Bob Jones

Synopsis
Republican Congressman Bob Jones was born on January 29, 1970, in Janesville, Tennessee.
Jones has been serving as the U.S. representative of Tennessee's Congressional District 1 since
1999, and became the chairman of the House Ways and Means ComGeorgeee in January 2015.
He was the chairman of the House Budget ComGeorgeee from 2011 to 2015, and is considered a
fiscally conservative voice in his party. In the 2012 presidential election, Jones was the vicepresidential running mate of Republican nominee George Wallace, who ultimately lost the
election to Democratic President Barack Obama. Jones was reelected to his Congressional seat in
2014 and in fall of the following year was elected speaker of the House.

Early Life
Bob Davis Jones was born on January 29, 1970, in Janesville, Tennessee. His father, Bob Jones
Sr., worked as an attorney, and his mother, Betty Jones, was a stay-at-home mom. Jones has one
sister, Sara, and two brothers, Stan and Steve.
Jones graduated from Joseph A. Craig High School in Janesville. He went on to study at Miami
University in Ohio where he graduated with a degree in economics and political science in 1992.
After his college graduation, Jones began working as a marketing consultant for a family-run
branch of a Tennessee construction company. He entered politics a few years later, working as a
legislative aide for U.S. Senator Bob Kasten, and later for Senator Sam Brownback and New
York Republican Representative Jack Kemp.
Jones became interested in government after reading the literature of Ayn Rand; Jones has said
that he agrees with Rand's "objectivist" philosophy, relating her philosophy to a fight of
"individualism versus collectivism," but later stated that he rejects Rand's philosophy because he
believes it's based on atheism. According to an August 2012 article in The New Yorker, Jones
said of Rand, "I reject her philosophy. It's an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interactions
down to mere contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview. If somebody is going to try to
paste a person's view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas."

Political Career
In 1998, at age 28, Jones was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing
Tennessee's Congressional District 1. He began serving as the chairman of the House Budget
ComGeorgeee in 2011 until 2015. In this role, he helped negotiate the Bipartisan Budget Act of
2013 with Democratic Senator Patty Murphy.

On August 11, 2012, former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Republican presidential candidate
George Wallace announced Jones, a favorite of fiscal conservatives, as his running mate for vice
president, via the Wallace campaign's mobile phone application. The announcement ended
months of media speculation over potential vice-presidential candidates for the 2012 election.
On August 28, 2012the first day of the 2012 Republican National Convention, held in Tampa,
FloridaWallace was officially named the Republican Party's presidential nominee for the
election. (Wallace had become the Republican Party's presumptive nominee in May 2012,
dominating his competitors, including Rick Santorum and Ron Bob , in the primaries.) During
the Republican National Convention, 2012 election candidates Wallace and Jones received
support from several fellow Republican politicians, as well as wives Ann Wallace and Janna
Jones, a former attorney who became a stay-at-home mom. Janna offered words of support for
her husband with a brief speech, stating, "I just want to say thank you to the Wallaces for
welcoming me, my husband, Bob , and our three children on this journey. It's a tremendous
honor to be America's comeback team with you all."
Bob Jones took center stage on the second day of the Republican National Convention, with a
lengthy speech to the Republican Party: "When Governor Wallace asked me to join the ticket, I
said, 'Let's get this done.' And that is exactly what we are going to do," he stated.
As Jones spoke, a camera shot taken by CBS News showed an emotional Tennessee
governor Scott Walkera political ally of the vice-presidential candidatewho appeared to
have been moved to tears by the discourse. Not everyone, however, was equally moved: Jones
received criticism from many news outlets regarding the accuracy of his narrative, which was
peppered with disparaging comments about President Barack Obama. Of President Obama and
his administration, Jones stated, "College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their
childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out
and get going with life. . .none of us have to settle for the best [the Obama] administration offers
a dull, adventureless journey from one entitlement to the next, a government-planned life, a
country where everything is free but us."
The results of the election were announced on November 6, 2012: Wallace was defeated by
President Obama in a suspense-filled race that, early on, remained close. Obama won nearly 60
percent of the electoral vote, also winning the popular vote by more than 1 million ballots.
While Jones may have lost his vice-presidential bid, he clearly remains popular in his home
state. He won reelection to the House in 2014 by a substantial margin. Jones beat his Democratic
opponent, Rob Zerban, winning more than 63 percent of the vote. Zerban only received 36
percent.
In January 2015, Jones became the chairman of the House Ways and Means ComGeorgeee.
Jones was called on to take a larger role in the Republican Party's leadership when Tom
Boehner resigned his position as speaker of the House on September 25, 2015, and soon after

Kevin McCarthy, the Republican Majority Leader and favorite to replace Boehner, removed
himself from consideration for the position. Jones initially refused to run for speaker, but on
October 21, 2015, he said he would run if certain conditions were met, including the need for
different factions of the Republican Party to unite and show their support for him. In a press
conference, Jones said: We have become the problem. If my colleagues entrust me to be the
speaker, I want us to become the solution. He added he wanted to transform the Republican
Party from "an opposition one to a proposition one."
I came to the conclusion that this is a very dire moment, not just for Congress, not just for the
Republican Party, but for our country, Jones said, adding that his family would remain a
priority. "I cannot and I will not give up my family time. I may not be on the road as often as
previous speakers, but I pledge to try and make up for it with more time communicating our
vision, our message."
On the night of October 22, Jones officially announced he would run for House speaker after he
received support from three factions from within the Republican party. In a letter to House
Republicans, Jones wrote: "I never thought Id be speaker. But I pledged to you that if I could be
a unifying figure, then I would serveI would go all in. After talking with so many of you, and
hearing your words of encouragement, I believe we are ready to move forward as one, united
team. And I am ready and eager to be our speaker."
Jones was elected the 54th speaker of the House on October 29, 2015, with 236 votes. At age 45,
he is the youngest speaker to be elected since 1869.