Nick Lampson

1996

In the 1996 election, Lampson decided to run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Texas's 9th congressional district. The incumbent was Republican U.S. Congressman Steve Stockman, who was a freshman in congress. The district had been represented by Democrat Jack Brooks for 42 years, but Brooks had been one of the most prominent Democratic incumbents to lose re-election in the "Republican Revolution" of 1994, which brought the House under the control of Republicans for the first time since the 83rd United States Congress following the 1952 elections. Lampson won the Democratic primary with 69% of the vote.[1] In the general election, he defeated Stockman 53%-47%.[2][3]

1998

He won re-election to a second term against Republican Tom Cottar 64%-36%.[4]

2000

He won re-election to a third term against Republican Paul Williams 59%-40%.[5]

2002

He won re-election to a fourth term against Republican Paul Williams 59%-40%.[6]

2004

Lampson was one of the prime targets of a controversial mid-decade redistricting in 2003.[7] His district was renumbered as the 2nd district. Galveston, which along with Beaumont had anchored the district and its previous incarnations for over a century, was moved into the neighboring 14th District. Much of Galveston County and the portion of Houston including NASA's Johnson Space Center (which had been part of the 9th since 1967) were drawn into DeLay's 22nd District. They were replaced by several heavily Republican areas north and east of Houston.

In the 2004 election, Lampson opted to run for reelection in the 2nd District. His Republican opponent was Ted Poe, a longtime district court judge in Harris County, home to most of Houston. Poe defeated Lampson, 56%-43%.[8] Though Beaumont and Jefferson County gave Lampson a majority, he was swamped in the Harris County portion of the district, which supported Poe with 70% of the vote. He was one of several Democratic incumbents that were successfully removed from office as a direct result of Tom Delay's controversial mid-decade redistricting plan.

2006

On May 4, 2005, Lampson announced his candidacy in Texas's 22nd congressional district, which had been held by DeLay for 20 years. In the 2003 redistricting, DeLay drew much of Lampson's former territory into his own 22nd district, including part of Galveston County (but not Galveston city) and the Johnson Space Center. Lampson had briefly considered a so-called "kamikaze" run against DeLay. He moved to Stafford, a city halfway between Houston and Sugar Land, where his grandparents immigrated to from Italy.

Conservative media pundits criticized Lampson's decision to run in the 22nd. Fred Barnes of Fox News Channel called him "a carpetbagger" who "moved into" DeLay's district. However, Lampson had represented all of the 22nd's portion of Galveston County, as well as part of its share of Houston, during his first stint in Congress. Also, as mentioned above, he had family connections in the district.

The 22nd had long been considered a solidly Republican district, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+15. A Democratic presidential candidate had not carried the district since the Texan Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater in the 1964 election. Democrats had not held the congressional seat since after the 1978 election. The 2008 presidential candidate Ron Paul had held the seat as a Republican before DeLay took over in 1985. Historically, among districts in the Houston area, only the 7th District has been considered more Republican.

DeLay, who was then the House Majority Leader, was seen as vulnerable. He had only won re-election by 14 points in 2004 against a relatively unknown Democrat who spent virtually no money—an unusually close margin for a party leader. Many experts believed that as a result of DeLay's attempts to make the other Houston-area districts more Republican, his own district was more competitive than the one he had represented for his first 10 terms in Congress. Most importantly, DeLay had been investigated for corruption and was indicted on conspiracy and money laundering charges. DeLay denied all allegations and a Texas judge dismissed the former charge in late 2006; still, this damaged DeLay's credibility in the campaign.[9]

On April 4, 2006, DeLay withdrew his candidacy for the upcoming November midterm elections in the face of questions about his ethics;[10] he cited troubling poll numbers as the reason.[11] Lampson announced on August 17, 2006, that three major police associations had endorsed him: the National Association of Police Organizations, the International Union of Police Associations, and the Texas State Police Coalition.

Texas Governor Rick Perry announced on August 29, 2006, that a special election would take place for the balance of DeLay's 11th term, coinciding with the general election on November 7, 2006. This meant that voters voted once in the special election for a candidate to fill DeLay's seat during the lame-duck session of the 109th Congress, and voted a second time for a candidate to represent the district in the 109th Congress. Lampson ran only for the full term, facing Republican Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs.

On September 22, 2006, The Hotline ranked Texas' 22nd Congressional District House race as third (up from a previous ranking of fifth) in a list of the top 30 House races in the country.[12] Additionally, other traditionally conservative organizations backed Lampson's candidacy. The National Rifle Association and the Veterans of Foreign Wars both supported Lampson in the 2006 election.

Three national political journals—the Cook Political Report, Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball, and Congressional Quarterly—rated the race as Leans Democratic. On October 30, 2006, a Zogby poll commissioned by the Houston Chronicle-KHOU-TV was released, showing the write-in candidate, Sekula-Gibbs, at 27.9 percent and Lampson at 36 percent, with nearly 25 percent still undecided.[13]

Lampson defeated Sekula-Gibbs in the November 7 election, 52 to 42 percent, with the remaining 6 percent going to Libertarian Bob Smither. He officially returned to Congress on January 4, 2007. But, DeLay was still on the ballot as the official Republican candidate (Democrats successfully sued to prevent Sekula-Gibbs' from replacing DeLay on the ballot, forcing her to run a write-in campaign). Meanwhile, Sekula-Gibbs ran unopposed in the special election. This caused confusion for many voters, who were told repeatedly "write in Sekula-Gibbs" but then found her name on the ballot. This resulted in a large (but unreleased) number of excluded votes for Tom DeLay in the general election. Numerous ballots were discarded, including all straight-party votes and direct votes for DeLay. This caused a small outcry of resentment from supporters of Sekula-Gibbs, who felt the election was stolen and their votes disfranchised.

The two elections held on the same day resulted in Sekula-Gibbs winning to serve the last two months of DeLay's term, while Lampson won the seat for a full term, starting in January 2007.

2008

Lampson faced reelection in 2008 against Pete Olson, an attorney and a former aide to Senators Phil Gramm and John Cornyn. Despite the perception that the district was more competitive than the one DeLay represented for his first 10 terms, the 22nd was considered a heavily Republican district. It gave Bush 64 percent of the vote in 2004. By most accounts, it was one of the few realistic chances for a Republican challenger to unseat a Democrat in what was forecast to be a bleak year for Republicans.

Olson and Lampson agreed to a debate on the issues on October 20, 2008, in Rosenberg, Texas.[14]

An October 22, 2008, poll by John Zogby and the Houston Chronicle said that Olson had a 17-point lead over Lampson.[15][16][17]

On October 30, 2008, Larry Sabato predicted Lampson's Congressional race to be a "Republican Pick Up" with Olson defeating Lampson.[18]

On November 4, 2008, Olson defeated Lampson with 52.5% of the vote to Lampson's 45.3%. Lampson carried the Galveston County portion of the district, but could not overcome a 15,900-vote deficit in Harris County.

In the Spring of 1997, 12-year old Laura Kate Smither of Friendswood, Texas, was abducted while she was out jogging. Despite efforts by the community and law enforcement her body was found two-and-a-half weeks later.[19]

The devastation felt by the Smither family and the determination of the volunteers inspired Lampson to establish the first-ever United States House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children. Its purpose is to raise awareness of missing and exploited children matters, develop legislation, and support policies that protect children from abduction, exploitation, and abuse. The caucus has played a significant role in promoting the welfare of children and has worked on various initiatives to strengthen child protection laws, improve law enforcement efforts in cases involving missing and exploited children, and provide support and resources to the families of victims. Caucus members pushed through passage of legislation including the Protection of Children From Sexual Predators Act of 1998,[20] Child Abuse Prevention and Enforcement Act of 2000,[21] AMBER Alert System, Code Adam Act, Protecting Our Children Comes First Act of 2007,[22] and the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. It became the largest bi-partisan, issue-based caucus in the House and inspired the creation of an identical caucus in the Senate.

Lampson authored the Protecting Our Children Comes First Act of 2007. It passed the House and Senate. It was signed into law by President Bush on June 3, 2008.[23]

He introduced and passed the SAFE Act of 2007 in the House.[24] Its intent was to amend the federal criminal code to expand the reporting requirements with respect to violations of laws prohibiting sexual exploitation of children and child pornography. It died in the Senate. Provisions of the bill were adopted in the PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008[25] and signed into law.

Lampson worked closely with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and became known as a tireless advocate for their interests on Capitol Hill.[26]

Lampson won support for numerous projects benefiting Southeast Texas including the Neches River Salt Water Barrier,[27] funding for improving areas of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, port upgrades, and coastal and beach improvement projects.[28] Other notable projects that he secured federal funding for include the Galveston Causeway, Galveston Island Trolley expansion, NASA 1 Bypass Freeway,[29][30] and major renovations to the Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base's fire station.[31]

He co-sponsored the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. The landmark legislation affirmed President Clinton’s key priorities: improving safety, protecting public health and the environment, and creating opportunity for all Americans.[32]

Following the September 11 attacks, Lampson played a key role in passing Aviation Security legislation as a member of the Subcommittee on Aviation including the Aviation and Transportation Security Act. The bill created a new Transportation Security Administration.[33]

He voted for the Maritime Transportation Antiterrorism Act.[34]

He co-sponsored the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002. [35]

Lampson included language in the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act of 2007 waiving the local funding match required under the Stafford Act. It passed unanimously through the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and allowed Texas communities to qualify for disaster assistance programs, providing a savings to the State of Texas totaling upwards of $40 million.[36]

Lampson's congressional district included the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. He established a reputation as a vocal advocate of the International Space Station, human space flights, and increased federal funding in support of NASA.

In 2002 and 2003, he introduced the Space Exploration Act,[37] a bill to establish long term goals for NASA and the nation's space program. This bill was largely adopted as policy by the Bush Administration in 2004.

In 2007, he secured more than $300 million in additional federal funding for NASA.[38]

In 2008, twelve house members led by Lampson successfully urged House leaders to add $2 billion to NASA's budget in The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2008.[39] The total budget was $20.2 billion. The additional funding allowed for a Space Shuttle flight to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station. The project measures antimatter in cosmic rays and searches for evidence of dark matter. Samuel C. Ting, Nobel prize winning physicist, is the lead researcher on the project. The budget increase also accelerated the development of the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV), which would replace the Space Shuttle.[40]

Additional legislation supported by Lampson includes the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2000, the Commercial Space Transportation Competitiveness Act of 2000,[41] the NASA Flexibility Act of 2004, the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2008.

He introduced the Amendment to the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2003, seeking to allow NASA to help Russia purchase additional Soyuz and Progress vehicles if the President notifies Congress they are needed to ensure the safety of the crew aboard the International Space Station and to maintain its operational viability while the Space Shuttle fleet is grounded;[42] it influenced the Bush administration’s policy and led to passage of the Iran Nonproliferation Amendments Act of 2005.

Lampson was instrumental in passage of the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004.[43] It provided guidelines for regulating the safety of commercial human spaceflight in the United States under the oversight of the Federal Aviation Administration. It also paved the way for commercial space tourism. The bill's author, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, credited Lampson among two other colleagues for being able to get this legislation passed.[44]

Lampson participated in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and served as chairman of the Congressional Study Group on Germany, an inter-parliamentary assembly between the German Bundestag and the U.S. House of Representatives.[45]

He was involved in the effort to expand NATO to include all of the Balkan states following the dissolution of the USSR. Traveling to each of the countries, he served as a delegate to help determine their membership eligibility.

The abduction of American children by a non-custodial parent and failure of countries such as Germany in honoring The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction was an issue pressed by Lampson. He authored a concurrent resolution agreed to in the House and Senate[46] calling on allied nations to "comply fully with both the letter and the spirit of their international legal obligations under the Convention to ensure their compliance to honor their commitments and return wrongfully abducted children to their place of habitual residence, and ensure parental access rights by removing obstacles to the exercise of those rights."[47] Germany re-evaluated their non-compliance and put in place additional measures to honor the enforcement of international treaties compelling them to intervene in the return of abducted children to their country of origin.[48]

Lampson was a member of the Cuba Working Group[49] and a proponent of lifting trade embargoes.[50] He co-sponsored the Cuban Food and Medicine Security Act of 1999,[51] Bridges to the Cuban People Act of 2001,[52] Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2002,[53] Export Freedom to Cuba Act of 2003,[54] Bridges to the Cuban People Act of 2003,[55] and Agricultural Export Facilitation Act of 2007.[56]

In 1999, he traveled to Cuba with Southeast Texas rice farmers to meet President Fidel Castro and his government in an attempt to call for renewed agricultural trade between the United States and Cuba. Before a 1960's trade embargo, Cuba imported virtually all of its rice from the U.S.[57] The members of the delegation played a major role in getting a landmark law signed by President Clinton the very next year: the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000. For the first time in decades, it opened the door to modest trade with Cuba. As of 2016, that law has led to more than $5 billion in American exports to Cuba.[58] In 2002, Lampson helped facilitate a deal to allow 30,000 metric tons of grain to be shipped to Cuba from the Port of Galveston for the first time in forty years.[59]

In 2003, he traveled to Germany as part of a congressional delegation meeting with the German Bundestag. Part of the trip included a stop at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, where he visited with wounded U.S. servicemen and women.[60]

In 2008, he traveled to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India with Senator Ben Nelson, Congressman Allen Boyd, and Congressman Tim Mahoney. They met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf[61][62]

After 14th District U.S. Congressman Ron Paul decided that he would not run for re-election to Congress in order to focus on his presidential campaign, Lampson filed papers to run for Congress in that 14th District.[75] The 14th had been shifted well to the east in redistricting, and now included roughly 85 percent of the territory Lampson had represented during his first stint in Congress. Notably, Beaumont and Galveston, the largest cities in Lampson's old district, were now in the 14th.[76] Lampson won the May 29, 2012 primary with 83.23% of the vote and faced State Rep. Randy Weber in the November 6th general election. Lampson was defeated by Weber on November 6, 2012, by a 53% to 45% margin.[77] Lampson only carried his home county of Jefferson County and was unable to overcome the partisan lean of a district that was significantly redder than the territory he had previously represented.

Lampson ran for county judge of Jefferson County in 2018.[78] His opponent was Republican incumbent Jeff R. Branick.[79] The election was held on November 6, 2018. He lost the election, 50.63% to 49.37%, a margin of 949 votes.[80] Governor Greg Abbott, Senator Ted Cruz, and Sean Hannity made public appearances in Jefferson County in order to rally support for the vulnerable incumbent, who had switched to the Republican Party a year earlier. Lampson was endorsed by the Beaumont Enterprise. He focused his campaign on securing relief for victims of Hurricane Harvey and diversifying the economic development of Jefferson County.

Lampson has worked on seniors' issues at the local and national levels as a director of the Area Agency on Aging. He served as a delegate to the 1995 White House Conference on Aging. He is active with local organizations such as the American Heart Association, Land Manor (a rehabilitation facility), and the Young Men's Business League. He is a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He was chair of the 1995 Bishop's Faith Appeal at the Diocese of Beaumont.