Peter James Roskam (born September 13, 1961) is an American politician and lobbyist who is the former U.S. representative for , serving six terms from 2007 to 2019. He is a member of the Republican Party and served as the chief deputy majority whip from 2011 to 2014, ranking fourth among House Republican leaders. Previously, he served in the Illinois Senate and the Illinois House of Representatives. He served as chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Tax Policy for the 115th Congress. Roskam was defeated by Democrat Sean Casten in the 2018 election. In 2023, he was named federal policy head of the lobbying practice at Washington, DC–based law firm BakerHostetler. In January 2025, he was elected chairman of National Endowment for Democracy's board of directors.
Early life, education and career Roskam was born in Hinsdale, Illinois, the son of Martha (Jacobsen) and Verlyn Ronald Roskam.http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~battle/genealogy/reps/roskam.htm He was the fourth of five children and was raised in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, graduating from Glenbard West High School. He earned his B.A. in political science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his J.D. from the Chicago-Kent College of Law. As a member of his law school team, he was named "Best Oral Advocate" by the American College of Trial Lawyers at its 1988 National Trial Competition.
In 1984, Roskam taught history and government at All Saints High School in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. From 1985 to 1986, Roskam served as a legislative assistant to Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), and from 1986 to 1987 as a legislative assistant to Congressman Henry Hyde. In the late 1980s, he served as the executive director of Educational Assistance Ltd., a scholarship program for disadvantaged children founded by his father in 1982.
In 1992, Roskam was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, serving from 1993 to 1999. In 2000, he was appointed by DuPage County Republican leaders to replace the retiring Beverly FawellKadin, Deborah. in the Illinois State Senate where he served until his election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Roskam resides in Wheaton, Illinois. His wife is Elizabeth, they have four children.
Roskam was a partner in the law firm Salvi, Roskam & Maher, a personal injury firm. The firm, now called Salvi & Maher, is politically notable because former Republican Senate candidate Al Salvi and former Republican House candidate Kathy Salvi are also partners in the firm. The Chicago Tribune noted that Roskam earned over $615,000 in 2005 as a personal injury trial lawyer.
After his parents took a trip to Vietnam and saw American veterans' dog tags for sale on the street, the family worked to return the dog tags to their owners or the families of the deceased.
Illinois General Assembly Roskam served in the Illinois General Assembly as a representative from 1993 to 1998, and senator from 2000 to 2006. In the Senate, Roskam served as the Republican minority whip from January 8, 2003 to January 3, 2007 (preceded by Debbie Halvorson and succeeded by Kirk Dillard), the Republican spokesman on the Executive Committee, and a member of the Rules Committee, Environment and Energy Committee, Insurance and Pensions Committee, and Judiciary Committee. In the Senate, Roskam sponsored legislation giving the Supreme Court of Illinois authority to reverse a death penalty sentence, has sponsored legislation increasing the penalties for repeat D.U.I. offenders, and was the lead sponsor of a law to maintain courts' power to hold deadbeat parents in contempt to ensure child support. Roskam has authored or co-authored fourteen bills to cut taxes.
Gun law Roskam sponsored an Illinois state Senate bill that would have allowed retired military and police personnel to carry concealed weapons.
Healthcare On May 20, 2005, Roskam and six other Illinois senators missed a vote in the Illinois Senate on a non-binding resolution urging the United States Congress to protect Social Security and reject private accounts. The resolution passed 32–19–1, but no action was taken in the Illinois House.Illinois General Assembly. 94th General Assembly. Senate Joint Resolution No. 13 . Roll call – Third Reading Roskam has said in a WBBM post-debate press conference, "I am against privatizing Social Security, I am against raising taxes for Social Security benefits, and I'm against benefit reductions for Social Security.WBBM (AM) post-debate press conference, September 22, 2006.
Minimum wage In November 2006, Roskam expressed opposition to raising the national minimum wage from $5.15 per hour, referring to possible effect on small businesses.
Tax reform In November 2004, he voted against State Comptroller Dan Hynes's $1 billion proposal to raise taxes on cosmetic surgery to fund stem cell research. The proposal was narrowly defeated 29–28–1 in the Illinois State Senate."Illinois Senate narrowly defeats stem-cell measure", Chicago Tribune, November 19, 2004.State of Illinois 93rd General Assembly. HB 3589 amendment 7 (PDF)
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
1998
Roskam ran for Congress in 1998 in Illinois's 13th congressional district to replace retiring Congressman Harris W. Fawell, but lost in the Republican primary to state Representative Judy Biggert, who went on to win the general election. Roskam received 40% of the vote to Biggert's 45%.
In 1999, at Biggert's request, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) investigated a mailing sent out by a political action committee (PAC), the Campaign for Working Families (CWF), in support of Roskam. The FEC did not find the Roskam campaign at fault, but CWF was found to have violated election law. The PAC was led by conservative activist Gary Bauer.
2006
In 2006, Henry Hyde opted to retire after 32 years in Congress, and endorsed Roskam as his successor. Roskam was unopposed in the Republican primary and faced Democrat Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran, in the November general election. The race was considered highly competitive, and was called "the nation's most-watched congressional contest" by Eric Krol of the Daily Herald.Krol, Eric.
Roskam was endorsed by the Teamsters labor union, The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. On November 7, 2006, Roskam defeated Duckworth by a margin of 51% to 49%.
2008
In March 2008, Roskam was again nominated to run for the 6th District seat in the Republican primary. He was opposed by Democrat Jill Morgenthaler. In late October, The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Roskam launched a new website at ObamaVotersForRoskam.com. The website displayed a fragment of a quotation from Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama that seemed to indicate that Obama admires Roskam. The portion of the Obama quotation omitted by Roskam goes: "Having said that, have I said that he's wrong? I love him, but he's wrong." The Daily Herald called the website a "... move to grab a hold of Obama's coattails ..." Hardball with Chris Matthews featured a segment on Roskam's website. The Morgenthaler campaign pointed out that Obama supports Morgenthaler, not Roskam.Murray, Matthew. "Illinois: Nervous Roskam Eyes Possible Ticket-Splitter" , rollcall.com, October 30, 2008. However, the district reverted to form, and Roskam won re-election by a 16% margin (58% to 42%).
2010
Peter Roskam defeated Democratic nominee Ben Lowe by a 27% margin in the 2010 midterm election.
2012
Roskam defeated Democratic nominee Leslie Coolidge, a former partner at KPMG, by an 18.4% margin in the 2012 election.Toeplitz, Shira.
2014
Roskam defeated Democratic nominee Michael Mason, a retired postal manager, by a 34% margin in the 2014 general election.
2016
In the Republican primary, Roskam defeated Glen Ellyn Park District commissioner Jay Kinzler, who ran to the political right of Roskam, with 68.8% of the vote.
2018
Although the district had traditionally been safely Republican, Roskam was considered vulnerable. Hillary Clinton had carried his district by 7 points, and Donald Trump was highly unpopular in many suburban areas. In February 2018, it was reported that seven Democratic candidates were vying to challenge Roskam for his seat. Sean Casten won the Democratic primary and faced Roskam in the general election. Roskam was defeated by Casten, who won 53.6% of the vote to Roskam's 46.4%.
Tenure
Roskam became the chief deputy whip in the 112th Congress,Peter Roskam gets top deputy whip spot, politico.com, November 29, 2010; accessed December 1, 2010. ranking fourth among house Republican leaders.Rep. Roskam gets GOP leadership position in new Congress , Crain's Chicago Business November 29, 2010; accessed December 1, 2010. He served in that position until 2014.
After Eric Cantor's unexpected defeat by Dave Brat on June 10, 2014, Roskam ran to replace Kevin McCarthy in the position of majority whip; McCarthy himself would replace Cantor as House majority leader. However, Roskam lost a three-way race for whip to Steve Scalise, losing on the first ballot.
He and Arizona Democrat Gabby Giffords were periodically interviewed together on NPR's All Things Considered during their first term as to their experiences as freshmen members of Congress.Freshmen Members Stake Out Roles in House All Things Considered, npr.org, January 4, 2007; retrieved April 22, 2008.
In 2013, the United States House Committee on Ethics investigated a $25,000 trip that Roskam and his wife had taken to Taiwan. The committee closed its review of the trip with no finding of wrongdoing. On February 22, 2017, Crain's Chicago Business reported that Roskam was one of three Illinois congressional members to receive pension benefits from the State of Illinois while collecting a paycheck as a member of the U.S. House, and began collecting $37,452 in annual pension benefits.
On January 2, 2017, Roskam vocally supported a measure to eliminate the independence of the Office of Congressional Ethics, placing it under the jurisdiction of the House Ethics Committee,Bade, Rachael. a measure that some described as dissolving the office.Kozlov, Dana. Crain's Chicago Business editorial board criticized Roskam for his efforts to place the Office of Congressional Ethics under the jurisdiction of the House Ethics Committee, as he had previously been the subject of an ethics investigation.
Committee assignments Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Tax Policy (Chair) Subcommittee on Health Select Committee on the Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi
Caucus memberships House Baltic Caucus Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus Veterinary Medicine Caucus
Political positions
As of July 6, 2018, Roskam had voted with his party in 92.6% of votes in the 115th Congress – ranking him #112 of 429 in voting against his party – and voted in line with President Trump's position in 94% of the votes. When it comes to co-sponsoring legislation Roskam was ranked number 153rd in bipartisanship in the House for the 114th Congress and 25th in the first year of the 115th Congress, according to the Bipartisan Index published by The Lugar Center and Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy. FiveThirtyEight ranked Roskam as the tenth-most partisan Trump supporter in the House when compared to his district's voting patterns.
Environment
In 2006, Roskam called climate science "junk science". The League of Conservation Voters gave Roskam an environmental rating of 3% for 2017 and a lifetime rating of 7%.
As an Illinois state legislator he received a 67% rating in 2005 from the Illinois Environmental Council. In 2004 he had scored 100%, while in 2003 he had scored 40%.