Who is James Comer, leader of the House's Biden impeachment inquiry?

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's announcement last week that the chamber will open a formal impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden will likely increase the profile of one Kentucky congressman: U.S. Rep. James Comer.

Comer, R-1st District, is the chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, and he has been digging into the business dealings of Hunter Biden, the president's son, for months.

Now the Oversight Committee as well as the Judiciary and Ways and Means committees will lead the inquiry, putting Reps. Comer, Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jason Smith of Missouri at the forefront.

The three put out a statement Sept. 12 agreeing with McCarthy's decision and promising their committees "will continue to work to follow the facts to ensure President Biden is held accountable for abusing public office for his family’s financial gain."

The investigation comes as McCarthy is scrambling to win conservative votes to fund government operations beyond Sept. 30 and avoid a government shutdown.

Biden has suggested Republicans are trying to impeach him because they want to shut down the government.

But Comer has been looking into the Biden family finances since becoming head of the Oversight Committee in January after Republicans took control of the House.

Here's what to know about the Kentuckian:

James Comer was seen as a centrist in Kentucky

Comer, 51, was in his late 20s when he started his career as a public official. He was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 2000 and spent over a decade in the chamber.

Then voters made him Kentucky's Agriculture commissioner. In November 2016, he was elected to represent the U.S. House of Representatives.

He was seen as a centrist in Kentucky state government. For example, he worked across the aisle on hemp legislation as Agriculture commissioner.

Some colleagues told NBC News they saw a change after he got the chairmanship in the U.S. House. Comer, who is often on Fox News, is quoted in that same article as saying he is willing to work across the aisle, including with progressive U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Comer has called himself a "cornfed country boy from Monroe County.” Coincidentally, that quote is from an op-ed piece that appeared in The Courier Journal in May 2022 and prophesied that investigating Biden would make Comer "a star."

James Comer was accused of abuse while running for Kentucky governor

Before he ever went to Washington, Comer dreamed of being Kentucky's governor. In 2015, he made a bid for that office while he was Agriculture commissioner.

Shortly before the Republican primary election, a woman who dated him in college in the early 1990s told The Courier Journal he had been physically and mentally abusive and took her to have an abortion. Comer denied the allegations.

He lost the primary by 83 votes to Matt Bevin, who went on to become governor. Bevin lost his 2019 reelection bid to Democrat Andy Beshear.

Months after losing that 2015 primary, Comer announced he would run for Congress after longtime Rep. Ed Whitfield, dogged by ethics questions, announced he would step down in the heavily Republican district in Western Kentucky. Comer called Whitfield’s decision “a blessing.”

Is James Comer a supporter of Donald Trump?

The Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection was a key investigative focus in the Democrat-run House, but Comer dismissed the bipartisan committee that dug into that attack on the Capitol as illegitimate.

The insurrection failed to overturn President Joe Biden's 2020 victory, and it was fueled by lies that the election was stolen from Donald Trump. Right after Jan. 6, Comer proposed a national commission to investigate the attack but later voted against an alternative, bipartisan plan for such a commission.

He also opposed the Jan. 6 committee House Speaker Nancy Pelosi proposed after Senate Republicans blocked the commission idea. That committee ultimately was established and held public hearings before going kaput with the GOP House takeover.

However, Comer voted against overturning the 2020 election results and condemned the Jan. 6 attack. He argued Democrats were politicizing it.

Last November − before the twice-impeached former president faced criminal charges in four separate cases − Comer told Spectrum News that Trump was a "viable" 2024 presidential candidate. While Comer noted Trump has a lot of support in his congressional district, he said there would be other strong candidates. He added, "I’m gonna wait the process out."

USA Today contributed to this story. Politics editor Nick Hollkamp can be reached at nhollkamp@courier-journal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Biden impeachment inquiry: Who is Rep. James Comer of Kentucky