Barbara Jean Comstock (née Burns; born June 30, 1959) is an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 10th congressional district from 2015 to 2019.

Years later, she recalled that she had long reckoned herself as a Reagan Democrat, and during her internship she found herself agreeing more with Orrin Hatch of Utah than with Kennedy.

Her research team built massive stores of paper and electronic data, known as "The Gore File", that were a key source of information on the former vice president for GOP publicists and ad-makers.

Comstock is credited with writing the Republican "playbook" defending Bush nominees such as John Ashcroft for U.S. Attorney General.

[18] Comstock's public relations firm consulted for the Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI), a conservative group advocating on a variety of federal labor policy issues, from 2008 through 2012.

[19] According to a 2014 report by Politico, during her time in the Virginia House of Delegates, Comstock sponsored legislation that advanced WFI's overall public policy objectives.

On April 26, 2014, Comstock won the Republican nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 10th District primary, defeating five other candidates and winning approximately 54% of the total vote.

Comstock and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ed Gillespie planned on attending a public meeting of the Northern Shenandoah Valley Tea Party in early August 2014.

After rumors arose that the gathering could be infiltrated by Democrats, both candidates initially moved the meeting to a private location before opting to speak with the group by phone instead.

This decision prompted a statement from David Sparkman, chairman of the Tea Party group, who said "I'm disappointed, I wanted to look these politicians in the eye and take their measure.

[26] Shortly before the 2014 election, Comstock's Democratic opponent, Fairfax County Supervisor John Foust, said that she had never had a "real job".

"Although he claims he was referring to her jobs in partisan politics", stated the Weekly Standard, "Comstock's campaign attacked this as a sexist remark."

[28] Comstock faced Democrat LuAnn Bennett, a real estate executive and ex-wife of former Virginia Congressman Jim Moran, in the 2016 election.

[33] In early 2017, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee named Comstock and her 10th district seat one of their top targets in the 2018 midterm elections.

[40] In the general election, she ran for re-election against Democratic State Senator Jennifer Wexton in what was considered one of the most competitive House races, given that Clinton and Governor Ralph Northam easily won her district in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

As a member of the Virginia General Assembly, Comstock supported a ban on abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother's life is in danger.

[59] In March 2017, she voted to reverse a landmark FCC ruling, opening the door for internet service providers to sell customer data.

[61][62][63] Comstock criticized President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order to impose a temporary ban on entry to the U.S. to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, saying: "The president's Executive Order [goes] beyond the increased vetting actions that Congress has supported on a bipartisan basis and inexplicably applied to Green Card holders.

[65] In February 2018, Comstock "generated national headlines when she rebuked the president during a meeting ...at the White House on the dangers of the deadly gang MS-13."

Trump said that "if congressional Democrats would not support a legislative crackdown on dangerous illegal immigrants, he would advocate shutting down the federal government."

While Comstock described the exchange as "a polite conversation", The Washington Post said that "[e]veryone else called it an extraordinary public scolding of a sitting U.S.

"[66] In 2018, the U.S. Senate passed a bill introduced by Comstock which gave the federal government greater latitude in deporting immigrants who were suspected of gang activity.

"[75] A December 2017 article in the Weekly Standard stated that Comstock had "taken a leading role in pushing for congressional reforms aimed at combatting sexual harassment."

In May 2018, Comstock joined with Congresswoman Lois Frankel (D-FL) in calling on airlines to address sexual harassment on flights.

"Approximately 80 percent of flight attendants are female and they are often objectified on a daily basis by passengers, coworkers, and superiors", the congresswomen wrote.

"[81] She voted for H.J.Res 40, signed into law in February 2017, which nullifies a rule that "implements a plan to provide to the National Instant Criminal History Background Check System the name of an individual who meets certain criteria, including that benefit payments are made through a representative payee because the individual is determined to be mentally incapable of managing them.

)"[82] In April 2018, NBC News reported that "in the wake of the Parkland shooting and the national movement that has followed, gun control supporters hope they can change that dynamic in the 2018 midterm elections, starting with Comstock's district in northern Virginia."

"[83] In October 2008, Comstock and Democratic operative Lanny Davis co-wrote an article in the National Review in which they expressed strong opposition to the call for reinstatement of the FCC fairness doctrine.

According to The Washington Post, Comstock helped her when she "couldn't find family and friends caught up in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita".

She is also close to retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy who, when her father was rushed to the hospital, went to her parents' house to "monitor ... the pumpkin bread baking in their kitchen."