Before his election in 2016, he ran unsuccessfully for office for Swain County Board of Commissioners in both 2006 and 2010, and the North Carolina House of Representatives in 2012 and 2014.

[1] A Republican, he serves the 119th district, covering portions of Haywood, Jackson, and Swain counties.

[1] In 2018, Clampitt received a 90% rating on the NC Values Coalition Legislative Scorecard.

[5] During the 2018 general assembly session, Clampitt was one of the only Republican members of the House of Representatives to cosponsor Democratic Governor Roy Cooper's Budget.

[6] In late September 2021, it was revealed that Clampitt's name was among the some 38,000 people whose names appear on a membership roster of the Oath Keepers; a far-right anti-government militia, following a hack of the group's internal data.