John Yarmuth
John Allan Yarmuth (/ˈjɑːrmɪθ/ YAR-mith; born November 4, 1947) is a retired American politician and newspaper editor who served as the U.S. representative for Kentucky's 3rd congressional district from 2007 to 2023. His district encompassed the vast majority of the Louisville Metro Area. From 2013 onward, he had been the sole Democratic member of Kentucky's congressional delegation. Yarmuth chaired the House Budget Committee from 2019 to 2023.[1] On October 12, 2021, he announced that he would not seek reelection in 2022.[2]
John Yarmuth
Early life and education[edit]
Yarmuth was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of Edna E. (née Klein) and Stanley R. Yarmuth. He is descended from Jewish immigrants from Russia and Austria.[3] He graduated from Atherton High School.[4] He later graduated from Yale University, majoring in American studies.[4]
Early career[edit]
Yarmuth worked as a legislative aide for Republican U.S. Senator Marlow Cook from 1971 to 1974, then returned to Louisville and launched his publishing career by founding Louisville Today magazine, which operated from 1976 to 1982. He later worked as a vice president of University Relations at the University of Louisville from 1983 to 1986, where he was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa as an honoris causa initiate in 2014.[4][5]
Yarmuth described himself as a Rockefeller Republican in his earlier years. He left the party during Ronald Reagan's presidency, saying, "I saw this unmistakable move away from moderation when he started hosting Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and catering to the religious right".[6]
In 1990, Yarmuth founded the Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO), a weekly newspaper for which he wrote a generally liberal political column that usually ran on page one. In 2003, he sold LEO to a company owned by Times Publishing Company of Pennsylvania, owner of the Erie Times-News. Yarmuth remained on board as a columnist and consultant until January 2006, when he put his column on hiatus to run for Congress.[4]
Television[edit]
In 2003, Yarmuth and former WHAS-AM radio talk show host John Ziegler debated political issues on the weekly WAVE program Yarmuth & Ziegler, with Yarmuth taking the liberal side and Ziegler the conservative side. On a successor program, Hot Button, which ran from September 2004 to December 2005, he faced off with conservative Jim Milliman.
Yarmuth appeared on the March 8, 2007, episode of The Colbert Report in the show's "Better Know a District" series. In a parody of Yarmuth's former Yarmuth & Ziegler debate series, host Stephen Colbert prodded Yarmuth into a point/counterpoint style debate. After agreeing to the "debate", Colbert forced Yarmuth to defend the shredding of kittens in wood chippers, which Yarmuth gamely proceeded to do. Colbert called Yarmuth a real-life Bruce Wayne, and presented him with a framed print of his congressional photo with a Batman mask photoshopped over his face.[59]
Personal life[edit]
Yarmuth has served on many boards, including the Bingham Child Guidance Center and Kentucky Country Day School. He is Kentucky's first Jewish congressman. Yarmuth and his wife, Cathy Yarmuth, have one son, Aaron, who is a graduate of Kentucky Country Day. Aaron was the owner of the Louisville Eccentric Observer, and along with a group of local investors purchased the publication in 2012. In May 2021 it was sold to the Euclid Media Group.[60]