Jim Himes

James Andrew Himes (born July 5, 1966) is an American businessman and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Connecticut's 4th congressional district since 2009. Himes is a member of the Democratic Party.

Himes's district includes most of the southwest corner of the state and is largely coextensive with the Connecticut side of the New York metropolitan area. It includes parts of Fairfield County and New Haven County, including the cities of Bridgeport, Norwalk, Fairfield and Stamford.

Himes is the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and a member of the House Financial Services Committee.

He previously chaired the United States House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth and the National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee, and has been a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence since 2013. In 2023, Himes became the Ranking Member on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He also chaired the New Democrat Coalition in the 115th Congress (2017–2019).

Himes was born on July 5, 1966, in Lima, Peru, to American parents. His father, James R. Himes, worked for the Ford Foundation in Lima. His father was also the director of the UNICEF Innocenti Center, a research institute on child development in Florence, Italy. His mother, Judith A. Himes, was until recently the director of board activities for the New Jersey Board of Higher Education in Trenton.

Himes spent his early childhood in Lima and Bogotá, Colombia. After his parents divorced, Jim, his mother, and his two sisters moved to Pennington, New Jersey, where he attended and graduated from Hopewell Valley Central High School.

Himes attended Harvard College, where he was the captain of the lightweight crew and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1988. He studied for a degree in Latin American studies as a Rhodes scholar at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and graduated with a Master of Philosophy in 1990. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of Bridgeport on May 5, 2012.

In 1995, Himes began working at Goldman Sachs as a banker in Latin America and New York. He was eventually promoted to vice president.

Himes was appointed commissioner of the Greenwich Housing Authority in 2002, and served for two years as chairman of the board. He has also served as a board member of Aspira of Connecticut in Bridgeport, a board member of the Fairfield County Community Foundation, and as an advisory board member of Family Assets, LLP of Bridgeport.

Himes was also an elected member of the Greenwich Board of Estimate and Taxation and chaired the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee.

On March 6, 2025, Himes was one of ten Democrats in Congress who joined all of their Republican colleagues in voting to censure Democratic congressman Al Green for interrupting President Donald Trump's State of the Union Address.

On September 19, 2025, Himes was one of 95 Democrats in Congress who joined all of their Republican colleagues in voting to honor the life and legacy of political activist Charlie Kirk.

Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (Ranking Member)

Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans

He voted against the Stupak-Pitts Amendment in the Affordable Health Care for America Act that was intended to prevent any federal funds from paying for any health care plan with abortion coverage.

Himes has said, "we should reduce our presence in Afghanistan as rapidly as possible and reshape our mission to focus exclusively on counterterrorism" while requiring "presence in the region, but one considerably smaller than that required by our present strategy of nation-building." He believes in a world free of nuclear weapons, and readily supports sanctions against Iran. He voted for the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010. He supports a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.

He opposed the US airstrikes on Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro by US forces in January 2026. Himes also said that, even though he is part of Congress's "Gang of Eight" – the bipartisan group of senior lawmakers usually briefed on national security matters – he was not told in advance about the Trump administration's military action.

Himes supported a 2026 renewal of Section 702 of FISA, allowing the government to surveil American citizens and residents while abroad.

In 2022, Himes was one of 16 Democrats to vote against the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.

Himes faced the ten-term Republican incumbent Chris Shays in the 2008 congressional election, along with Libertarian nominee M.A. Carrano, a professional philosophy writer and systems consultant, and Green Party nominee Richard Duffee. Himes defeated Shays, 51% to 47%. While Shays won 14 of the district's 17 towns, Himes won all three of the district's large cities—Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford. Ultimately, he owed his victory to swamping Shays in Bridgeport, winning 80% of the vote there. He was also helped by Barack Obama's massive win in that district; Obama carried the 4th with 60% of the vote, one of his largest margins in a Republican-held district.

Himes took office in the 111th United States Congress on January 6, 2009. He is the first Democrat to represent the district since Donald J. Irwin left office in 1969, and only the second since 1943. Shays was the sole Republican congressman from New England, and Himes's win made New England's House delegation entirely Democratic for the first time in history.

In the 2010 election, Himes won reelection against Republican challenger State Senator Dan Debicella. Along with the three towns that he won in 2008, Himes also won Redding, Weston, and Westport, and won Fairfield by nine votes.

The campaign raised $3,660,498, $3,603,727 of which was spent. Only 4% of that came from small individual donors, while 60% came from large individual donors. The remaining donations came mostly from Political Action Committees (34%). Himes did not self-finance at all. The majority of his money, 74%, came from in-state. Only 26% came from out of state. Himes disclosed 97.9% of his donations.

Himes was reelected, defeating Steve Obsitnik, 60% to 40%.

On October 15, 1994, Himes married Mary Lynley Scott, a designer. They live in the Cos Cob section of Greenwich with their two daughters.