John Michael Katko (/ˈkætkoʊ/; born November 9, 1962) is an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. representative for New York's 24th congressional district, based in Syracuse, from 2015 to 2023.

In that role, he helped to prosecute gang members under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

[6] In January 2023, he was named a senior advisor for the Washington, DC–based lobbying and consulting firm Hill East Group.

He served as a senior trial attorney on the Mexico–United States border in El Paso, Texas, and he was later assigned to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Syracuse Post-Standard later reported about the episode: "Katko broke no state or federal gun laws, and he was not disciplined by the Justice Department.

In this role, he "led high-level narcotics prosecutions and was instrumental in formulating the Syracuse Gang Violence Task Force and successfully prosecuting the first-ever RICO gang case in the City of Syracuse, which led to a significant drop in the city's violent crime rate."

[18] Katko was reelected with 61% of the vote,[19] even as Donald Trump lost this district by four points in the concurrent presidential election.

In a statement, Katko faulted Trump for fostering the environment that led to the attack and failing to "promptly and forcefully call it off."

"[26] Earlier, Katko had blamed Trump for the storming, saying the president's false claims of election fraud "incited and encouraged this unlawful and unpatriotic attack."

At the time, Katko was in line to chair the House Homeland Security Committee if Republicans were to win a majority in the 2022 elections.

But CNN reported that perhaps also factoring into Katko's decision was that he had become a target on the right due to his support of Trump's second impeachment, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the creation of an independent and bipartisan commission to investigate the circumstances of the January 6 insurrection.

[47] In February 2018, Katko supported the Bipartisan Budget Act, saying that it would bring $1.4 million to Oswego Health in his district.

[48] In 2019, Katko co-sponsored legislation to extend the protections of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

[50] In 2019, Katko voted with seven other Republicans to pass a resolution condemning the Trump administration's efforts by Department of Justice to have the courts invalidate the Affordable Care Act.

[53][54][55] In 2016, with Representative Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Katko cosponsored the Working Parents Flexibility Act (H.R.

[58] In 2022, Katko was one of six Republicans to vote for the Global Respect Act, which imposes sanctions on foreign persons responsible for violations of the internationally recognized human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) people, and for other purposes.

[61] In January 2023, Katko joined the HillEast Group, a lobbying and communications firm in Washington, D.C., as a senior adviser.