Mark Meadows, R-N.C.
(11th District)

A solid conservative and self-described “small-business guy,” Mark Meadows is hoping to use his first job as an elected official to reduce the size and scope of the federal government.

He is especially eager to roll back regulations that he says are to a great degree responsible for the high unemployment in his district.

Meadows acknowledges that many of his positions “follow on party lines to a large degree.” He wants to repeal all, or at least parts, of the 2010 health care overhaul. Also on his radar are environmental regulations that he says are hurting mining companies in his mountainous district.

If he could have his pick, Meadows says he would work to accomplish his goals through seats on the Energy and Commerce and Oversight and Government Reform committees.

He notes that he once worked as a customer relations and public safety director for an energy company in Tampa, Fla., giving him “a pretty strong utility background.”

With much of the western North Carolina 11th District covered by farms and federally protected forests, Meadows is also interesting in joining the Agriculture Committee or any panel’s subcommittee that deals with land issues.

One of his top 10 priorities, he says, is managing “our forest better, and making sure that it’s better from both a timber harvest standpoint but also from a recreation standpoint.”