Peter Roskam

Peter Roskam Bio

Peter James Roskam (born September 13, 1961) is an American politician, lawyer, and lobbyist who served as the U.S. Representative for Illinois’s 6th congressional district from 2007 to 2019. A Republican, he rose through the ranks of House leadership as chief deputy majority whip from 2011 to 2014 and chaired the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Tax Policy in the 115th Congress. After his 2018 defeat by Democrat Sean Casten, Roskam returned to private practice as a partner and lobbyist, and in 2023 became federal policy head of BakerHostetler’s lobbying practice. In January 2025, he was elected chair of the National Endowment for Democracy’s board of directors.

Early Life and Background

Peter James Roskam was born in Hinsdale, Illinois, the son of Martha (Jacobsen) and Verlyn Ronald Roskam. He was the fourth of five children and was raised in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, where he graduated from Glenbard West High School. The family later worked to return American military dog tags to their owners or the families of the deceased after his parents encountered them for sale during a trip to Vietnam.

Roskam went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He later received his Juris Doctor from the Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology. While at Chicago-Kent, he served on his law school’s trial team and was named Best Oral Advocate by the American College of Trial Lawyers at its 1988 National Trial Competition, an early signal of his skill in public advocacy.

Path to US Politics

Roskam began his professional career in 1984 as a teacher of history and government at All Saints High School in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The following year he moved to Washington, D.C., working as a legislative assistant to Republican Congressman Tom DeLay of Texas from 1985 to 1986. He then served as a legislative assistant to Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois from 1986 to 1987, gaining firsthand exposure to Capitol Hill and Republican policy work.

In the late 1980s, Roskam became executive director of Educational Assistance Ltd., a scholarship program for disadvantaged children founded by his father in 1982. He later practiced as a partner at the personal injury firm Salvi, Roskam & Maher, earning more than $615,000 in 2005 as a trial lawyer, according to the Chicago Tribune. These experiences in teaching, public policy, and law set the stage for his transition into elected office in Illinois.

Peter Roskam Career

Early Career (1992–2006)

Roskam entered electoral politics in 1992 when he was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, where he served from 1993 to 1999. In 1998, he ran for Congress in Illinois’s 13th congressional district to replace retiring Congressman Harris W. Fawell, but lost the Republican primary to state Representative Judy Biggert, 45 percent to 40 percent. The loss did not stall his state-level ascent.

In 2000, DuPage County Republican leaders appointed Roskam to replace the retiring Beverly Fawell in the Illinois State Senate. He served in the state Senate from 2000 to 2006, rising to Republican minority whip from January 2003 to January 2007. During this period, he also served as Republican spokesman on the Executive Committee and sat on the Rules, Environment and Energy, Insurance and Pensions, and Judiciary Committees.

2006 Congressional Breakthrough (2006–2010)

In 2006, longtime Congressman Henry Hyde retired after 32 years in Congress and endorsed Roskam as his successor in Illinois’s 6th congressional district. Roskam was unopposed in the Republican primary and faced Iraq War veteran and Democrat Tammy Duckworth in a race that the Daily Herald called the nation’s most-watched congressional contest. Backed by endorsements from the Teamsters, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Roskam defeated Duckworth by a narrow 51 percent to 49 percent margin on November 7, 2006.

He won re-election in 2008 against Jill Morgenthaler by a 16-point margin (58 percent to 42 percent) and in 2010 defeated Democrat Ben Lowe by a 27-point margin during the Republican midterm wave. In his early House years, Roskam secured more than $50 million in federal dollars for local health care and infrastructure projects, including funding for Adventist GlenOaks Hospital and the Access Community Health Network’s Martin T. Russo Family Health Center.

House Leadership and Ways and Means Era (2011–2018)

Roskam became chief deputy majority whip at the start of the 112th Congress in 2011, ranking fourth among House Republican leaders, and held the post until 2014. After Eric Cantor’s stunning 2014 primary defeat, Roskam ran for majority whip but lost a three-way internal race to Steve Scalise on the first ballot. He went on to chair the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Tax Policy during the 115th Congress.

He was easily re-elected in 2012 against Leslie Coolidge (an 18.4-point margin) and in 2014 against Michael Mason (a 34-point margin). He also won a 2016 Republican primary against Glen Ellyn Park District commissioner Jay Kinzler with 68.8 percent of the vote. During this era he supported the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, voted to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act with the American Health Care Act, and worked across the aisle on issues such as U.S.–Israeli missile defense cooperation and BDS-related trade policy.

BakerHostetler Era (2019–Present)

Following his 2018 defeat by Democrat Sean Casten, who won 53.6 percent to 46.4 percent, Roskam joined the Chicago office of Sidley Austin in July 2019 as a partner in its government strategies group, working as a lobbyist and consultant. In January 2023, he moved to BakerHostetler, a Washington, D.C.–based law firm, where he became federal policy head of its lobbying practice. In January 2025, Roskam was elected chair of the National Endowment for Democracy’s board of directors.

Notable Events and Milestones

Roskam’s career-defining moments include his narrow 2006 victory over Tammy Duckworth, his ascent to chief deputy majority whip in 2011, and his role chairing the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Tax Policy. He was named a Hero of the Taxpayer by Americans for Tax Reform in 2005, and in January 2025 added another milestone when he was elected chair of the National Endowment for Democracy’s board of directors.

Peter Roskam Career Wins

Over the course of his career, Peter Roskam won six consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and held leadership posts at both the state and federal levels.

Congressional Election Highlights

Roskam won his first congressional race in 2006 by 2 points against Democrat Tammy Duckworth. He followed that with increasingly comfortable victories: 16 points in 2008, 27 points in 2010, 18.4 points in 2012, and 34 points in 2014. His final congressional victory came in 2016 before his 7.2-point defeat by Sean Casten in 2018.

Other Wins and Achievements

Roskam earned the Best Oral Advocate award from the American College of Trial Lawyers at its 1988 National Trial Competition and was recognized as a Hero of the Taxpayer by Americans for Tax Reform in 2005. He also served as Illinois Senate Republican minority whip from 2003 to 2007 and, in January 2025, was elected chair of the National Endowment for Democracy’s board of directors.

Peter Roskam Family

Family Background and Political Lineage

Roskam is the son of Verlyn Ronald Roskam and Martha (Jacobsen) Roskam, and the fourth of five children. He was raised in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and his father founded Educational Assistance Ltd. in 1982, a scholarship program for disadvantaged children that Roskam later led as executive director. The family’s commitment to public service continued through his work as a legislative assistant to Republican Congressmen Tom DeLay and Henry Hyde.

Personal Life

Peter Roskam married Elizabeth Roskam in 1989, and the couple has four children. The family resides in Wheaton, Illinois. In 2013, the U.S. House Committee on Ethics reviewed a $25,000 trip that Roskam and his wife took to Taiwan and closed the review with no finding of wrongdoing.