Meet Congressman McNerney

Jerry and Mary

Jerry McNerney and Mary, his wife of 31 years, have lived and raised their children in Pleasanton since 1990. Their oldest son, Michael, is a reserve officer in the US Air Force. Daughter Windy is working on her Doctorate in cognitive neuroscience at Notre Dame, and youngest son Greg is pursuing his Doctorate in biophysics at UC Davis.

Jerry grew up in a Catholic family and attended St. Joseph's Military Academy in Hays, Kansas. After high school, Jerry attended West Point for two years then transferred to the University of New Mexico where he studied engineering and mathematics, earning a PhD in 1981.

Jerry spent several years working on national security programs at Kirtland Air Force Base. He spent the next two decades working in a variety of different positions in the renewable energy field, concentrating much of his efforts on expanding the production of clean, sustainable wind energy. Prior to being elected to Congress, he started a small business that manufactures wind turbines.

During his career in wind energy, McNerney's work contributed to saving the equivalent of approximately 30 million barrels gallons of oil, or 8.3 million tons of carbon dioxide - the main greenhouse gas - as well as other harmful pollutants.

Jerry and Michael

Jerry was inspired to run for the House of Representatives by his son Michael, who in response to the 9/11 attacks sought and received a commission in the Air Force. Michael suggested that Jerry serve his country by running for the U.S. Congress. With a deep sense of duty, Jerry accepted the challenge, registered as a write-in candidate, and went on to win the Democratic Party's nomination in 2004 by one vote, and garnered more votes in the general election than any previous challenger to the incumbent. In 2006, Jerry made congressional history, as he became the only candidate in California to defeat an incumbent and the only candidate in the United States to defeat a sitting House committee chair.

Jerry is now serving in his first term in the House of Representatives, where he works to honor our nation’s veterans and military families. He has pushed for a sensible energy policy that includes a focus on renewable energy and the hundreds of thousands of jobs clean energy technology will create. He is committed to serving his constituents, returning home to California every weekend to hold Congress at Your Corner meetings across the district and meet with his veterans, agriculture, education and other advisory boards, made up of local experts, to influence how policy is made in Washington.

Jerry and family at home in Pleasanton