Robert Garcia is a U.S. Representative for California’s 42nd District and Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee. He formerly served two terms as Mayor of Long Beach (2014–2022), where he was the municipality’s first elected openly LGBTQ+ mayor, its youngest mayor, and the first Latino to hold that position. Born in Lima, Peru in 1977, he immigrated as a child and became a U.S. citizen in his early twenties.

His academic credentials include a BA in Communication Studies and an EdD in Educational Policy. Before Congress, he served on Long Beach’s City Council and taught at local universities.

Garcia plays a notable role in Oversight’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. During a deposition of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Oversight Republicans asked questions about UFOs and the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory—questions Clinton criticized afterward as off-topic. Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, strongly condemned a rule violation during the deposition when a photo from inside the deposition room was leaked. He said that committee rules were “essentially not enforced … just broken immediately” and called that behavior unacceptable.

He also attended the deposition in Chappaqua, NY, along with other Democratic Oversight members.

Garcia has been active in congressional oversight of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs). He opened a 2023 subcommittee hearing on UAPs by framing the subject as one of safety, public trust, and serious scrutiny. In that testimony, he emphasized the need for bipartisan, evidence-based investigation, stating that UAPs “may pose a serious threat to military or civilian aircraft.” He has argued for centralized repositories for UAP reports and transparency, especially for non-military sightings.

What remains contested includes the implications of the UFO- and conspiracy-related questions during the Clinton deposition: whether they are legitimate investigative leads or political distractions. Similarly, the full extent of what Garcia and Oversight Democrats believe is undisclosed in the Epstein files is a matter of report and claim. His position at the intersection of UAP inquiry and high-profile investigations like Epstein’s gives him a rare vantage—but also exposes him to critiques over committee strategy and focus.