Devin Nunes Interview
Item
Title
Devin Nunes Interview
Description
Devin Nunes was born in Tulare County with roots in the Azorean islands of São Jorge and Pico. He was the youngest Portuguese-American ever elected to the US Congress. He has been instrumental in defending Portuguese-American issues and the US presence at the Lajes Air Force Base on the island of Terce
Creator
Nunes, Devin
McCoy, Kelley
Relation
Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute
Identifier
SCUAD_pbbi_00009
Date
09-06-2019
extracted text
Devin Nunes: My name is Devin Gerald Nunes.
Kelley McCoy: Were you named after anyone?
Devin Nunes: I was. I was named after -- my middle name is after my -one of my uncles. It's an old family name.
Kelley McCoy: When were you born?
Devin Nunes: I was born in 1973. August, October 1, 1973, in Tulare,
California.
Kelley McCoy: Tulare? When did your family immigrate to the United
States?
Devin Nunes: Well, it depends. I had -- it's fairly interesting -- I have
one of my -- I have a great-grandmother that was actually born here in
the Valley. So her family came from the island of Pico in the Azores, and
she was born in, outside of, Hanford around, like, in the 1895 range. And
then I have, you know, my step-grandmother who was married to my
grandfather. She was born in the Azores and moved here after World War
II. So, kind of in that, most of the Portuguese, you know, came to this - the rest of them came in the ’10s and the ’20s, 1900's.
Kelley McCoy: Why did your family leave the Azores?
Devin Nunes: Well, like everyone, like all the families there, you know - you --It was just subsistence living, so you had a – you had a good
living in that it's a very fertile place, very green place, there's fish
in the ocean and -- and things grow year-round, but that's all you had.
And you were, you were very isolated. And so this was a -- This area here
in the San Joaquin Valley was a great area to come to, based on it was
very similar to what you had in the Azores, in terms of fertile land and
you could have animals and grow crops. And so, pretty much all of my
family, that's what they came here. They took what they were doing in the
Azores and they started doing it here on small plots of land, mostly in
Tulare and Kings County.
Kelley McCoy: So what kind of agriculture exactly did they do?
Devin Nunes: So the, well they all had, and I think this is probably
like, like all agriculture at the time. I don't think it's specific only
to my family or even to the Portuguese American families. But I think a
lot of the early Valley farms, they all had animals. So they all had
cows, you know, for milk, and then they would have some beef and they
would have pigs, and they'd have some sheep, and then slowly my family
got more and more into dairy and into vineyards. And so, and so that was
-- oh, and sheep. Yeah, I forgot. So one of my great grandfathers was a
sheepherder who came from Pico and he would, he'd run sheep from
basically southern Tulare County all the way into southern Oregon, and he
did that for, well, from the time he got here--1910—so probably did if
for about 40 years. And then he was the one that actually got into
vineyards with my grandfather, my mom's side.
Kelley McCoy: So was it mostly in Tulare County, then?
Devin Nunes: Well, everybody was Tulare and Kings County, except for
my one great grandfather who would move sheep. So they would, they'd go
up through the -- in the summertime, and then they'd come back down here
in the wintertime, with sheep.
Kelley McCoy: Did any of your family members—do you remember, growing up-talk about life in the old country? Anything that they missed?
Devin Nunes: Yeah, you know, in this culture that you have here in the
Valley, it's an interesting micro culture that you have because you still
-- you have these, these Portuguese halls that are mainly built around
religious festivals. You know, these date back to the late 1800s, early
1900s, and they're all over the Valley here. I mean nearly every
community has one and they're still going today, so a lot of, you know, a
lot of the same -- It's fascinating because having been back to
these Azores now several times, the food that's in the Azores is here-you know, like you grew up with it, right? There's less fish, because
obviously you know, we're not near an ocean but, you know, the recipes
are the same, you know, whether it's, you know, the sweet bread, the
cornbread, the different bacalhau dishes, alcatras, so it's kind, kind of
interesting that those, that those recipes, you know, that came here and
they -- They've been here in the Valley for, you know, a hundred years.
Linguica for example, you know, it's, you know, nearly all the lockers
around here, at least in the south Valley and then of course up
in the north Valley, in the Modesto-Turlock area, all of them make
linguica, I mean that is a -- I mean not only is that Portuguese, but
that's basically a specific Azorean type of sausage.
Kelley McCoy: Now we're talking about food, but share a little bit about
your experience growing up as a Portuguese-American. Did you always have
a strong sense of your identity as such?
Devin Nunes: You know, it's kind of interesting. You know, you think
back, you know -- I went to a small rural school, Liberty School, you
know, where we had, you know, 15-16 kids in the class and I, you know,
and it was kind of-- and in those, those times it wasn't that long ago,
but now it's, you know, you look back and I remember, you know,
we had probably half the class was Portuguese, you know, or, you know,
and then you had probably a quarter of the class were Mexican-Americans,
either first or second generation. And then we always, it was kind of
funny because the kids that were white, they were always termed
as Okies, you know, so I didn't really know, I just thought all, you
know, anybody that was like American and from, you know, I just called
them Okies, because that's what, because in Tulare County and Kern
County, I mean, there were a lot of people that had come here during the
Dust Bowl and they called themselves Okies, so that was, you know, you
didn't really, you know, everybody blended together but you didn't really
think about it too much. But -- but, you know, in terms of your -- on the
weekends and the festivals and all of that, it was, it was a heavy
ingrained activities because you were constantly doing activities whether
it was through your church or through your school or on the weekends with
the Portuguese-American community here.
Kelley McCoy: Any emphasis on the language in your house?
Devin Nunes: Yeah, I mean there was, well, you know, I grew -- I always
joke that I spoke Portuguese and Spanish every day of my life until I
went to Congress, which is basically true, except I spoke both of them
very poorly and I mixed in English and all of them together. So, and then
in my -- When I go to, when I'm in Portugal or around people from the
-- interacting with the Portuguese government, they always joke that -They say that I speak really good portunol with an Azorean accent.
Kelley McCoy: Now that you have a family of your own, what Portuguese
traditions and customs have you maintained with your daughters?
Devin Nunes: Well, they're -- They're very lucky because they've been
able to go to the Azores twice, because they're -- So my wife is also
Portuguese but my father-in-law was born in the Azores and so he
immigrated here in 1969. And so -- so, like his mother, she didn't,
or she spoke, you know, very little English and so -- like my oldest,
she's now passed away but my oldest children I mean and my wife -- they
had -- that was the only way they could communicate -- and me -- The only
way you could communicate with her was by speaking, you know, Portuguese.
Limited Portuguese. So that's the -- so it's a -- So they're very well
ingrained in the, you know, having been to the Azores twice, having a
grandfather that was born there, you know, it's -- You know, it's much
different probably than how, you know, maybe somebody that's, you know,
it's only, you know, third or fourth or fifth generation.
Kelley McCoy: How important is it to you and your wife, Congressman, that
your three daughters have a strong sense of themselves, not only as
Americans, but as Portuguese Americans?
Devin Nunes: Well, what I always tell them is, it's important to
understand where you came from so that you -- you really appreciate
America, right? So, I think it's -- I think that's critical to, you know,
there's a reason why and you started out with that, there's a reason why
our families left these, the -- You know, all families in the Valley left
where they came from. It doesn't mean it's necessarily bad places, but
it's a heck of a lot better living here, even today, than it would
be, as beautiful as the Azores are. You know, there's challenges there. I
mean even today. You know, there's not a lot of good, high-paying jobs,
you know, and maybe that's not all that there is in life, because I
would, I will say, you know, now with the infrastructure that's there, as
beautiful as it is there, I'm still glad to live in the United States and
you want to make sure your kids understand that, too.
Kelley McCoy: So you grew up on a dairy farm. You then went to Cal Poly,
got your bachelor's degree in agriculture business, your master's degree
in agriculture. When did you know that you wanted to stay in agriculture
and what was the attraction for you?
Devin Nunes: Well, that was probably – probably never really an issue.
Probably by high school, I was involved in -- because – but I started my
own business when I was, when I was in high school, raising cattle. And
then one of the things that -- so we all grew up on a dairy farm, like a
lot of Portuguese families did here, on a farm. And then my other -- My
mom's father, he was in the grape business, in the vineyard business, so
we were all -- we were all together. We all lived on the same farm. All,
you know, a bunch of cousins all growing up around each other. And then
in high school, my dad went out on his own and started his own business
and one of the things that he wanted to make sure that we did--and, you
know, this is maybe, I'm not sure if it's good or bad--but a lot of the
families were very close-knit and they stayed together for a really long
time. Well, by the time -- And my father was already, you know, nearly 40
years old before he was out on his own with his own business, and he
wanted to make sure that that didn't happen to me or my brother. And
so, like, right away when he went out on his own. He told me and my
brother, “You need to have your own business, too. Like, immediately.”
And so, you know, because of that, we started, you know, I was in
business for myself, at you know, 13 years old. And then, and you know,
you look back at that and then we got into the harvesting business and
then farming on our own. Small, very small, but by then it was always, I
always wanted to be in the vineyard business., I always wanted to
be, you know, had an affinity for making wine for whatever reason, you
know, because growing up with grandfathers that made their own wine, and
so that's what I was always into.
Kelley McCoy: Yeah, tough life agriculture. That's why you know -- I'm
always so curious: What is it? Is it about being on the land? Is it about
being around animals? What is it?
Devin Nunes: It's tough. It's tough. But then again, it's getting a lot
easier than what it used to be in many ways. It's not -- It's more
automated. Now one of the challenges of that is -- is that now, in order
to make a living -- If you, you know, if you have to- to be successful in
agriculture now, you have to have the big operation with lots of -- lots
of capital, you know. If not, you have to just do small time operations
where you have another job, you know, basically. That's kind of what I do
now. I'm involved, you know. Different wineries here, a couple different
wineries in California and have a little farm on my own. But, you know,
for me to -- You know, if you're going to have a full-time, large-scale
farming operation, it takes considerable capital with, you know, people
that really know what they're doing that are sophisticated, so it's
changing, it's exciting, but at the same time it's, you know, it's harder
to do it as a full-time job, too.
Kelley McCoy: So trace if you will, how you got into public service.
Devin Nunes: Oh, that's -- Well, that's fairly easy. I was -- I was -- I
went to Cal Poly and I got involved -- I was just asked to be involved
working in Republican Party politics and it was just like a volunteer. I
parked cars and poured, you know, drinks at fundraisers and, you know,
put away chairs. I mean that's how I got involved. Put up some signs and
then, when I -- I had went to College of Sequoias first, a junior
college. So I went, which is in Visalia, two years, and then went away to
Cal Poly for three years to get my bachelor's and master's degree. While
I was there was when I got involved in these campaigns. When I got back,
there was controversy involving the College of Sequoias agriculture
department and Larry Dudo, who was my professor when I was at
COS, he came to me and said, “Hey, I want to --” I was back on my
family’s farm-- I was -- I was, I was kind of -- I was the herdsman for
my grandmother's dairy. My grandfather had just passed away and I still
had my business on the side working with my, with my uncle, and then we - he said, “Hey, I want to have lunch with you.” So I went and met him
for lunch and he says, “Hey, we've got these problems. They're going to
do this to the farm. The school farm. College farm.” And I said, “OK,
well, what do you want me to do about it?” And he said, “Well, you're,
you know, you did these political things.” And I said, “I didn't do any
political things. I like, put up signs.” He's like, “Yeah, but I want
you to run these campaigns for -- because somebody's going to run and
challenge the board president.” And I knew the two guys that were going
to run. And I said, “Well, they're both good guys, I'll be
glad to help but, you know, I'm not going to be, I can't be the campaign
manager.” And Larry Dudo was like, “Oh yeah, you can do it. You'll be,
you'll be fine. You can do it.” So -- so that was the idea. So for a
couple months I was just kind of volunteering, helping out, trying to put
together, you know, how would this campaign look? And the day before the
filing, in August, it was early August of 1996. Those guys -- we had a
meeting and I said, “OK, it's time to choose which one of you are going
to run.” And they both said, “We decided we're not going to run. You're
going to run.” And that's how I got it. And I was like, whoa! I said,
“This is crazy. I'm not going to. Nobody's going to vote for a 22-yearold for this position.” And then, low and behold, talked to some friends
and family. They said, “Oh yeah. You know, you should run.” And I ended
up winning. That's how I got in it. And then -- and later -- it's funny - When I was … Later on when I was elected to Congress, those two
gentlemen came to -- one is a Portuguese guy, actually, one's ItalianAmerican, both in agriculture, that came to visit me in Washington and we
had dinner and they said, “You know, when we put you up to run, we didn't
think we could win, we put you up as a sacrificial lamb.” So nobody
thought I was actually ever going to win. I did. I thought I was going to
win. But that's how -- That's how I got involved, in 1996.
Kelley McCoy: 1996 wasn't that long ago, obviously. And, I mean, look at
your trajectory: You stayed in it. Why? What was it about being a public
servant, an elected official, that kept you in it? What was the draw?
Devin Nunes: Well, agriculture has had a tougher and tougher time here in
the Valley. And largely, you know, because of -- you know, what I would,
what I would call extreme politics coming out of Sacramento and
Washington. And so, you know, being in this and then being in it every
day, working at, you know, being on the farm and being on the junior
college board and being involved in the Farm Bureau and all those things
I was involved in, I just naturally gravitated that -- You know, if you
want to make a difference, the only way to do it was to actually run for
office. And I mean the real reason I ran for federal office was because
of the water issue. And it was because the land that, you know, that I
was farming and my neighbors, you know, in the southern part of Tulare
County was running out of water. And, you know, now everybody's
running out of water here in the Valley and when there, in fact, is
enough water in the state. It's just about moving it to the right
places, keeping it in, you know, storing it and getting it to where it
needs to go. And so that's what really drove me into politics in a big
way is because, you know, I knew that I could make a difference and, you
know, you look back and, you know, it's still a fight every day but we
continue to do it.
Kelley McCoy: When all is said and done for you, in terms of you deciding
to step away from public service, do you see yourself going back to the
farm so to speak?
Devin Nunes: Yeah, well I've never really left. I mean I still, you know,
I live, you know, only a mile away from my grandmother, who's nearly 100
years old. So I spend a lot of time out there, I still have my hands in
these other businesses and, so, that I'm in. I just -- I don't ever see
myself leaving agriculture, you know. Now whether or not, you know, am I
going to go back in and run a, you know, 2000-cow dairy farm? Probably
not, but I may not even be qualified to do that anymore, right? I mean
it's -- it's much different, but I really do enjoy the vineyard business
and the wine business and that's something that I will likely stay
involved in. And I'll do -- I do row crop farming. I'll probably still -I'll do that, a little bit of that, but I'd like to do more of that so my
kids could be involved a little bit. But I'm hopeful that -- I'm hopeful
that maybe some of my family will give them some part-time work. Actually
we have a neighbor of ours that offered all my girls, my three girls,
jobs picking blueberries so, for next year, so we're going to see how
that works. So we're going to put them out picking blueberries, and I've
never picked blueberries, so I don't know how -- how that is, but, it's a
new crop that's growing here in the Valley now.
Kelley McCoy: So of all that you've accomplished professionally, what are
you most proud of?
Devin Nunes: You know, it's probably the, what probably makes the biggest
difference is constituent service work, right? So, you know, all the
things that I've done that I'm, you know, maybe most known for--you know,
whether it's you know, the water issue or ag issues or trade issues, or
all the issues involving the 2016 presidential election, the House
Intelligence Committee, and all of that--of all the things that people
might think that are, you know, all really important and all have taken
up a lot of my time, but I would say that it's those little things that
you do to help people that make a big difference. And so on just this,
just in the past week, we had a -- I went out to UPS and toured--they're
getting ready to get a new facility--and a driver came up to me, and I
remember this but I'd forgot because it was like 10 years ago. And he was
born in Mexico but he was here during -- in the '80s, during when Reagan
-- when there was -- the last time we actually did immigration
reform. And Reagan had done an amnesty for people that were here and,
but, anyway, his parents at the time didn't get a citizenship, didn't
take them in to get that done properly. So here this guy was 10 years
ago, working at UPS with a job. A full-time job. He didn't even know he
was here illegally. And so, anyway, we helped him out. We got
him his, we got you know, we got him his, at the time it was his green
card, you know, which was not easy because his parents had both passed
away, there was no way to, you know. So we had to go back and get all
these, all these documents, documentation. Anyway, the long story short
is, you know, just this week, 10 years later, you know, this guy is like
in management, and you know, higher up still driving delivery for UPS and
he's, he told me that he's, not only is he a citizen, he votes and is
just very, very thankful. So I think it's those types of things that you
do in people's lives that really make a difference that, you know, they
don't get the fanfare, but they, but they mean a lot to those people.
Kelley McCoy: So it sounds like you are able to do those things that drew
you into going into public office in the first place.
Devin Nunes: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, because it's constant, right? I
mean there's -- We have 800 thousand constituents and, at any given
time, you know -- I think I know -- Well I knew this number the other
day. We had a 131 open cases, so -- so those are active cases, this is as
of last, this was two weeks ago. Because we have obviously staff that
works on all of this but, some are veterans' issues, some are
immigration issues, some are social security issues, but those are open,
active cases where somebody needs help because once they get to a federal
office, they've run out of all other options, right? They're like,
they're at the end of their rope. And so we do a lot with veterans,
right? Like you know, they get to the VA, they don't have the proper, you
know -- maybe they served in Vietnam and now they need some health care
and, you know, you have to put all that together to make sure they can
get treated. So those are, yeah, so those are always ongoing cases.
Kelley McCoy: Well, I'm going to ask you a question about your experience
in the Azores but first let me ask you a couple philosophical questions.
To what extent do you believe, Congressman, that being PortugueseAmerican has shaped who you are and how you've moved through the world
professionally as well as personally?
Devin Nunes: Well, I do believe now when you look back -- that, you know,
cultures have certain types of traits. And it's interesting. So if you
talk to -- so I, you know, over the years I've gotten to know so many
people that are in the Portuguese government, right? The -- you know,
that I've, whether it's ambassadors or otherwise, because there's always
people that are coming out to the Valley here to meet with the
Portuguese community. Obviously, in Washington, I've been in the
Portuguese Caucus for a long time, but it's -- but it's interesting. So
the people that -- the continent, OK, so the people in Portugal -- So I
think it's important to understand there's a big difference between
people in the Azores and people in Portugal. I mean, because it's an
autonomous region. And most of the families that went out there have been
out there for--when I say went out, went to the Azores--have been out
there for hundreds of years, right? So you know, like, I have no--that I
know of--I don't know any of my family that, if they ever came from the
continent of Portugal or not. I suspect they did, but I don't have any,
you know, I don't know of any ancestor that came from Portugal.
But I can date back to the 1700s and I know they were in the Azores.
But, listening to Portuguese people from the continent talk about people
from the Azores, it's funny, because they're known as people who
are very quiet, very humble, don't talk a lot. And, anyway, and it's
ironic that's how they see me even though, you know, I'm out public all
the time. But that's how they see me and many other Azoreans, especially
like Azorean Americans, and they claim they can see the same traits,
like I can't see it because I'm part of it, right? I can't, you know -you don't really understand it, but so I do think that's -- I think to
some level, those traits are inbred in you. And it's hard to explain why,
you know, genetics and why people act the way they do, but you know I
think you see a lot of similar traits as you back away from, you know,
your family and your ancestors and all that and if you have a, you know,
able to look at it retrospectively, you know, listening to outside
people, if that makes any sense.
Kelley McCoy: It does. Anything like maybe about values and beliefs that
maybe you grew up with -Devin Nunes: Well, it's a religious place, right? So very Catholic. I
mean all of Portugal is, but especially the Azores. A lot of what we do
is, is at least aligned with the Church. You know, if you look at the
Fatima Celebration. So one of my children had a chance to go to the
100th anniversary of Fatima. So Fatima reigns large over Portuguese
families. And a lot of the festivals that you see around here are
centered also around Fatima. So that's probably a-[ Ambient Noise ] So that's probably something that, you know, just kind
of looking back, you kind of look at how do other people view you and the
-- and you and your ancestors, right? So they really see people from the
Azores as being very different, even the people in Portugal.
Kelley McCoy: Have you ever felt different?
Devin Nunes: No, not really, no. No. I mean, you know, in America here
it's -- especially the Valley, San Joaquin Valley, and there's so many
cultures I mean that's the -- that's the great thing about it and it's
still today, knock on wood, it's still kind of small town. You know, a
lot of, especially in like a lot of smaller -- the communities keep
growing but there's so many just great cultures here that a lot of places
around the -- really nowhere in the world, it doesn't really exist
anywhere, right? Where you bring in, you know, Armenians, and Mexicans,
Portuguese, and, you know, now we have Hmong. I mean it's really
fascinating. I mean this is probably the only place where these cultures
kind of are all together and keep their -- a little bit of their own
backgrounds and cultural experiences. I think you lose some of that,
right? Like you know, if you go to New York City or Los Angeles, because
you're just in a big, giant, city state, right? Where from your smaller
town you have your little local community, you have your church and,
then, all those other cultures are there, too.
Kelley McCoy: You mentioned, I just have a couple more questions, this
one and then the last one. You've mentioned several times, going to the
Azores on a few occasions, how do you think that has shaped things for
you too? The fact that you've gone back. Has it given you kind of a
deeper sense of –
Devin Nunes: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I mean, I remember the first
time. I mean, until you go, you don't really know what it -- I mean you
get this vision in your mind of, you know, your family and your relatives
and friends that went there and you know, they talk about the old country
and the old village, and all this, but until you go there -- And I
remember one specific thing about the -- one specific thing about being
in the Azores for the first time, is when I went to my family, one of my
family's villages. And I said, and you look at that village, which at one
time had like a thousand people in it. Today it's down to like a
hundred, okay? Because smaller families, a lot of the families have left.
And you sit there, and this is in Sao Jorge, which is one of the islands,
and you're in fajã dos vimes and you look around and you're like, and
it's beautiful and you wonder, “Oh, my God, it must have been really hard
to live here back in the day when there was a thousand people all living
off the land and the ocean.” I mean it’s really like -- it's, you know -it's not that, it's a beautiful place today like I've said, but, if you
go back 100 years ago -- Beautiful place, you had everything you wanted
but it had to be really tough. And, you know, out there in the middle of
the Atlantic Ocean, you know, granted, it didn't get very cold, but
the wind would blow, the ocean could be rough. You know, in those days
you didn't have, and I mean even today, you can go for two or three
weeks, the water's so rough you can't get out on it. So it's not like you
can just go out every day and catch some fish, right? You got to kind of
plan for it. So that's really the, that's like one memory I have, it was
the first time I went there and said, “Wow, this had to be really tough
to live here.”
Kelley McCoy: I want to thank you for your time.
Kelley McCoy: Were you named after anyone?
Devin Nunes: I was. I was named after -- my middle name is after my -one of my uncles. It's an old family name.
Kelley McCoy: When were you born?
Devin Nunes: I was born in 1973. August, October 1, 1973, in Tulare,
California.
Kelley McCoy: Tulare? When did your family immigrate to the United
States?
Devin Nunes: Well, it depends. I had -- it's fairly interesting -- I have
one of my -- I have a great-grandmother that was actually born here in
the Valley. So her family came from the island of Pico in the Azores, and
she was born in, outside of, Hanford around, like, in the 1895 range. And
then I have, you know, my step-grandmother who was married to my
grandfather. She was born in the Azores and moved here after World War
II. So, kind of in that, most of the Portuguese, you know, came to this - the rest of them came in the ’10s and the ’20s, 1900's.
Kelley McCoy: Why did your family leave the Azores?
Devin Nunes: Well, like everyone, like all the families there, you know - you --It was just subsistence living, so you had a – you had a good
living in that it's a very fertile place, very green place, there's fish
in the ocean and -- and things grow year-round, but that's all you had.
And you were, you were very isolated. And so this was a -- This area here
in the San Joaquin Valley was a great area to come to, based on it was
very similar to what you had in the Azores, in terms of fertile land and
you could have animals and grow crops. And so, pretty much all of my
family, that's what they came here. They took what they were doing in the
Azores and they started doing it here on small plots of land, mostly in
Tulare and Kings County.
Kelley McCoy: So what kind of agriculture exactly did they do?
Devin Nunes: So the, well they all had, and I think this is probably
like, like all agriculture at the time. I don't think it's specific only
to my family or even to the Portuguese American families. But I think a
lot of the early Valley farms, they all had animals. So they all had
cows, you know, for milk, and then they would have some beef and they
would have pigs, and they'd have some sheep, and then slowly my family
got more and more into dairy and into vineyards. And so, and so that was
-- oh, and sheep. Yeah, I forgot. So one of my great grandfathers was a
sheepherder who came from Pico and he would, he'd run sheep from
basically southern Tulare County all the way into southern Oregon, and he
did that for, well, from the time he got here--1910—so probably did if
for about 40 years. And then he was the one that actually got into
vineyards with my grandfather, my mom's side.
Kelley McCoy: So was it mostly in Tulare County, then?
Devin Nunes: Well, everybody was Tulare and Kings County, except for
my one great grandfather who would move sheep. So they would, they'd go
up through the -- in the summertime, and then they'd come back down here
in the wintertime, with sheep.
Kelley McCoy: Did any of your family members—do you remember, growing up-talk about life in the old country? Anything that they missed?
Devin Nunes: Yeah, you know, in this culture that you have here in the
Valley, it's an interesting micro culture that you have because you still
-- you have these, these Portuguese halls that are mainly built around
religious festivals. You know, these date back to the late 1800s, early
1900s, and they're all over the Valley here. I mean nearly every
community has one and they're still going today, so a lot of, you know, a
lot of the same -- It's fascinating because having been back to
these Azores now several times, the food that's in the Azores is here-you know, like you grew up with it, right? There's less fish, because
obviously you know, we're not near an ocean but, you know, the recipes
are the same, you know, whether it's, you know, the sweet bread, the
cornbread, the different bacalhau dishes, alcatras, so it's kind, kind of
interesting that those, that those recipes, you know, that came here and
they -- They've been here in the Valley for, you know, a hundred years.
Linguica for example, you know, it's, you know, nearly all the lockers
around here, at least in the south Valley and then of course up
in the north Valley, in the Modesto-Turlock area, all of them make
linguica, I mean that is a -- I mean not only is that Portuguese, but
that's basically a specific Azorean type of sausage.
Kelley McCoy: Now we're talking about food, but share a little bit about
your experience growing up as a Portuguese-American. Did you always have
a strong sense of your identity as such?
Devin Nunes: You know, it's kind of interesting. You know, you think
back, you know -- I went to a small rural school, Liberty School, you
know, where we had, you know, 15-16 kids in the class and I, you know,
and it was kind of-- and in those, those times it wasn't that long ago,
but now it's, you know, you look back and I remember, you know,
we had probably half the class was Portuguese, you know, or, you know,
and then you had probably a quarter of the class were Mexican-Americans,
either first or second generation. And then we always, it was kind of
funny because the kids that were white, they were always termed
as Okies, you know, so I didn't really know, I just thought all, you
know, anybody that was like American and from, you know, I just called
them Okies, because that's what, because in Tulare County and Kern
County, I mean, there were a lot of people that had come here during the
Dust Bowl and they called themselves Okies, so that was, you know, you
didn't really, you know, everybody blended together but you didn't really
think about it too much. But -- but, you know, in terms of your -- on the
weekends and the festivals and all of that, it was, it was a heavy
ingrained activities because you were constantly doing activities whether
it was through your church or through your school or on the weekends with
the Portuguese-American community here.
Kelley McCoy: Any emphasis on the language in your house?
Devin Nunes: Yeah, I mean there was, well, you know, I grew -- I always
joke that I spoke Portuguese and Spanish every day of my life until I
went to Congress, which is basically true, except I spoke both of them
very poorly and I mixed in English and all of them together. So, and then
in my -- When I go to, when I'm in Portugal or around people from the
-- interacting with the Portuguese government, they always joke that -They say that I speak really good portunol with an Azorean accent.
Kelley McCoy: Now that you have a family of your own, what Portuguese
traditions and customs have you maintained with your daughters?
Devin Nunes: Well, they're -- They're very lucky because they've been
able to go to the Azores twice, because they're -- So my wife is also
Portuguese but my father-in-law was born in the Azores and so he
immigrated here in 1969. And so -- so, like his mother, she didn't,
or she spoke, you know, very little English and so -- like my oldest,
she's now passed away but my oldest children I mean and my wife -- they
had -- that was the only way they could communicate -- and me -- The only
way you could communicate with her was by speaking, you know, Portuguese.
Limited Portuguese. So that's the -- so it's a -- So they're very well
ingrained in the, you know, having been to the Azores twice, having a
grandfather that was born there, you know, it's -- You know, it's much
different probably than how, you know, maybe somebody that's, you know,
it's only, you know, third or fourth or fifth generation.
Kelley McCoy: How important is it to you and your wife, Congressman, that
your three daughters have a strong sense of themselves, not only as
Americans, but as Portuguese Americans?
Devin Nunes: Well, what I always tell them is, it's important to
understand where you came from so that you -- you really appreciate
America, right? So, I think it's -- I think that's critical to, you know,
there's a reason why and you started out with that, there's a reason why
our families left these, the -- You know, all families in the Valley left
where they came from. It doesn't mean it's necessarily bad places, but
it's a heck of a lot better living here, even today, than it would
be, as beautiful as the Azores are. You know, there's challenges there. I
mean even today. You know, there's not a lot of good, high-paying jobs,
you know, and maybe that's not all that there is in life, because I
would, I will say, you know, now with the infrastructure that's there, as
beautiful as it is there, I'm still glad to live in the United States and
you want to make sure your kids understand that, too.
Kelley McCoy: So you grew up on a dairy farm. You then went to Cal Poly,
got your bachelor's degree in agriculture business, your master's degree
in agriculture. When did you know that you wanted to stay in agriculture
and what was the attraction for you?
Devin Nunes: Well, that was probably – probably never really an issue.
Probably by high school, I was involved in -- because – but I started my
own business when I was, when I was in high school, raising cattle. And
then one of the things that -- so we all grew up on a dairy farm, like a
lot of Portuguese families did here, on a farm. And then my other -- My
mom's father, he was in the grape business, in the vineyard business, so
we were all -- we were all together. We all lived on the same farm. All,
you know, a bunch of cousins all growing up around each other. And then
in high school, my dad went out on his own and started his own business
and one of the things that he wanted to make sure that we did--and, you
know, this is maybe, I'm not sure if it's good or bad--but a lot of the
families were very close-knit and they stayed together for a really long
time. Well, by the time -- And my father was already, you know, nearly 40
years old before he was out on his own with his own business, and he
wanted to make sure that that didn't happen to me or my brother. And
so, like, right away when he went out on his own. He told me and my
brother, “You need to have your own business, too. Like, immediately.”
And so, you know, because of that, we started, you know, I was in
business for myself, at you know, 13 years old. And then, and you know,
you look back at that and then we got into the harvesting business and
then farming on our own. Small, very small, but by then it was always, I
always wanted to be in the vineyard business., I always wanted to
be, you know, had an affinity for making wine for whatever reason, you
know, because growing up with grandfathers that made their own wine, and
so that's what I was always into.
Kelley McCoy: Yeah, tough life agriculture. That's why you know -- I'm
always so curious: What is it? Is it about being on the land? Is it about
being around animals? What is it?
Devin Nunes: It's tough. It's tough. But then again, it's getting a lot
easier than what it used to be in many ways. It's not -- It's more
automated. Now one of the challenges of that is -- is that now, in order
to make a living -- If you, you know, if you have to- to be successful in
agriculture now, you have to have the big operation with lots of -- lots
of capital, you know. If not, you have to just do small time operations
where you have another job, you know, basically. That's kind of what I do
now. I'm involved, you know. Different wineries here, a couple different
wineries in California and have a little farm on my own. But, you know,
for me to -- You know, if you're going to have a full-time, large-scale
farming operation, it takes considerable capital with, you know, people
that really know what they're doing that are sophisticated, so it's
changing, it's exciting, but at the same time it's, you know, it's harder
to do it as a full-time job, too.
Kelley McCoy: So trace if you will, how you got into public service.
Devin Nunes: Oh, that's -- Well, that's fairly easy. I was -- I was -- I
went to Cal Poly and I got involved -- I was just asked to be involved
working in Republican Party politics and it was just like a volunteer. I
parked cars and poured, you know, drinks at fundraisers and, you know,
put away chairs. I mean that's how I got involved. Put up some signs and
then, when I -- I had went to College of Sequoias first, a junior
college. So I went, which is in Visalia, two years, and then went away to
Cal Poly for three years to get my bachelor's and master's degree. While
I was there was when I got involved in these campaigns. When I got back,
there was controversy involving the College of Sequoias agriculture
department and Larry Dudo, who was my professor when I was at
COS, he came to me and said, “Hey, I want to --” I was back on my
family’s farm-- I was -- I was, I was kind of -- I was the herdsman for
my grandmother's dairy. My grandfather had just passed away and I still
had my business on the side working with my, with my uncle, and then we - he said, “Hey, I want to have lunch with you.” So I went and met him
for lunch and he says, “Hey, we've got these problems. They're going to
do this to the farm. The school farm. College farm.” And I said, “OK,
well, what do you want me to do about it?” And he said, “Well, you're,
you know, you did these political things.” And I said, “I didn't do any
political things. I like, put up signs.” He's like, “Yeah, but I want
you to run these campaigns for -- because somebody's going to run and
challenge the board president.” And I knew the two guys that were going
to run. And I said, “Well, they're both good guys, I'll be
glad to help but, you know, I'm not going to be, I can't be the campaign
manager.” And Larry Dudo was like, “Oh yeah, you can do it. You'll be,
you'll be fine. You can do it.” So -- so that was the idea. So for a
couple months I was just kind of volunteering, helping out, trying to put
together, you know, how would this campaign look? And the day before the
filing, in August, it was early August of 1996. Those guys -- we had a
meeting and I said, “OK, it's time to choose which one of you are going
to run.” And they both said, “We decided we're not going to run. You're
going to run.” And that's how I got it. And I was like, whoa! I said,
“This is crazy. I'm not going to. Nobody's going to vote for a 22-yearold for this position.” And then, low and behold, talked to some friends
and family. They said, “Oh yeah. You know, you should run.” And I ended
up winning. That's how I got in it. And then -- and later -- it's funny - When I was … Later on when I was elected to Congress, those two
gentlemen came to -- one is a Portuguese guy, actually, one's ItalianAmerican, both in agriculture, that came to visit me in Washington and we
had dinner and they said, “You know, when we put you up to run, we didn't
think we could win, we put you up as a sacrificial lamb.” So nobody
thought I was actually ever going to win. I did. I thought I was going to
win. But that's how -- That's how I got involved, in 1996.
Kelley McCoy: 1996 wasn't that long ago, obviously. And, I mean, look at
your trajectory: You stayed in it. Why? What was it about being a public
servant, an elected official, that kept you in it? What was the draw?
Devin Nunes: Well, agriculture has had a tougher and tougher time here in
the Valley. And largely, you know, because of -- you know, what I would,
what I would call extreme politics coming out of Sacramento and
Washington. And so, you know, being in this and then being in it every
day, working at, you know, being on the farm and being on the junior
college board and being involved in the Farm Bureau and all those things
I was involved in, I just naturally gravitated that -- You know, if you
want to make a difference, the only way to do it was to actually run for
office. And I mean the real reason I ran for federal office was because
of the water issue. And it was because the land that, you know, that I
was farming and my neighbors, you know, in the southern part of Tulare
County was running out of water. And, you know, now everybody's
running out of water here in the Valley and when there, in fact, is
enough water in the state. It's just about moving it to the right
places, keeping it in, you know, storing it and getting it to where it
needs to go. And so that's what really drove me into politics in a big
way is because, you know, I knew that I could make a difference and, you
know, you look back and, you know, it's still a fight every day but we
continue to do it.
Kelley McCoy: When all is said and done for you, in terms of you deciding
to step away from public service, do you see yourself going back to the
farm so to speak?
Devin Nunes: Yeah, well I've never really left. I mean I still, you know,
I live, you know, only a mile away from my grandmother, who's nearly 100
years old. So I spend a lot of time out there, I still have my hands in
these other businesses and, so, that I'm in. I just -- I don't ever see
myself leaving agriculture, you know. Now whether or not, you know, am I
going to go back in and run a, you know, 2000-cow dairy farm? Probably
not, but I may not even be qualified to do that anymore, right? I mean
it's -- it's much different, but I really do enjoy the vineyard business
and the wine business and that's something that I will likely stay
involved in. And I'll do -- I do row crop farming. I'll probably still -I'll do that, a little bit of that, but I'd like to do more of that so my
kids could be involved a little bit. But I'm hopeful that -- I'm hopeful
that maybe some of my family will give them some part-time work. Actually
we have a neighbor of ours that offered all my girls, my three girls,
jobs picking blueberries so, for next year, so we're going to see how
that works. So we're going to put them out picking blueberries, and I've
never picked blueberries, so I don't know how -- how that is, but, it's a
new crop that's growing here in the Valley now.
Kelley McCoy: So of all that you've accomplished professionally, what are
you most proud of?
Devin Nunes: You know, it's probably the, what probably makes the biggest
difference is constituent service work, right? So, you know, all the
things that I've done that I'm, you know, maybe most known for--you know,
whether it's you know, the water issue or ag issues or trade issues, or
all the issues involving the 2016 presidential election, the House
Intelligence Committee, and all of that--of all the things that people
might think that are, you know, all really important and all have taken
up a lot of my time, but I would say that it's those little things that
you do to help people that make a big difference. And so on just this,
just in the past week, we had a -- I went out to UPS and toured--they're
getting ready to get a new facility--and a driver came up to me, and I
remember this but I'd forgot because it was like 10 years ago. And he was
born in Mexico but he was here during -- in the '80s, during when Reagan
-- when there was -- the last time we actually did immigration
reform. And Reagan had done an amnesty for people that were here and,
but, anyway, his parents at the time didn't get a citizenship, didn't
take them in to get that done properly. So here this guy was 10 years
ago, working at UPS with a job. A full-time job. He didn't even know he
was here illegally. And so, anyway, we helped him out. We got
him his, we got you know, we got him his, at the time it was his green
card, you know, which was not easy because his parents had both passed
away, there was no way to, you know. So we had to go back and get all
these, all these documents, documentation. Anyway, the long story short
is, you know, just this week, 10 years later, you know, this guy is like
in management, and you know, higher up still driving delivery for UPS and
he's, he told me that he's, not only is he a citizen, he votes and is
just very, very thankful. So I think it's those types of things that you
do in people's lives that really make a difference that, you know, they
don't get the fanfare, but they, but they mean a lot to those people.
Kelley McCoy: So it sounds like you are able to do those things that drew
you into going into public office in the first place.
Devin Nunes: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, because it's constant, right? I
mean there's -- We have 800 thousand constituents and, at any given
time, you know -- I think I know -- Well I knew this number the other
day. We had a 131 open cases, so -- so those are active cases, this is as
of last, this was two weeks ago. Because we have obviously staff that
works on all of this but, some are veterans' issues, some are
immigration issues, some are social security issues, but those are open,
active cases where somebody needs help because once they get to a federal
office, they've run out of all other options, right? They're like,
they're at the end of their rope. And so we do a lot with veterans,
right? Like you know, they get to the VA, they don't have the proper, you
know -- maybe they served in Vietnam and now they need some health care
and, you know, you have to put all that together to make sure they can
get treated. So those are, yeah, so those are always ongoing cases.
Kelley McCoy: Well, I'm going to ask you a question about your experience
in the Azores but first let me ask you a couple philosophical questions.
To what extent do you believe, Congressman, that being PortugueseAmerican has shaped who you are and how you've moved through the world
professionally as well as personally?
Devin Nunes: Well, I do believe now when you look back -- that, you know,
cultures have certain types of traits. And it's interesting. So if you
talk to -- so I, you know, over the years I've gotten to know so many
people that are in the Portuguese government, right? The -- you know,
that I've, whether it's ambassadors or otherwise, because there's always
people that are coming out to the Valley here to meet with the
Portuguese community. Obviously, in Washington, I've been in the
Portuguese Caucus for a long time, but it's -- but it's interesting. So
the people that -- the continent, OK, so the people in Portugal -- So I
think it's important to understand there's a big difference between
people in the Azores and people in Portugal. I mean, because it's an
autonomous region. And most of the families that went out there have been
out there for--when I say went out, went to the Azores--have been out
there for hundreds of years, right? So you know, like, I have no--that I
know of--I don't know any of my family that, if they ever came from the
continent of Portugal or not. I suspect they did, but I don't have any,
you know, I don't know of any ancestor that came from Portugal.
But I can date back to the 1700s and I know they were in the Azores.
But, listening to Portuguese people from the continent talk about people
from the Azores, it's funny, because they're known as people who
are very quiet, very humble, don't talk a lot. And, anyway, and it's
ironic that's how they see me even though, you know, I'm out public all
the time. But that's how they see me and many other Azoreans, especially
like Azorean Americans, and they claim they can see the same traits,
like I can't see it because I'm part of it, right? I can't, you know -you don't really understand it, but so I do think that's -- I think to
some level, those traits are inbred in you. And it's hard to explain why,
you know, genetics and why people act the way they do, but you know I
think you see a lot of similar traits as you back away from, you know,
your family and your ancestors and all that and if you have a, you know,
able to look at it retrospectively, you know, listening to outside
people, if that makes any sense.
Kelley McCoy: It does. Anything like maybe about values and beliefs that
maybe you grew up with -Devin Nunes: Well, it's a religious place, right? So very Catholic. I
mean all of Portugal is, but especially the Azores. A lot of what we do
is, is at least aligned with the Church. You know, if you look at the
Fatima Celebration. So one of my children had a chance to go to the
100th anniversary of Fatima. So Fatima reigns large over Portuguese
families. And a lot of the festivals that you see around here are
centered also around Fatima. So that's probably a-[ Ambient Noise ] So that's probably something that, you know, just kind
of looking back, you kind of look at how do other people view you and the
-- and you and your ancestors, right? So they really see people from the
Azores as being very different, even the people in Portugal.
Kelley McCoy: Have you ever felt different?
Devin Nunes: No, not really, no. No. I mean, you know, in America here
it's -- especially the Valley, San Joaquin Valley, and there's so many
cultures I mean that's the -- that's the great thing about it and it's
still today, knock on wood, it's still kind of small town. You know, a
lot of, especially in like a lot of smaller -- the communities keep
growing but there's so many just great cultures here that a lot of places
around the -- really nowhere in the world, it doesn't really exist
anywhere, right? Where you bring in, you know, Armenians, and Mexicans,
Portuguese, and, you know, now we have Hmong. I mean it's really
fascinating. I mean this is probably the only place where these cultures
kind of are all together and keep their -- a little bit of their own
backgrounds and cultural experiences. I think you lose some of that,
right? Like you know, if you go to New York City or Los Angeles, because
you're just in a big, giant, city state, right? Where from your smaller
town you have your little local community, you have your church and,
then, all those other cultures are there, too.
Kelley McCoy: You mentioned, I just have a couple more questions, this
one and then the last one. You've mentioned several times, going to the
Azores on a few occasions, how do you think that has shaped things for
you too? The fact that you've gone back. Has it given you kind of a
deeper sense of –
Devin Nunes: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I mean, I remember the first
time. I mean, until you go, you don't really know what it -- I mean you
get this vision in your mind of, you know, your family and your relatives
and friends that went there and you know, they talk about the old country
and the old village, and all this, but until you go there -- And I
remember one specific thing about the -- one specific thing about being
in the Azores for the first time, is when I went to my family, one of my
family's villages. And I said, and you look at that village, which at one
time had like a thousand people in it. Today it's down to like a
hundred, okay? Because smaller families, a lot of the families have left.
And you sit there, and this is in Sao Jorge, which is one of the islands,
and you're in fajã dos vimes and you look around and you're like, and
it's beautiful and you wonder, “Oh, my God, it must have been really hard
to live here back in the day when there was a thousand people all living
off the land and the ocean.” I mean it’s really like -- it's, you know -it's not that, it's a beautiful place today like I've said, but, if you
go back 100 years ago -- Beautiful place, you had everything you wanted
but it had to be really tough. And, you know, out there in the middle of
the Atlantic Ocean, you know, granted, it didn't get very cold, but
the wind would blow, the ocean could be rough. You know, in those days
you didn't have, and I mean even today, you can go for two or three
weeks, the water's so rough you can't get out on it. So it's not like you
can just go out every day and catch some fish, right? You got to kind of
plan for it. So that's really the, that's like one memory I have, it was
the first time I went there and said, “Wow, this had to be really tough
to live here.”
Kelley McCoy: I want to thank you for your time.