Contact/Week Ahead Graphics

Email Updates

  • Email Updates

    Please enter your information below to
    sign up for periodic newsletters.

John's Biography

Click Here to Download Congressman Yarmuth's Official Portrait

U.S. Representative John Yarmuth represents Kentucky’s 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. In his fourth term, Congressman Yarmuth was appointed to the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Budget. He served as President of the Freshman Class, as Senior Whip, and was named Legislator of the Year by the Kentucky Reading Association; "Outstanding New Member of Congress" by the Committee for Education Funding, which is the largest nonpartisan education organization in the nation; and "Best of Congress" by Working Mother Magazine and Corporate Voices for Working Families during each term in Congress. 

Though best known for his work in the media, Yarmuth’s diverse career prior to entering the political arena gave him a solid background in policy, business, higher education, and health care.

Yarmuth previously worked on Capitol Hill as Legislative Aide for Kentucky Senator Marlow Cook from 1971 to 1974, when he moved back to his hometown of Louisville to publish Louisville Today Magazine. He went on to work as Associate Vice President of University Relations at the University of Louisville and Vice President of a local health care firm.

In 1990, Yarmuth founded LEO Weekly, a free publication with more than 150,000 monthly readers. With Yarmuth as editor, LEO won nearly 100 Metro Louisville Journalism Awards, 16 of which were awarded to Yarmuth for his editorial and column writing. He owned the paper from 1990 to 2003 and continued writing columns through 2005.

On television he debated local and national politics as co-host and commentator on WAVE 3’s Yarmuth & Ziegler in 2003 and Hot Button in 2004 and 2005.

Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Congressman Yarmuth graduated from Atherton High School, where he served as student government president. He went on to earn a degree in American Studies from Yale University. He and his wife, Cathy, have one son, Aaron, who graduated from Indiana University in 2006 and obtained a Masters Degree from American University in 2010.

 

More about John: