John Katko Bio
John Michael Katko (born November 9, 1962) is an American attorney and Republican politician who represented New York’s 24th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2023. A former Assistant United States Attorney, he led the organized crime division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Syracuse and helped prosecute gang members under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. In Congress, he became known as a moderate Republican and the sole chair of the Republican Governance Group during the 117th Congress.
Katko gained national attention when he was one of ten House Republicans to vote to impeach President Donald Trump during the second impeachment in January 2021. After announcing in January 2022 that he would not seek reelection, he left Congress at the end of his term and joined the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying and consulting firm HillEast Group as a senior adviser in January 2023.
Early Life and Background
John Michael Katko was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1962. He was raised in the suburban town of Camillus, New York, where he attended Bishop Ludden High School and graduated in 1980. Katko is of Slovak descent on his father’s side, a heritage that has been a part of his family background in Central New York.
After high school, Katko attended Niagara University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1984. He went on to attend Syracuse University College of Law, earning his Juris Doctor degree in 1988. His education in both political science and law helped prepare him for a long career in federal prosecution before entering politics.
Path to US Politics
After law school, Katko first entered private practice at a firm in Washington, D.C. He later served as a senior trial attorney in the Enforcement Division of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. He then spent two decades as an Assistant United States Attorney, including assignments on the Mexico-United States border in El Paso, Texas, and in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Returning to Central New York, Katko spent fifteen years as a federal organized crime prosecutor in Syracuse for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of New York. In that role, he led high-level narcotics prosecutions, helped create the Syracuse Gang Violence Task Force, and successfully prosecuted the first RICO gang case in the City of Syracuse, a case that contributed to a significant drop in violent crime. He retired from the Department of Justice in January 2013 and soon after decided to run for Congress.
John Katko Career
Early Career (2014–2015)
John Michael Katko entered politics by challenging Democratic incumbent Representative Dan Maffei in the 2014 United States House of Representatives elections. On November 4, 2014, Katko was declared the winner with 60 percent of the vote to Maffei’s 40 percent, the largest margin of defeat suffered by an incumbent during the 2014 election cycle.
His election was widely viewed as a notable early achievement, as he helped flip a competitive Central New York seat for Republicans. His background as a federal prosecutor and his image as a problem-solver helped him appeal to voters across party lines.
House Tenure and Committee Work (2015–2021)
During his early terms, Katko was a productive legislator. In 2016, eight Katko-sponsored bills passed the House and one became law, giving him more bills pass the House that year than any other member of the 61-member freshman class elected in 2014. He was reelected in 2016 with 61 percent of the vote, even as Donald Trump lost the district by four points in the concurrent presidential election.
Katko won reelection again in 2018, defeating Democratic nominee Dana Balter with 52.6 percent of the vote, and in 2020 with 53 percent of the vote. His willingness to work across the aisle earned him a reputation as a moderate Republican. The Lugar Center ranked him the second most bipartisan member of the House during the 116th Congress, and the Center for Effective Lawmaking at Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia ranked him the third-most effective House Republican in 2021.
Moderate Republican Leadership (2019–2021)
In the 116th Congress, Katko served as a co-chair of the House moderate Republican faction known as the Tuesday Group. He later became the sole chair of the renamed Republican Governance Group during the 117th Congress, helping organize centrist Republicans around a bipartisan governing agenda.
He also broke with his party on several high-profile votes. In 2017, Katko was one of only 20 Republicans to vote against the GOP healthcare bill, which passed the House by a margin of 217 to 213. In 2019, he co-sponsored legislation to extend the protections of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. In November 2021, he was one of 13 House Republicans to vote for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Second Impeachment and January 6 Response (2021)
Katko first voted against both articles of impeachment against Trump on December 18, 2019, during Trump’s first impeachment. His position shifted dramatically after the January 6, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol. On January 12, 2021, he became the first House Republican to say he would vote to impeach Trump during the second impeachment vote.
He joined nine other Republicans in supporting impeachment on January 13, 2021. On February 4, 2021, he joined 11 other Republicans in voting with all present Democrats to strip Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of her House Education and Labor Committee and House Budget Committee assignments. Earlier, on May 19, 2021, he was one of 35 Republicans who joined all 217 Democrats present in voting to establish a bipartisan January 6 commission to investigate the attack on the Capitol.
HillEast Group Era (2023–Present)
On January 14, 2022, Katko announced that he would not seek reelection in 2022, citing a desire to spend more time with his family. At the time, he was in line to chair the House Homeland Security Committee if Republicans won a majority in the 2022 elections. After leaving Congress, he joined HillEast Group, a lobbying and consulting firm in Washington, D.C., as a senior adviser in January 2023.
In this role, he has drawn on more than two decades of experience in federal law enforcement and congressional lawmaking to advise clients in the private sector. His work at HillEast Group continues to build on his reputation as a bipartisan dealmaker.
Notable Events and Milestones
Among John Michael Katko’s signature moments in Congress were his 2014 upset win over an incumbent, his role in helping pass the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021, and his historic vote to impeach President Trump during the second impeachment. He was also a leading voice for the bipartisan January 6 commission and a frequent defender of civil rights protections for LGBTQ Americans, including voting for the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022.
John Katko Family
Family Background and Lineage
John Michael Katko was raised in Camillus, New York, a suburb of Syracuse, in a family of Slovak heritage on his father’s side. He is a practicing Roman Catholic. The values of his Central New York upbringing and his Catholic faith have remained important parts of his personal identity throughout his career in law and politics.
Personal Life
John Michael Katko married Robin Gibson in 1987, and the couple has three sons. The family resides in Camillus, New York. His decision in 2022 not to seek reelection was driven in part by his desire to spend more time with his family after years of public service.