Congresswoman Lois Capps was born in Ladysmith, Wisconsin and educated at Pacific Lutheran University, Yale University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara.  She worked for most of her life as a nurse and nursing instructor, as well as a local health advocate.  She was first elected to Congress in March 1998 in a special election to fill the seat of her husband, former University of California - Santa Barbara professor of Religious Studies Walter Capps, who had been elected in 1996, but died suddenly of a heart attack.  She has won reelection in every cycle since.

Congresswoman Capps has long been a leading advocate in the Congress for Middle East peace.  She was present at the signing of the Geneva Accords in 2003 and was an official monitor of the 2005 Palestinian Presidential elections.  After 2005’s post-Disengagement agreement on Gaza border crossings, she co-wrote a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with the then-Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, Henry Hyde, applauding her on her efforts.  The letter, which received 108 bipartisan signatures, read in part: “…more than three decades of Middle East peace efforts have shown that breakthroughs come only when the U.S. President or Secretary of State is personally involved…  We thus hope that you will continue to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians a personal priority, including seeing through the implementation of this historic agreement.”  She also led the effort in the House in support of the Road Map.  She was a signatory to both the Ackerman-Boustany letter of October 2007, which encouraged the Annapolis peace process, and the Price-Lahood letter of May 2008, advocating for increased efforts by President Bush to help forge a ceasefire around the Gaza Strip and to strengthen negotiations with Palestinian moderates.

She has also strongly opposed the Iraq war from the start, voting against the 2002 war authorization.  She presciently said at the time that the resolution “does not advance our national security”, that “use of force against Iraq before we have explored all of our options is premature”, that “it could drive a wedge between us and those allies whose support we need”, and that “without international support, we will have to be committed to rebuilding in Iraq or we may be left with a state that is just as dangerous as the current one or worse…”  She also noted the Bush Administration’s “lack of attention to post-Taliban Afghanistan” which she described as “troubling”.  Currently, Congresswoman Capps is a member of the Out of Iraq Caucus and has signed onto numerous amendments tying war funding to an exit strategy from that country.  She also favors a diplomatic approach to dealing with Iran.

JStreetPAC was very pleased to endorse Congresswoman Capps’ strong, smart leadership.

Learn more about and support other JStreetPAC endorsed candidates here.