George Whitesides

George Whitesides is the U.S. Representative for California’s 27th District, serving since January 2025.¹ He was previously NASA’s chief of staff during the Obama administration and the first CEO of Virgin Galactic, where he says he created over 700 jobs in the Antelope Valley.² He co-founded a policy nonprofit focused on the wildfire crisis and serves on the House Armed Services Committee and as Vice Ranking Member of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee.²

Whitesides has introduced bipartisan bills to reduce risks from artificial intelligence, including legislation to monitor self-improving AI systems and to protect children from human-like chatbots, and he has called for an industry-wide safety stand-down on frontier AI development.³ He joined other members to introduce the Wildfire Response and Readiness Act, which would invest in wildfire prevention and fire-safe communities, and increase pay and benefits for wildland firefighters.⁴ He supports a national film tax credit to bring production jobs back to Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley.³ He voted against a resolution that he said would strip nearly $25 million from local public safety and community projects, including funding for sheriff’s mobile command posts and PFAS water treatment in Santa Clarita.⁵ According to the Los Angeles Times, he supports immigration reforms that secure the border and provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.⁶

During his first week in office, he helped coordinate on-the-ground outreach following the Hurst Fire, and he co-sponsored the Fix Our Forests Act, which passed the House and aimed to improve forest management and fire prevention.¹ He also co-sponsored a bill that passed the House to formalize collaboration between the Department of Energy and NASA on space exploration and energy innovation.¹