Kathy (Kathy) Castor (D-14)

US Representative Kathy Castor

Kathy (Kathy) Castor (D-14)
Web Site - Twitter

Capitol: 202.225.3376
FAX: 202.225.5652
District: 813.871.2817
Representative
Room 2052 RHOB- Rayburn House Office Building 50 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20515-0914
4144 North Armenia Avenue
Tampa, FL 33607-6435
Residence:Tampa, FL

Committee Assignments

RM MemberHouse Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Co-ChairCongressional Soccer Caucus
Co-ChairHouse Congressional Academic Medicine Caucus
Co-ChairCongressional Gulf Coast Caucus
Co-ChairCongressional Children's Health Care Caucus
Co-ChairElectrification Caucus
MemberHouse Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party
Co-ChairAir Force Caucus (House)
MemberHouse Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce
FC MemberCongressional Allergy and Asthma Caucus
FC MemberHealthcare Innovation Caucus
Co-ChairCongressional Childhood Cancer Caucus
Co-ChairHouse Special Operations Forces (SOF) Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Mobility Air Forces Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Congenital Heart Defect Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Fertilizer Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Grid Innovation Caucus
FC MemberHouse Congressional Veterans Jobs Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Cystic Fibrosis Caucus
FC MemberCongressional NASA Caucus
FC MemberCommunity College Caucus
FC MemberCongressional State Medicaid Expansion Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Energy Savings Performance Caucus
FC MemberUSO Caucus
FC MemberHouse Afterschool Caucus
FC MemberCongressional High-Performance Buildings Caucus
FC MemberHouse Oceans Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Ports Opportunity, Renewal, Trade, and Security [P.O.R.T.S.] Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Labor and Working Families Caucus
FC MemberUnited States Coast Guard Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Zoo and Aquarium Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Task Force on Seniors
FC MemberBlue Collar Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Task Force on Digital Citizenship
MemberHouse Committee on Energy and Commerce
FC MemberCongressional Wine Caucus
FC MemberMilitary Veterans Caucus
FC MemberCongressional HIV/AIDS Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Bike Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Caucus for Women's Issues (House)
FC MemberCongressional Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Caucus
FC MemberCongressional TRIO Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Primary Care Caucus
MemberHouse Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security
FC MemberCongressional Medicare for All Caucus
FC MemberExpand Social Security Caucus (House)
FC MemberCongressional Caucus on Foster Youth
FC MemberCongressional Arts Caucus
FC MemberBlack Maternal Health Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Mental Health Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Animal Protection Caucus
FC MemberSustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC)
FC MemberCongressional Diabetes Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Labor Caucus
FC MemberBipartisan Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus
FC MemberCongressional Gun Violence Prevention Task Force
FC MemberCongressional Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBTQ+) Equality Caucus

Bio

Kathy Castor is Tampa Bay's voice in the U.S. Congress. She was elected in 2006 and represents Florida's 14th Congressional district, which includes Tampa and St. Petersburg with parts of Hillsborough County and Pinellas County. She is the first woman to represent Hillsborough and Pinellas counties in the U.S. Congress. Castor focuses on issues vital to Tampa Bay area families and businesses, and is committed to building a stronger economy that works for everyone as a Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's powerful Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. Castor has been a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee since 2009. She is also the Chair of the former Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. She worked on initiatives to create jobs, protect the environment and consumers, improve schools, ensure veterans receive the benefits and care they have earned, provide access to affordable health care and defend protections for people with preexisting health conditions. Providing better-paying jobs for Tampa Bay is Castor's number 1 priority. She has successfully fought to bring new, good-paying job opportunities to Tampa Bay's small businesses and large economic engines alike, including Port Tampa Bay, University of South Florida, Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa International Airport, MacDill Air Force Base and federally qualified community health centers. Castor has a long established track record of fighting for all that makes Florida special. She started her professional legal career with the Florida Department of Community Affairs working to enforce environmental and growth management laws that protect wetlands, Florida's coastline, endangered species and sensitive lands. In private practice, Castor continued her commitment to Florida's environment as a land use/environmental attorney representing local governments. As a Hillsborough County Commissioner, Castor served as chair of the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission that is charged with protecting the air, water, wetlands, and land of our large and diverse county, and the delegated elements of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. In addition, Castor has championed energy efficiency, distributed energy and environmental justice to ensure ALL communities, families and individuals enjoy the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards. A benchmarking bill for the disclosure of energy information for commercial buildings in the 114th Congress was signed into law as part of The Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015. Castor's Clean Distributed Energy Grid Integration Act was incorporated into the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, signed into law November 15, 2021 by President Biden. As a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee, Castor was instrumental in ensuring that health care reform worked for Florida families, businesses, and university medical and nursing colleges. She helped to draft the landmark Affordable Care Act that passed in 2010, and she has worked tirelessly against weakening new patient protections, especially for neighbors with pre-existing conditions, and educating neighbors about health insurance enrollment in the new marketplace exchange. Castor has authored legislation to improve children's health care of the nation's sickest kids through a "health home" model that launched in her hometown of Tampa, Fla., as well as a bipartisan bill to address the opioid epidemic. Castor remains focused on lowering the cost of prescription drugs; protecting Medicare for seniors; supports expanding Medicaid in the State of Florida; and has authored provisions to remedy the doctor shortage and bring new medical residencies to the state and expand scholarships for medical professions at Florida colleges and universities. Castor works hard to bolster and support our health care institutions -- University of South Florida, Haley VA Hospital, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa General Hospital and BayCare. Castor co-chairs the Academic Medicine Caucus and Children's Health Care Caucus. MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. is home to two combatant commands, Special Operations Command and Central Command; the 6th Air Mobility Wing; the 927th Air Refueling Wing; and dozens of mission partners. Castor fights for investment, expansion and support our base's military missions and personnel need to keep our country safe. She is the co-chair of the Air Force Caucus and the Special Operations Forces Caucus Before her election to Congress, Castor served as a Hillsborough County Commissioner and chair of the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission. As County Commissioner in 2005, she was the sole vote against a gay pride ban; this ban was finally repealed unanimously by the Hillsborough County Commission in 2013. In 2005, Castor was named as the Tampa Bay Business Journal's Woman of the Year in government. Castor is a graduate of Tampa's Chamberlain High School, Emory University and Florida State University College of Law. Castor and her husband have two daughters. She is the daughter of former Hillsborough County Judge Don Castor and former University of South Florida President and statewide-elected Education Commissioner Betty Castor. She is the former President of the Florida Association of Women Lawyers and partner in a statewide law firm.

Election / Personal Info

First Elected: 2006    Next Election: 2024
Spouse: Bill Lewis   DOB: 8/20/1966
Counties Representing
Hillsborough
Pinellas