. For this to be accomplished and the cost of post-secondary education to decrease, greater transparency, accountability, and competition are needed.

Technology

American entrepreneurs and creators have made the United States the global leader in science and technology. Their innovation and advances in technology have transformed the quality of life of people throughout the world, including millions of Americans.

As technology improves and new and growing markets emerge, there will always be a temptation in Washington to expand the federal government’s regulatory role over the private sector and attempt to centrally control our innovation. However, Senator Lee believes a responsible approach to technology policy is one where the federal government restrains itself to its limited constitutional authorities and even then only acts in a manner that is narrowly tailored to address the specific challenge. This authority must be exercised carefully because government intervention tends to hinder, rather than empower, American innovators and can insulate the largest, most powerful companies from their competitors. As tech companies acquire more power and exercise more control over our access to information, our antitrust enforcers must play a more active role to promote and protect competition.

As the internet has grown and transformed how Americans share information, purchase and transport goods, and consume news, the federal government has needed and will continue to need to revisit debates over government regulation of speech, corporate conduct, competition, and transportation. If we want reforms to successfully combat discriminatory action, ensure competition, and crack down on obscene content to protect our children, all while preserving a fair marketplace and continued innovation, Senator Lee believes Congress must engage in robust debate, exercise its limited, proper role, and consider how its actions may lead to other consequences.

Second Amendment

The Second Amendment guarantees Americans the fundamental right “to keep and bear arms”.  The Supreme Court correctly interpreted this guarantee as an individual right as opposed to a collective right enjoyed only by colonial militias. Many gun control efforts threaten the rights of law-abiding Americans while criminals intent on hurting themselves or others continue to ignore the law. These efforts also harm the ability of Americans to protect themselves and their families, disproportionately hurting minorities and those living in high-crime areas. Senator Lee has led the fight against efforts to further restrict the ability of law-abiding Americans to exercise this fundamental right and he supports efforts to roll back existing gun control laws.

More Information

Services

Source: Government page

Wikipedia

For other people by the same name, see Michael Lee.

Michael Shumway Lee (born June 4, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Utah, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, Lee became Utah’s senior senator in 2019 and dean of Utah’s congressional delegation in 2021.

The son of U.S. Solicitor General Rex E. Lee and brother of Utah Supreme Court justice Thomas Rex Lee, Lee began his career as a clerk for the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah before clerking for Samuel Alito, who was then a judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. From 2002 to 2005, Lee was an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Utah. He joined the administration of Utah governor Jon Huntsman Jr., serving as the general counsel in the governor’s office from 2005 to 2006. Lee again clerked for Alito after he was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the 2010 U.S. Senate election in Utah, Lee defeated incumbent senator Bob Bennett for the Republican nomination before defeating Democratic nominee Sam Granato in the general election. During the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, Lee refused to endorse Donald Trump, voting for Evan McMullin in the general election. Lee was reelected in 2016.

Lee eventually became a Trump ally, endorsing him in the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections. He coordinated with and supported the Trump administration in its efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election but ultimately voted to certify the election. Lee also chaired the Joint Economic Committee from 2019 to 2021.[1] Lee was reelected again over McMullin in 2022, though his performance was the worst for a Republican in a Utah U.S. Senate election since 1974.[citation needed]

Early life and education

Lee was born in Mesa, Arizona on June 4, 1971, the son of Janet (née Griffin) and Rex E. Lee, who was solicitor general under President Ronald Reagan. Lee’s older brother Thomas Rex Lee is a former justice of the Utah Supreme Court.

Lee’s family moved to Provo, Utah, one year later, when his father became the founding dean of Brigham Young University‘s J. Reuben Clark Law School. While Lee spent about half of his childhood years in Utah, he spent the other half in McLean, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. His father served first as the assistant U.S. attorney general for the civil division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 1975 to 1976, and then as the solicitor general of the United States from 1981 to 1985. Lee is of English, Swiss, and Danish descent.[2][3]

After graduating from Timpview High School in 1989, Lee attended Brigham Young University. He was elected president of the students’ association, BYUSA,[a][4][5] while his father was president of the university. He graduated in 1994 with a bachelor of arts in political science. Lee then attended BYU’s J. Reuben Clark Law School, where he was a member of the BYU Law Review and graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1997.[5]

After law school, Lee clerked for Judge Dee Benson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah from 1997 to 1998, then for Judge (later Supreme Court Justice) Samuel Alito of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1998 to 1999. Lee then entered private practice at the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm Sidley Austin, specializing in appellate and Supreme Court litigation. In 2002, Lee left Sidley and returned to Utah to serve as an assistant U.S. attorney in Salt Lake City, preparing briefs and arguing cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He served as general counsel to Utah Governor Jon M. Huntsman Jr. from 2005 to 2006. From 2006 to 2007, Lee again clerked for Alito, who had recently been appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.[5] Afterward, Lee returned to private practice in Utah, joining the Salt Lake City office of the law firm Howrey LLP.[6]

As an attorney, Lee also represented Class A low-level radioactive waste facility provider EnergySolutions Inc. in a highly publicized dispute between the company and the Utah public and public officials that caused controversy during his first Senate election. Utah’s government had allowed the company to store radioactive waste in Utah as long as it was low-grade “Class A” material. When the company arranged to store waste from Italy, many objected that the waste was foreign and could be more radioactive than permitted. Lee argued that the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution allowed the company to accept foreign waste and that the waste could be reduced in grade by mixing it with lower-grade materials, while the state government sought to ban the importation of foreign waste using a radioactive waste interstate compact. EnergySolutions eventually abandoned its plans to store Italian radioactive waste in Utah, ending the dispute, with the 10th U.S. Circuit court later ruling that the compact had the power to block foreign radioactive waste from being stored in Utah.[7][8]

U.S. Senate

Elections

2010

Main article: 2010 United States Senate election in Utah

Lee ran for the U.S. Senate in 2010. When campaigning, he focused on the size of the federal government. He said the U.S. Constitution needed to be amended to create a flat-tax system and impose term limits on members of Congress. Senators would be allowed up to two terms and representatives up to six terms under the proposal.[9]

At the Republican State Convention, he received 982 votes (28.75%) on the first ballot, to Tim Bridgewater‘s 26.84% and incumbent U.S. senator Bob Bennett‘s 25.91%.[10] Bridgewater won the second and third ballots to win the party endorsement. Both Bridgewater and Lee received enough support to have their names placed on the primary ballot.[10]

In the June 22 primary election, Lee won the Republican nomination with 51% of the vote to Bridgewater’s 49%.[11]

Lee won the November 2 general election with 62% of the vote to Democratic nominee Sam Granato’s 33% and Constitution Party nominee Scott Bradley’s 6%.[12]

2016

Main article: 2016 United States Senate election in Utah
Mike Lee speaking at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland on February 26, 2015.

Lee was reelected in 2016. He was endorsed by the Club for Growth, the Senate Conservatives Fund, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.[13]

2022

Main article: 2022 United States Senate election in Utah

Lee defeated Becky Edwards and Ally Isom in the Republican primary election. Isom criticized Lee for seeking a third term after he had supported legislation to limit senators to two terms.[14]

In the general election, Lee was challenged by independent Evan McMullin, for whom Lee voted for president in 2016.[15] The Utah Democratic Party backed McMullin instead of nominating a candidate. Polling in September showed Lee with 36% support and McMullin with 34%, with the rest undecided or choosing another candidate.[16] According to Jason Perry, the director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah, Utah had “not seen a Senate race this competitive in decades”.[17] Lee won the election with 53% of the vote.[18]

Tenure

Scorecards and rankings

In 2011, Club for Growth gave Lee a 100% score.[19] He also received a 100% Conservative voting record for 2011 from the American Conservative Union.[20] The Heritage Foundation gave him a 99% score, tied for first with Jim DeMint.[21] He received a Liberal Action score of 38%.[22]

2016 presidential election

In March 2016, Lee endorsed Ted Cruz over Donald Trump in the 2016 Republican primary. He was the first senator to do so. At the time, he said, “I expect I’ll be the first of many Republican senators who will endorse Ted Cruz. I’m confident more are on the way, and I welcome others to join.”[23] By June, after Trump had become the presumptive nominee, Lee had still not endorsed him, saying he needed “assurances” that Trump would not act as an “authoritarian” or “autocrat” and expressing frustration that Trump had “accused my best friend’s father of conspiring to kill JFK“;[24] at several points during the 2016 primary, Trump publicly implied that Ted Cruz’s father Rafael had consorted with Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate President John F. Kennedy.[25] Lee voted for Independent Evan McMullin.[15]

2017 Alabama special election

On October 16, 2017, Lee endorsed Roy Moore in the 2017 Alabama special election runoff to fill the seat of U.S. Attorney General and former senator Jeff Sessions.[26] Moore had been removed as the Alabama Supreme Court’s chief justice in 2003 for defying a federal order to remove an illegal Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Judicial Building. He was reelected chief justice in 2012. In May 2016, Moore was once again removed from the bench by the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC), permanently via suspension for the rest of his term, making him ineligible for reelection,[27] for ordering state probate judges to ignore a U.S. Supreme Court decision.[28] In a 50-page opinion, the Court of the Judiciary denied Moore’s appeal of the JIC’s decision, and said his removal was necessary “to preserve the integrity, independence, impartiality of Alabama’s judiciary”.[29] Nevertheless, Lee praised Moore for his “reputation of integrity” and said he was essential to getting conservative legislation through the Senate. “That is why I am proudly endorsing Judge Roy Moore. Alabamians have the chance to send a proven, conservative fighter to the United States Senate”.[26] On November 9, 2017, Moore was accused of molesting a 14-year-old and other girls under age 18 when he was 32.[30]

On November 10, Lee asked the Moore campaign to stop using Lee’s endorsement of Moore in its ads.[31] Lee’s spokesperson said of the sexual misconduct allegations, “If these allegations are true, Judge Moore should resign.”[32] Later that day, Lee rescinded his endorsement of Moore.[33]

2020 presidential election

On October 28, 2020, Lee compared President Trump to Captain Moroni, a heroic figure in the Book of Mormon, telling rally-goers in Arizona: “To my Mormon friends, my Latter-Day Saint friends, think of him as Captain Moroni.” He said that Trump “seeks not the praise of the world” and wants only “the well-being and peace of the American people”.[34] His comparison was met with backlash. The overwhelming majority of responses on Lee’s Facebook account characterized his efforts as “shameful” or “blasphemous”.[35] In a follow-up Facebook post, Lee wrote that he had praised Trump for his willingness to “threaten the established political order”,[36] but that the comparison was “perhaps awkward” and that his “impromptu comments may not have been the best forum for drawing a novel analogy from scripture”.[35]

Text messages gathered by the January 6 Committee reveal Lee’s close coordination with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the aftermath of Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election.[37][38][39] In the weeks after the election, Lee pursued a series of strategies to overturn the election results, claiming to have been working “14 hours a day” to find a path he could “persuasively defend”.[37][39] The strategies included attempts to persuade state legislatures in states Joe Biden won to put forward alternative slates of electors and promoting the efforts of attorneys Sidney Powell and John Eastman, arguing that “everything changes, of course, if the swing states submit competing slates of electors pursuant to state law.”[37][38] Ultimately, Lee became concerned by what he considered Powell’s missteps, the lack of evidence given by her and others of election fraud, state legislatures’ failure to convene alternate slates of electors, and what Lee considered the unconstitutional efforts of Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley to challenge the election certification in Congress on January 6.[37][38][39]

Lee ultimately voted to certify the election, saying that the effort to block the certification “could all backfire badly”,[37][40] but he continued to promulgate disinformation, claiming the FBI was involved in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

After Biden won the 2020 presidential election, Trump refused to concede, and a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, Lee said Trump should be given a “mulligan” for his inflammatory January 6 speech immediately before the storming of the Capitol.[41] Lee later defended his remarks, saying, “my reference to taking a ‘mulligan’ was not referring to Trump, but to Democratic politicians whose inflammatory comments had just been played for me on the air [on Fox News]. I used the term…to avoid needlessly inflaming partisan passions.”[42] On May 28, 2021, Lee voted against creating an independent commission to investigate the riot.[43] By April 2022, the January 6th Committee had discovered and released over 100 emails between Lee, Congressman Chip Roy, and Meadows discussing their plans to overturn the election results.[44]

Committee assignments

Committee on the Judiciary

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

Special Committee on Aging (2021–present)

Joint Economic Committee

Previous committee assignments

Political positions

Lee is a conservative Republican. The New York Times used the NOMINATE system to rank Senate members by ideology; Lee ranked as the Senate’s most conservative member.[45] GovTrack‘s 2017 analysis placed Lee on the right end of the spectrum, to the right of most Republicans, but to the left of a handful of Republican senators.[46] FiveThirtyEight, which tracks congressional votes, found that Lee voted with Trump’s positions on legislation 81.3% of the time as of July 2018.[47] A study[48] by Brigham Young University political science professor Michael Barber found Lee to be the “most ideologically extreme senator in the 113th Congress”.[49]

9/11 Responders Compensation Fund

On July 17, 2019, Jon Stewart and disabled construction worker John Feal criticized Lee and Rand Paul on Fox News for blocking a bill that provided Victims Compensation Fund support for disabled 9/11 responders. The fund was near exhaustion.[50][51] On the Senate floor, Paul objected to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand‘s request for the bill to be approved by unanimous consent; per Senate rules, such a request is rejected if any senator objects. Lee had placed such a hold on the measure, despite its 73 Senate co-sponsors.

Stewart and Feal, as well as leaders of the Fraternal Order of Police and the International Association of Firefighters, tried to get both senators to withdraw their objections. “The people from the state of Kentucky and the people from the state of Utah deserve better”, Feal said. Stewart said, “We have to stand up for the people who have always stood up for us, and maybe cannot stand up for themselves due to their illnesses and their injuries. … There [are] some things that they have no trouble putting on the credit card, but somehow when it comes to the 9/11 first responder community, the cops, the firefighters, the construction workers, the volunteers, the survivors, all of a sudden … we gotta go through this.”[50] On July 23, 2019, Lee was one of two senators to vote against the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.

Criminal justice reform

In 2013, Lee, Dick Durbin, and Patrick Leahy proposed a bill aiming “to focus limited federal resources on the most serious offenders”. The bill would reduce some minimum sentences for drug-related offenses by half.[52]

In November 2018, Lee criticized Senator Tom Cotton for his stance on the proposed First Step Act, a criminal justice reform bill Lee supported. Cotton had said that the legislation “gives early release to ‘low level, nonviolent’ criminals like those convicted of assaulting police, even with deadly weapons”. Lee responded that “the First Step Act does not ‘give early release’ to anyone. Anyone claiming it does, does not understand how the bill works.”[53] The bipartisan bill, drafted by Chuck Grassley, Lee, and Durbin, passed the House of Representatives overwhelmingly, 360–59.[54] The bill intends to improve rehabilitation programs for former prisoners, and to give judges more “wiggle room” when sentencing nonviolent crime offenders.[55] The bill eventually passed the Senate and became law.[56]

Democracy and election reform

In September 2020, during a Senate hearing, Lee took out and waved a pocket-size Constitution published by an anti-government Mormon group founded by conspiracy theorist W. Cleon Skousen.[57][58]

In October 2020, Lee sent a series of tweets declaring that the United States is “not a democracy” and that “democracy isn’t the objective; liberty, peace, and prospefity [sic] are. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that.”[59] A Maryland economics professor argued Lee fundamentally misunderstood the terms “democracy” and “republic”.[60]

In March 2021, Lee said on Fox News that the For the People Act was “rotten to the core” and was “as if written in Hell by the devil himself”.[61][62] The act attempts to expand voting rights, change campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of money in politics, limit partisan gerrymandering, and create new ethics rules for federal officeholders.[63][64] It has been criticized by conservatives, including Lee, who believe its provisions improperly take power over elections away from state governments and give it to the federal government.[61][65]

Economy

Lee has worked with Senator Amy Klobuchar to use antitrust laws against large technology companies like Facebook, Apple, and Amazon.[66] Klobuchar said of collaborating with Lee:

We do find common ground on questions of policy, working out deals and contingencies we want to have. We get along quite well.

Lee was among the 31 Senate Republicans who voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.[67]

Environment

In 2017, Lee was one of 22 Republican senators to sign a letter[68] to President Trump urging him to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement.[69] According to OpenSecrets, Lee has received campaign contributions from oil and gas interests amounting to $231,520 and from coal interests in the amount of $21,895, for a total of $253,415 since 2012.[70] At a May 2016 event, Lee rejected the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change, calling it “little more than a cheap public-relations ploy” by the Democratic Party.[71] Lee opposes a carbon tax to deal with climate change.[72]

In 2018, Lee defended Jim Bridenstine‘s nomination to head NASA. Bridenstine’s nomination was contentious, given that he rejected the scientific consensus on climate change and had no background in science. In defending Bridenstine, Lee falsely claimed that NASA disputed that there was a scientific consensus on climate change.[73] Since his confirmation, Bridenstine has said that he agrees with the scientific consensus on human contributions to climate change.[74]

On March 26, 2019, the Senate opened debate on the Green New Deal. When Lee took the floor, he called the plan absurd, comparing it to an image of Ronald Reagan riding a velociraptor, and argued that having more babies was the real solution.[75][76][77] He also said that “the authors of the Green New Deal proposal are trying to suggest people should not have babies and I think that’s atrocious”. According to Deseret News, “The text of the resolution does not address population growth or suggest limiting the number of children people can have.”[78]

Foreign policy

As part of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 2018, Lee, Bernie Sanders, and Chris Murphy co-sponsored a resolution “that would end U.S. military support for the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen’s civil war“. Interviewed by The Hill, he said: “regardless of what may have happened with Mr. Khashoggi [referring to the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi], we are fighting a war in Yemen that we haven’t declared, that has never been declared or authorized by Congress. That’s not constitutional.”[79] The Senate voted 60–39 to “formally begin debate on the resolution”, which would require the President to “withdraw troops in or ‘affecting’ Yemen within 30 days unless they are fighting al Qaeda“.[80]

In April 2018, Lee was one of eight Republican senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin and acting Secretary of State John Sullivan expressing “deep concern” over a United Nations report exposing “North Korean sanctions evasion involving Russia and China” and asserting that the findings “demonstrate an elaborate and alarming military-venture between rogue, tyrannical states to avoid United States and international sanctions and inflict terror and death upon thousands of innocent people” while calling it “imperative that the United States provides a swift and appropriate response to the continued use of chemical weapons used by President Assad and his forces, and works to address the shortcomings in sanctions enforcement”.[81] He criticized Trump for ordering the 2018 missile strikes against Syria in response to the Douma chemical attack, stating that he lacked the constitutional authority to do so without Congress’ permission because the U.S. was not in imminent danger.[82] Lee supported Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops from Syria in December 2018, saying that American forces should not have been in the country without congressional authorization. He said that the Obama administration had not made clear American objectives in Syria surrounding Assad’s future, and that he believed Trump’s claim that the Islamic State had been defeated.[83]

Lee has long been in favor of ending American involvement in Afghanistan. He signed a letter in 2011 urging President Barack Obama to withdraw troops from the country. In May 2017, he called into question a proposal from military leaders to send additional troops there, calling to mind previous times when more soldiers were sent to the country but which, according to Lee, failed to make a significant difference. Lee maintained that American involvement in the war has wasted thousands of lives and trillions of dollars.[84][85] In April 2021, President Joe Biden announced plans to withdraw all remaining US troops from Afghanistan by September 11 of that year.[86] At a virtual meeting later that month, Lee stated his support of Biden’s plan.[87]

In April 2019, after the House passed the resolution withdrawing American support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, Lee was one of nine lawmakers to sign a letter to Trump requesting a meeting with him and urging him to sign “Senate Joint Resolution 7, which invokes the War Powers Act of 1973 to end unauthorized US military participation in the Saudi-led coalition’s armed conflict against Yemen’s Houthi forces, initiated in 2015 by the Obama administration.” The group of senators included Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul, and others. Trump was expected to veto the measure.[88]

In June 2019, Lee was one of seven Republicans who voted to block Trump’s Saudi arms deal providing weapons to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Jordan.[89]

In September 2019, Lee stirred up controversy by refusing to cancel his trip to Russia after other members of the delegation had their visas denied. He insisted solo talks with Russian officials would ensure dialogue remained open between the two nations.[90] Lee has been considered a strong supporter of Israel.[91]

Lee has been a vocal critic of Japan’s handling of the conviction and imprisonment of Lieutenant Ridge Alkonis, who was serving a three-year sentence in Japan for a May 2021 car crash that killed two Japanese citizens. In February 2023, Lee issued a 24-hour deadline on Twitter to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to hand Alkonis over and threatened to cut off military aid to Japan over the incident.[92][93][94] After the deadline passed, Lee took to the Senate floor to question the Status of Forces Agreement between the U.S. and Japan, which governs how military personnel stationed in Japan are treated under Japanese law. In March 2023, the Japanese Foreign Ministry lodged an official complaint against Lee through the U.S. government.[95]

In December 2023, Lee introduced the Disengaging Entirely from the United Nations Debacle (DEFUND) Act, legislation to withdraw the U.S. from the United Nations.[96][97][98][99]

In January 2024, Lee voted against a resolution proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders that would have applied the human rights provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act to U.S. military aid to Israel. The proposal was defeated, 72 to 11.[100]

Healthcare

Lee was part of the group of 13 senators drafting the Senate version of the American Health Care Act of 2017 behind closed doors.[101] He eventually came out against the bill, along with Senator Jerry Moran, bringing the “no” vote total among Republicans to four.[102] This effectively stopped any chance of the bill’s passage.[103]

Immigration

In February 2019, Lee was one of 16 senators to vote against legislation preventing a partial government shutdown and containing $1.375 billion in funding for barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border that included 55 miles of fencing.[104] In that same month, he reintroduced a bill to remove the per-country limitation on employment-based green cards and raised the per-country limitation on family-based green cards from 7% to 15%.[105]

In March 2019, Lee was one of 12 Republican senators to vote to block Trump’s national emergency declaration that would have granted him access to $3.6 billion in military construction funding to build border barriers.[106]

LGBT rights

In 2015, Lee condemned the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which held that same-sex marriage bans violated the Constitution.[107]

In 2018, Lee condemned the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which is part of the Organization of American States (OAS), for recommending that Costa Rica legalize same-sex marriage. The court’s decision was spurred by a petition by Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís, who was working on ways to improve LGBT rights in Costa Rica. Lee suggested that the U.S., a primary funder of the OAS, should use its money more wisely and do more to safeguard religious liberties worldwide.[108]

In May 2019, Lee called the Equality Act “counterproductive” and argued it “unnecessarily pits communities against each other”.[109]

On November 29, 2022, Lee voted against the Respect for Marriage Act, which requires the U.S. federal government to recognize the validity of same-sex and interracial marriages in the United States.[110] A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Lee cast this vote despite his church’s support for the legal guarantees of religious freedom found in the legislation.[111][112]

National security

In February 2011, Lee was one of two Republicans to vote against extending the three provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act that deal with roving wiretaps, “lone wolf” terrorism suspects, and the government’s ability to seize “any tangible items” in the course of surveillance.[113] He voted in the same manner in May 2011.[114]

Privacy

In 2017, Lee voted in favor of a joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval (per chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code) of the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission relating to “Protecting the Privacy of Customers of Broadband and Other Telecommunications Services.”[115]

Social Security

In April 2011, Lee and senators Lindsey Graham and Rand Paul proposed a plan to reform the U.S. Social Security retirement payment system. Workers born after 1969 would have to wait until their 70th birthday to receive full Social Security benefits, rather than age 67 under current law. Furthermore, higher-income earners would receive smaller monthly checks under the plan.[116][117]

In December 2020, Lee was the sole vote in the Senate against the ALS Disability Insurance Access Act of 2019, which eliminated the five-month waiting period for those with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to receive Social Security benefits.[118]

Spending

In September 2018, Lee was among six senators, including Jeff Flake, Pat Toomey, Rand Paul, David Perdue, Ben Sasse, and Bernie Sanders, to vote against a $854 billion spending bill that would avert another government shutdown. The bill included funding for the departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Labor and Education.[119]

Supreme Court

In March 2019, Lee was one of 12 senators to cosponsor a resolution that would impose a constitutional amendment limiting the Supreme Court to nine justices. The resolution was introduced after multiple Democratic presidential candidates expressed openness to the idea of increasing the seats on the Supreme Court.[120]

In March 2016, eight months before the 2016 election, Lee opposed considering Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, during a presidential election year, citing “the contentious presidential election already well underway”. In September 2020, less than two months before that year’s presidential election, Lee supported an immediate Senate vote to confirm Trump’s nominee, Amy Coney Barrett.[121]

Trade

In January 2018, Lee was one of 36 Republican senators to sign a letter to Trump requesting that he preserve the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by modernizing it for the economy of the 21st century.[122]

In November 2018, Lee was one of 12 Republican senators to sign a letter to Trump requesting the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (the replacement to NAFTA) be submitted to Congress by the end of that month to allow a vote on it before the end of the year as they were concerned “passage of the USMCA as negotiated will become significantly more difficult” if it had to be approved by the incoming 116th United States Congress.[123]

Personal life

Lee married Sharon Burr in 1993. They live in Alpine, Utah, and have three children.[5] Lee is a second cousin to former Democratic U.S. senators Mark Udall of Colorado and Tom Udall of New Mexico, as well as former Republican senator Gordon H. Smith of Oregon.[124]

As a young adult, Lee served a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Texas Rio Grande Valley.[5]

Lee has served on the BYU alumni board, the BYU Law School alumni board, and as a longtime member of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society and the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. He earned the Eagle Scout award from Boy Scouts of America in 1989 and was selected to receive the National Eagle Scout Association Outstanding Eagle Scout Award (NOESA) in 2011.[125]

Electoral history

2010
State Republican I Convention results, 2010[126][127][128]
CandidateFirst ballotPct.Second ballotPct.Third ballotPct.
Tim Bridgewater91726.84%127437.42%185457.28%
Mike Lee98228.75%122535.99%138342.72%
Bob Bennett88525.91%90526.99%Eliminated
Cherilyn Eagar54115.84%Eliminated
Merrill Cook491.43%Eliminated
Leonard Fabiano220.64%Eliminated
Jeremy Friedbaum160.47%Eliminated
David Chiu40.12%Eliminated
Total3,416100.00%3,404100.00%3,237100.00%
State Republican Primary results[129]
PartyCandidateVotes%
RepublicanMike Lee 98,512 51.2%
RepublicanTim Bridgewater93,90548.8%
Total votes192,417 100.0%
United States Senate election in Utah, 2010[130]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
RepublicanMike Lee 390,179 61.56% −7.18%
DemocraticSam Granato207,68532.77%+4.37%
ConstitutionScott Bradley35,9375.67%+3.78%
Majority182,49428.79%
Total votes633,801 100.00%
Republican holdSwing
2016
United States Senate election in Utah, 2016[131]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
RepublicanMike Lee 760,241 68.15% +6.59%
DemocraticMisty Snow301,86027.06%−5.71%
Independent AmericanStoney Fonua27,3402.45%N/A
UnaffiliatedBill Barron26,1672.34%N/A
Majority458,381
Total votes1,115,608 100.00%
Republican holdSwing
2022
United States Senate election in Utah, 2022[132]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
RepublicanMike Lee (incumbent) 571,974 53.15% –15.00
IndependentEvan McMullin459,95842.74%N/A
LibertarianJames Hansen31,7842.95%N/A
Independent AmericanTommy Williams12,1031.12%–1.33
Write-in2420.02%N/A
Total votes1,076,061 100.00%
Republican hold

Books

Since his election to the Senate in 2010, Lee has published four books:

  • The Freedom Agenda: Why a Balanced Budget Amendment is Necessary to Restore Constitutional Government (July 2011, Regnery Publishing)
  • Why John Roberts Was Wrong About Healthcare: A Conservative Critique of The Supreme Court’s Obamacare Ruling (June 2013, Threshold Editions e-book)
  • Our Lost Constitution: The Willful Subversion of America’s Founding Document (April 2015, Sentinel)
  • Written Out of History: The Forgotten Founders Who Fought Big Government (May 2017, Sentinel)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ comparable to student body president in most colleges

References

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Party political offices
Preceded by

 Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Utah
(Class 3)
2010, 2016, 2022		Most recent
Preceded by

 Chair of the Senate Republican Steering Committee
2015–present		Incumbent
U.S. Senate
Preceded by

 U.S. senator (Class 3) from Utah
2011–present
Served alongside: Orrin Hatch, Mitt Romney		Incumbent
Preceded by

 Chair of the Joint Economic Committee
2019–2021		Succeeded by

Honorary titles
Preceded by

 Baby of the Senate
2011–2012		Succeeded by

U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by

 Order of precedence of the United States
as United States Senator 		Succeeded by

Preceded by

 United States senators by seniority
41st


source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Lee_(American_politician)