Ryan Costello
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 6th district
In office
January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2019
Preceded byJim Gerlach
Succeeded byChrissy Houlahan
Member of the
Chester County Board of Commissioners
In office
February 17, 2011 – December 16, 2014
Chairman: 2013-2014, 2014
Preceded byCarol Aichele
Succeeded byMichelle Kichline
Chester County Recorder of Deeds
In office
January 7, 2008 – February 17, 2011
Preceded byTerence Farrell
Succeeded byRick Loughery
Personal details
Born
Ryan Anthony Costello

(1976-09-07) September 7, 1976
Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseChristine Costello
Children2
EducationUrsinus College (BA)
Villanova University (JD)

Ryan Anthony Costello (born September 7, 1976) is an American politician, lobbyist and attorney who served as the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was first elected to the Congress in the 2014 midterms. Costello previously served on the Chester County Board of Commissioners (2011–2015), which he chaired from 2013 to 2015.

Costello chose not to seek reelection in the 2018 election, and was succeeded by Democrat Chrissy Houlahan. After leaving Congress, Costello became a registered lobbyist.[1]

Early life

Costello was born in 1976 to schoolteacher parents.[2] Costello attended Ursinus College and Villanova University School of Law.[3]

Political career

Costello served on the Board of Supervisors for East Vincent Township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, for six years, serving as chairman for the last four.[4] He was elected the Chester County recorder of deeds in 2008.[3][5] He was elected to the Chester County Board of Commissioners in 2011.[6] His fellow commissioners elected him as chairman of the commission in 2013, and reappointed in 2014.[7]

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2014

When Jim Gerlach, the Republican incumbent in Pennsylvania's 6th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, announced that he would not run for reelection in 2014, Costello chose to run for the Republican Party nomination.[8] He faced no primary opposition.[9] He faced Manan Trivedi of the Democratic Party in the general election.[10] Costello defeated Trivedi, 56%–44%.[11]

2016

In 2016, Democrat Mike Parrish challenged Costello. Hacked material from Parrish was leaked during the campaign, but the Costello campaign took the position that they would not use the illicitly obtained materials during the election.[12] Vincent Galko, a consultant for Costello, said, "When news broke that this material had likely been stolen by a foreign actor, we immediately said, ‘We’re not going to use it.'"[12]

Costello was re-elected by a wide margin of 57.2 to 42.8.[13]

Tenure

For his first two terms, Costello represented a district that took in northern Chester County and western Montgomery County, then reached across Berks County to take in much of heavily Republican Lebanon County. However, in February 2018, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court[14] released a new map for the state's congressional districts to replace a map which the court had previously struck down as a Republican partisan gerrymander.[15] The court imposed a new map after the state legislature refused to submit a replacement. Costello was the only incumbent who retained his old district number. However, the 6th was made significantly more compact. It lost most of its heavily Republican western portion, as well as its share of Montgomery County. Instead, it now took in all of Chester County as well as most of the more Democratic portions of Berks County, including Reading.[16] Even before the old map was thrown out, Costello had already attracted a well-financed Democratic challenger, entrepreneur and Air Force veteran Chrissy Houlahan.[14]

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, "Of the many Republicans who took a political blow from Pennsylvania's new congressional map, Chester County's Ryan Costello got hit the hardest."[14] The new 6th was significantly more Democratic than its predecessor. Had the redrawn district existed in 2016, Hillary Clinton would have won it with 52 percent of the vote to Donald Trump's 43 percent;[17] Clinton carried the old 6th with 48 percent of the vote.[18][19] Along similar lines, Nate Cohn of The New York Times wrote that the new map put Costello in "very serious trouble," and wondered if Costello would even run for a third term.[16]

The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that "the previous, GOP-drawn map was one factor aiding Republicans as they held a firm grip on every competitive seat in the moderate Philadelphia suburbs."[14] According to the Pottstown Mercury, the Republican-drawn congressional map was "widely viewed as among the nation’s most gerrymandered."[20] After the new congressional map was released, Costello said he supported impeaching the justices who imposed the map, calling the court corrupt and undemocratic.[14] Republicans requested that the United States Supreme Court intervene in the redistricting dispute, although Politico reported that the Republican challenge was unlikely to be successful.[21][22] In March 2018, a panel of federal judges refused to block the new congressional map from going into effect.[23]

In March 2018, Costello filed petitions to get on the 2018 ballot,[24] but later that month, he announced that he was dropping his reelection bid.[25] According to The Hill, he became frustrated with the Trump administration, which contributed to his dropping from the race.[26]

After announcing his retirement, CNN called him a "rare brand in the House GOP conference: a young moderate willing to break with his leadership and his President on everything from gun control bills to repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act."[27] While FiveThirtyEight evaluated Costello's voting record and found that he "voted in line with Trump's position 95.5% of the time,"[28] a ranking by the Lugar Center showed Costello was the ninth most bipartisan member of Congress in 2017 and held the second highest bipartisan ranking of any member of Pennsylvania's congressional delegation.[29] In addition, according to data from Quorum, Costello was ranked number five in the top ten Republican members who vote against their own party.[30] Houlahan went on to win the November general election against Greg McCauley.

Political positions

Throughout his tenure, Costello was ranked as one of the most bipartisan Members of Congress, breaking with his party to support environment, health care, and education initiatives.[31] In 2017, Costello ranked ninth out of 435 Members of Congress in bipartisanship.[32]

In May 2017, Costello broke from his party and voted against the Republican health care legislation, the American Health Care Act (AHCA).[33]

In November 2017, Costello voted for the Republican Party's 2017 tax plan that passed the House.[34] He also voted in favor of a 2018 bipartisan bill to fund the federal government.[35]

Electoral history

Pennsylvania's 6th Congressional District election, 2014
Republican primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ryan Costello 24,313 100
Pennsylvania's 6th Congressional District, 2014
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ryan Costello 119,643 56.29
Democratic Manan Trivedi 92,901 43.71
Total votes 212,544 100
Republican hold
Pennsylvania's 6th Congressional District election, 2016
Republican primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ryan Costello (Incumbent) 88,349 100
Total votes 88,349 100
Pennsylvania's 6th Congressional District, 2016
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ryan Costello (Incumbent) 207,469 57.24
Democratic Mike Parrish 155,000 42.76
Total votes 362,469 100
Republican hold

Committee assignments

115th Congress
114th Congress

Caucus memberships

Post-political career

After leaving Congress in January 2019, he announced the formation of Ryan Costello Strategies, a consulting firm.[37] In October 2019, it was reported that he planned to register as a lobbyist following the mandatory one-year cooling off period.[1] In 2023, Costello was hired as an outside lobbyist for Google on "openness and competition" issues.[38]

Personal life

Costello lives along with his wife and two children in West Chester, Pennsylvania.[3] He is a Presbyterian.[39][40]

References

  1. 1 2 Jonathan Tamari (October 4, 2019). "Ex-Congressmen Pat Meehan, Charlie Dent, and Ryan Costello move to lobbying ranks". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  2. ↑ Profile, nationaljournal.com; accessed November 9, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 "Chester County Commissioner Ryan Costello to run for Jim Gerlach's seat". January 15, 2014. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  4. ↑ Official Congressional Directory 115th Congress, 2017-2018, Convened January 2017
  5. ↑ "Costello appointed Chester County Commissioner". The Unionville Times. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Chester County Republican Costello announces run for Congress". Philly.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Costello re-appointed chair of Chester County Commissioners". Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  8. ↑ "The Republican Party's rising star". Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  9. ↑ WFMZ. "6th District candidates unopposed in primary, look to November election". WFMZ. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  10. ↑ "In battle for Congress, Ryan Costello and Manan Trivedi vie for money and attention". Reading Eagle. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  11. ↑ Ryan Costello beats Manan Trivedi for 6th U.S. House Congressional seat Archived November 7, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, wfmz.com; accessed November 9, 2014.
  12. 1 2 Bertrand, Natasha. "There's Nothing to Stop the 2018 Elections From Being Hacked". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Pennsylvania U.S. House 6th District Results: Ryan A. Costello Wins". The New York Times. August 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 "In Pa.'s new congressional map, this Republican's 'bad dream' turns into 'a nightmare' - Philly". Philly.com. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  15. ↑ Prokop, Andrew (February 21, 2018). "What Pennsylvania's new congressional map means for 2018". Vox. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  16. 1 2 Cohn, Nate (February 19, 2018). "The New Pennsylvania Congressional Map, District by District". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  17. ↑ Presidential results by congressional district for districts used in 2018, from Daily Kos
  18. ↑ Presidential results by congressional district for districts used in 2016, from Daily Kos
  19. ↑ Cohn, Nate (February 19, 2018). "The New Pennsylvania Congressional Map, District by District". The New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  20. ↑ "Rep. Costello calls for impeachment of Pa. justices for approving 'corrupt' map". Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  21. ↑ "Pennsylvania redistricting map challenge filed with Supreme Court". CBS News. Associated Press. February 22, 2018. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  22. ↑ Schneider, Elena (February 20, 2018). "Republican challenge to Pennsylvania map likely to fail". Politico. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  23. ↑ Kamisar, Ben (March 19, 2018). "Judges refuse GOP request to block new Pa. district boundaries". The Hill. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  24. ↑ Tamari, Jonathan; Otterbein, Holly; Seidman, Andrew (March 20, 2018). "Nearly 100 people are running for Congress in Pa. Here's how the races are shaping up". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  25. ↑ Stracqualursi, Veronica; Bradner, Eric (March 25, 2018). "Rep. Ryan Costello will drop bid for reelection in Pennsylvania". CNN. Cable News Network.
  26. ↑ Zanona, Melanie (April 8, 2018). "Retiring GOP lawmakers cut loose on Trump". The Hill. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
  27. ↑ Fox, Lauren. "Why Republicans are calling it quits". CNN. videos by Cassie Spodak, McKenna Ewen and Zachary Wasser. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  28. ↑ "Tracking Congress in the Age of Trump". January 30, 2017.
  29. ↑ "Our Work". www.thelugarcenter.org. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  30. ↑ "What Partisanship Reveals About Congress in 2017". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  31. ↑ "What Partisanship Reveals About Congress in 2017". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  32. ↑ "Delaware Valley-area GOP reps rate high in bipartisanship survey". WHYY. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  33. ↑ "FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 256".
  34. ↑ Olson, Laura. "Pennsylvania Republicans support GOP tax overhaul as it passes House". themorningcall.com. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  35. ↑ Rellahan, Michael. "Costello votes for budget, but fumes over Trump tweets". Daily Local News. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  36. ↑ "90 Current Climate Solutions Caucus Members". Citizen´s Climate Lobby. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  37. ↑ Anna Merriman (January 18, 2019). "Former congressman Ryan Costello starts consulting firm". Consulting.us. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  38. ↑ Oprysko, Caitlin (March 23, 2023). "Google hires Costello". POLITICO. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  39. ↑ "Pennsylvania-6: Ryan Costello (R)". www.nationaljournal.com. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  40. ↑ "Engagements: Thomas – Costello". Daily Local News. Retrieved January 5, 2015.

Further reading

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