John Michael Katko (; born November 9, 1962) is an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. representative for New York's 24th congressional district, based in Syracuse, from 2015 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was an Assistant United States Attorney who led the organized crime division at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Syracuse. In that role, he helped to prosecute gang members under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
In the 116th Congress, he was a co-chair of the House moderate Republican faction, the Tuesday Group. He was the sole chair of the renamed Republican Governance Group for the 117th Congress. Katko was one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump during Trump's second impeachment.
On January 14, 2022, Katko announced that he would not seek reelection in 2022. In January 2023, he was named a senior advisor for the Washington, DC-based lobbying and consulting firm Hill East Group.
Early life and education
Katko was born in Syracuse in 1962 and is a 1980 graduate of Bishop Ludden High School. He is of Slovak descent on his father's side.
Katko attended Niagara University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1984. He earned his Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law in 1988.
Legal career
Katko first entered private practice at a firm in Washington, D.C. Shortly thereafter he became a senior trial attorney in the Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He then spent 20 years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Department of Justice. He served as a senior trial attorney on the Mexico–United States border in El Paso, Texas, and he was later assigned to San Juan, Puerto Rico. In April 2000, a Department of Justice-issued handgun was stolen from Katko's vehicle and used in a robbery in which two people were killed. Katko had been issued the gun after receiving a threat against his life. The Syracuse Post-Standard later reported about the episode: "Katko broke no state or federal gun laws, and he was not disciplined by the Justice Department."
After leaving the Department of Justice, Katko moved to Camillus, New York, and spent 15 years working as a federal organized crime prosecutor in Syracuse, New York for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of New York. In this role, he "led high-level narcotics prosecutions and was instrumental in formulating the Syracuse Gang Violence Task Force and successfully prosecuting the first-ever RICO gang case in the City of Syracuse, which led to a significant drop in the city's violent crime rate." He "also prosecuted political and police corruption cases." He retired from the Department of Justice in January 2013.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2014
Katko challenged incumbent Representative Dan Maffei in the 2014 United States House of Representatives elections and was declared the winner on November 4 by more than 20 percentage points. This was the largest margin of defeat suffered by an incumbent in the 2014 election cycle.
2016
Katko ran for reelection in 2016. He ran unopposed in the Republican primary. He faced Democratic nominee Colleen Deacon, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's former district director for Central New York, in the November general election. Katko was reelected with 61% of the vote, even as Donald Trump lost this district by four points in the concurrent presidential election.
2018
National Democrats thought that this was one of the seats that they should have a chance at winning because Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won this district by four points in the 2016 election. The 2018 election was also heavily favored for the Democrats. In May 2018, The New York Times reported that the Democratic primary contest had attracted interest around the country. On June 26, 2018, Dana Balter, with 63% of the vote, defeated Juanita Perez Williams, with 37%, in the Democratic primary. Katko defeated Balter with 52.6% of the vote in the November general election.
2020
Katko was reelected in 2020 with 53% of the vote, but on January 3, 2022, the New York Independent Redistricting Commission proposed combining Ithaca, Syracuse, and Utica into one congressional district (the 24th); under that plan, Katko would likely have to face Claudia Tenney, who currently represents the 22nd district, in a primary.
Tenure
In 2016, eight Katko-sponsored bills passed the House; one became law. Katko had more bills pass the House that year than any other member of the 61-member freshman class elected in 2014.