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Former member of Congress · last served 116th Congress

Official portrait of Rep. Paul Cook

Paul Cook

REPUBLICAN U.S. Representative · CaliforniaHouse 2013–2020 (CA-8)

Paul Cook was a Republican U.S. representative from California, first elected to Congress in 2013, who sponsored 2 bills that became law (113th–116th Congress).

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61Bills & resolutions sponsored113th–116th Congress (excludes amendments)
9Passed a chamberof 57 substantive bills (excludes resolutions and ceremonial bills)
2Became law1 substantive + 1 ceremonial · 113th–116th Congress
—Broke with partyNo roll calls in PORKER’s records (they start in 2011)
—Missed votesNo roll calls in PORKER’s records (they start in 2011)
—Pork: own shareFY2024 earmarks: not in office

How we count: “Broke with party” is a yes/no roll call where the member voted against most of their own party on that vote (party as recorded; even splits not counted). “Pork: own share” splits each earmark shared by several members evenly among them.

Recent votes

No recorded roll-call votes in PORKER’s records. Roll-call records start in 2011.

5 most recent bills

Top bills sponsored

Laws first, then bills that passed a chamber, were reported from committee, or drew the most cosponsors.

Elections Rep. Cook has won

Rep. Cook has won 4 U.S. House elections (2012–2018). Of the contested races, margins ran from 14.8 to 35.3 points.

010204060Margin of victory, points (axis starts at 0)2012, CA-8: won by 14.8 points2012CA-82014, CA-8: won by 35.3 points20142016, CA-8: won by 24.5 points20162018, CA-8: won by 19.9 points2018
Democratic winRepublican winseat changed partyunopposed
Elections won4 in the data (1976–2024); losses are not listed
Closest win: 14.8 points2012, CA-8
Won an open seat or took one from the other party1 of 4 elections (open seat or changed party)
Seat history, California’s 8th districtWinners, most recent three: Paul Cook (R) 2012–2018 → Jay Obernolte (R) 2020 → John Garamendi (D) 2022–2024. Elections shown, not terms; special elections not included.

Full election history for this seat →

Source: MIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. House V15 / U.S. Senate V8 (CC0), retrieved 2026-10-18; winners matched to member records by seat and term. Results run through the 2024 elections; nothing from 2026 is shown until it is certified. A margin is a fact about one election, never a score of how well a member represents anyone, and PORKER does not rank members by it.

How has California’s 8th district done while Rep. Cook served?

2013 to 2019 in CA-8: typical household income was up 11% after inflation, the share of people below the poverty line was down 5.2 points, and the share of workers looking for a job was down 4.6 points.

Typical household income · after inflationCalifornia $99.0KU.S. $80.9KCA-8 $69.1K
CA-8: $62.2K in 2013 → $69.1K in 2019
CA-8 up 11%California up 22%U.S. up 14%
Share of people below the poverty lineCA-8 16.6%U.S. 12.3%California 11.8%
CA-8: 21.8% in 2013 → 16.6% in 2019
CA-8 down 5.2 pointsCalifornia down 5.1 pointsU.S. down 3.5 points
Share of workers looking for a jobCA-8 8.5%California 5.1%U.S. 4.5%
CA-8: 13.1% in 2013 → 8.5% in 2019
CA-8 down 4.6 pointsCalifornia down 5.0 pointsU.S. down 3.9 points

Each mini chart has its own scale, fitted to its lines (it does not start at zero), so compare the numbers, not the heights. Teal = district, oxblood = state, grey = U.S.

While they served, not because of them. This shows what happened in California’s 8th district during Cook’s time representing it (2013 to 2020). It does not say what the member did or caused. It is not a score, and PORKER never ranks members on it.

One set of district lines. CA-8 was redrawn in 2012 and again in 2022 (the survey year the new lines first appear), but every survey year in Cook’s term so far (2013 to 2019) uses the same lines, so they can be compared. The Census Bureau has no 2020 yearly estimate.

See the full 20-year record →Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year estimates (tables B19013, B17001, B23001) and BLS CPI-U-RS for inflation, retrieved October 18, 2026. “About the same” means the change is inside the 90% margins of error. Who held the seat: Congress.gov member service records, year level.

Official records on bills this member sponsored

116th Congress. What Congress.gov lists for the 17 bills sponsored.

RecordBillsSource
Bills sponsored17Source: Congress.gov member record, PORKER copy of October 26, 2026 ↗ See them →
With a sponsor’s constitutional-authority statement17See the 17 →
With a CBO cost estimate listed1See the 1 →
With a committee report listed1See the 1 →
Evidence
How counted
Bills where this member is the lead (first-listed) sponsor in the 116th Congress, read from the stored Congress.gov bill records
Fields
cboCostEstimates, committeeReports, constitutionalAuthorityStatementText, notes
PORKER copy refreshed
October 26, 2026 (nightly)

Read this first. These are counts of records Congress.gov lists. Many bills never get a CBO estimate or a report, so a zero is not a mark against a member. We never show this as a score.

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Data as of Oct 26, 2026 · Sources: Congress.gov, Senate.gov, House Clerk, Appropriations Committee earmark tables. PORKER is non-partisan.