Barbara Jean Comstock (née Burns; born June 30, 1959) is an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 10th congressional district from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, she was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 2010 to 2014. Comstock first won election to her seat in the House of Delegates in 2009. In 2014, she was elected to succeed retiring Republican incumbent Frank Wolf in Congress. Comstock has worked in numerous positions for various government agencies, including as chief counsel of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, as director of public affairs at the Department of Justice and as a congressional staffer. In 2019, she joined the lobbying firm Baker Donelson as a senior advisor. Early life and education Comstock was born Barbara Jean Burns in Springfield, Massachusetts, on June 30, 1959. She is the daughter of Sally Ann Burns, a teacher, and John Ferguson Burns, national manager of polymer sales for Shell Chemicals. Comstock graduated from Westchester High School in Houston, Texas in 1977. She graduated cum laude from Middlebury College in 1981. In college, Comstock spent a semester interning for Senator Ted Kennedy. While interning for Kennedy, Comstock, who was raised a Democrat, became a Republican. Years later, she recalled that she had long reckoned herself as a Reagan Democrat, and during her internship she found herself agreeing more with Orrin Hatch of Utah than with Kennedy. She then attended law school at Georgetown University, graduating with a Juris Doctor degree in 1986. Career After working as a lawyer in private practice, Comstock served from 1991 to 1995 as a senior aide to Congressman Frank Wolf. Comstock then served as chief investigative counsel and senior counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform from 1995 to 1999, working as one of Washington's most prominent anti-Clinton opposition researchers. Comstock worked on behalf of the 2000 presidential campaign of George W. Bush. Her research team built massive stores of paper and electronic data, known as "The Gore File", that were a key source of information on the former vice president for GOP publicists and ad-makers. Comstock is credited with writing the Republican "playbook" defending Bush nominees such as John Ashcroft for U.S. Attorney General. Comstock later served as director of public affairs for the Justice Department from 2002 to 2003. Comstock and Barbara Olson,