Marc Allison Veasey (/ˈviːsɪ/; born January 3, 1971) is an American politician serving as a member of the United States House of Representatives for Texas’s 33rd congressional district. From 2005 to 2013, he was a member of the Texas House of Representatives, where he served as chair pro tempore of the House Democratic Caucus.

Early life and education

Veasey was born on January 3, 1971,[1] to Connie and Joseph Veasey. With his parents and brother, Ryan, Veasey and his family lived in numerous rental houses in the Stop Six neighborhood of Fort Worth, Texas. When he was ten years old, his parents divorced, and Marc, Ryan and their mother moved in with their maternal grandmother in the Como neighborhood of Fort Worth.[2]

Veasey attended Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth.[3] He graduated from Texas Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Arts in mass communications.[2][4]

Early career

Veasey worked as a substitute teacher and sportswriter, as well as writing scripts for an advertising agency. One summer, he volunteered for U.S. Representative Martin Frost, and was hired as a field representative.[2] Veasey worked for Frost for five years.[5][6]

Texas House of Representatives

Elections

As a result of the 2003 Texas redistricting, Frost lost his reelection effort in 2004 to Pete Sessions. In 2004, Veasey challenged Democratic State Representative Glenn Lewis for Texas’s 95th House district.[5] He defeated Lewis 54%-46% in the primary[7] and won the general election unopposed. He was reelected in 2006 (91%), 2008 (96%), and 2010 (100%).[2][8]

Tenure

Veasey represented Texas House District 95 from 2005 to 2013.[9] He was the chair pro tempore of the House Democratic Caucus.[10] He sponsored measures to create career and technology training in high schools, and authored HB 62, which honored Tim Cole, a Texas Tech University student wrongly convicted of raping a fellow student in 1985. Veasey also authored a bill requiring a study to lead to greater enforcement of the James Byrd Jr. hate crime bill.[11]

Committee assignments
  • Elections Committee
  • Environmental Regulation Committee
  • Pensions, Investments, and Financial Services Committee
  • Redistricting Committee
  • Voter Identification & Voter Fraud Select Committee (Vice Chair)[12]

U.S. House of Representatives

Veasey during the 113th Congress

Elections

2012

Veasey declared his candidacy for Texas’s 33rd congressional district, a new congressional district for the United States House of Representatives that was created by reapportionment following the 2010 United States census. The district is based in Tarrant and Dallas counties.[13] It is heavily Democratic: the Cook Partisan Voting Index (PVI) was D+14. It is also highly diverse: 66% Hispanic and 17% African American.[14]

Eleven candidates filed to run in the Democratic primary. Veasey finished first, with 37% of the vote, less than the 50% needed to win the primary outright. State Representative Domingo García ranked second with 25% of the vote, qualifying for the runoff election. Veasey won Tarrant with 49% of the vote, while Garcia won Dallas with 44% of the vote.[15] In the runoff, Veasey defeated Garcia, 53%-47%. He carried Tarrant with a 68% of the vote, as opposed to Garcia’s 70% in Dallas.[16] In the general election, he defeated Republican Chuck Bradley, 73%-26%. He won Tarrant with 78% of the vote and Dallas with 66% of the vote.[17][18] Veasey is the first African-American U.S. Representative elected from Tarrant County.[19]

2014

Main article: 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas § District 33

Veasey won re-nomination in the March 4 primary, defeating Tom Sanchez, 13,285 votes (73.5%) to 4,797 (26.5%).[20] He faced no Republican opponent in the general election but Jason Reeves qualified for the ballot as a Libertarian.[21]

2016

Veasey won re-nomination in the March 1 primary against activist Carlos Quintanilla with 63% of the vote. He lost Dallas County but won Tarrant County. He defeated Republican M. Mark Mitchell in the general election, 74% to 26%. Veasey spent $1.5 million on his campaign.

2018

Veasey again defeated Quintanilla in the primary, with 70% of the vote. In the general election he defeated Republican Willie Billups and Libertarian Jason Reeves with 76%.

2020

Veasey defeated Sean Segura in the primary, 64% to 36%. He was endorsed by the Dallas Morning News, which claimed Segura “lacks a cohesive knowledge of the district’s public policy needs.”[22]

In the general election, Veasey beat Republican Fabian Cordova Vasquez and three minor candidates, including Quintanilla, with 67% of the vote, his weakest showing to date, largely due to Quintanilla’s independent candidacy.[23]

Political positions

Veasey voted with President Joe Biden‘s stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis.[24]

Civil rights

Veasey is a supporter of a woman’s right to abortion.[25]

Veasey voted for the Violence Against Women Act and was rated the “preferred” candidate in 2020 by Feminist Majority Foundation.[26] He co-sponsored the Student Non-Discrimination Act.[26]

Energy and oil

Veasey has agreed with The Heritage Foundation and opposed the Sierra Club on Offshore oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico.[27]

Veasey defended Texas oil and interests in February 2021 when President Joe Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline and issued a moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters.[28]

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Personal life

Veasey is married to Tonya Jackson, a former Texas Senate aide.[35] They have a son.[36] Veasey’s uncle, Robert James English, was a television reporter and worked for Jim Wright, a former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.[2]

Electoral history

Election results
YearOfficeElectionSubjectPartyVotes%OpponentPartyVotes%OpponentPartyVotes%
2004State RepresentativePrimaryMarc VeaseyDemocratic4,88054.29%Glenn Lewis (i)Democratic4,10945.71%
2004State RepresentativeGeneralMarc VeaseyDemocratic33,769100.00%
2006State RepresentativeGeneralMarc Veasey (i)Democratic18,25990.53%John Paul RobinsonLibertarian1,9099.47%
2008State RepresentativeGeneralMarc Veasey (i)Democratic39,15095.52%Hy SiegelLibertarian1,8384.48%
2010State RepresentativeGeneralMarc Veasey (i)Democratic19,835100.00%
2012U.S. RepresentativePrimaryMarc VeaseyDemocratic6,93836.77%Domingo GarciaDemocratic4,71524.99%Kathleen HicksDemocratic2,37212.57%
David AlameelDemocratic2,06410.94%Manuel ValdezDemocratic8844.69%
Steve SalazarDemocratic4822.56%Chrysta CastanedaDemocratic3952.09%
Jason E. RobertsDemocratic3421.81%Carlos QuintanillaDemocratic2861.52%
Kyev P. Tatum, Sr.Democratic2011.07%J. R. MolinaDemocratic1891.00%
2012U.S. RepresentativePrimary RunoffMarc VeaseyDemocratic10,76652.73%Domingo GarciaDemocratic9,65347.27%
2012U.S. RepresentativeGeneralMarc VeaseyDemocratic85,11472.51%Chuck BradleyRepublican30,25225.77%Ed LindsayGreen2,0091.71%
2014U.S. RepresentativePrimaryMarc Veasey (i)Democratic13,29273.48%Tom SanchezDemocratic4,79826.52%
2014U.S. RepresentativeGeneralMarc Veasey (i)Democratic43,76986.51%Jason ReevesLibertarian6,82313.49%
2016U.S. RepresentativePrimaryMarc Veasey (i)Democratic20,52663.41%Carlos QuintanillaDemocratic11,84636.59%
2016U.S. RepresentativeGeneralMarc Veasey (i)Democratic93,14773.71%M. Mark MitchellRepublican33,22226.29%
2018U.S. RepresentativePrimaryMarc Veasey (i)Democratic15,17570.32%Carlos QuintanillaDemocratic6,40529.68%
2018U.S. RepresentativeGeneral[37]Marc Veasey (i)Democratic90,80576.16%Willie BillupsRepublican26,12021.91%Jason ReevesLibertarian2,2991.93%

See also

References

  1. ^ “State Rep. Marc Veasey”. texastribune.org. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e Tinsley, Anna M. (July 22, 2012). “Marc Veasey hopes his years in politics will help open a new chapter | Local Elections |”. Star-telegram.com. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
  3. ^ “Marc Veasey: Leader and Candidate for District 33 – Metropolitan – Daily Campus – Southern Methodist University”. Smudailycampus.com. October 30, 2012. Archived from the original on March 14, 2013. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
  4. ^ “Star Telegram: Search Results”. December 14, 2008.
  5. ^ a b Mosier, Jeff (March 10, 2004). “Archives | The Dallas Morning News, dallasnews.com”. Nl.newsbank.com. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
  6. ^ “Star Telegram: Search Results”. January 3, 2004.
  7. ^ “Our Campaigns – TX State House 095 – D Primary Race – Mar 09, 2004”.
  8. ^ “Our Campaigns – Candidate – Marc Veasey”.
  9. ^ “Star Telegram: Search Results”. March 14, 2004.
  10. ^ “U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey”.
  11. ^ “ABOUT MARC – Marc Veasey”.
  12. ^ “Marc Veasey”.
  13. ^ http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/fyiwebdocs/PDF/congress/dist33/m1.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  14. ^ ftp://ftpgis1.tlc.state.tx.us/DistrictViewer/Congress/PlanC235r100.pdf
  15. ^ “Our Campaigns – TX District 33 – D Primary Race – May 29, 2012”.
  16. ^ “Our Campaigns – TX District 33 – D Runoff Race – Jul 31, 2012”.
  17. ^ “Our Campaigns – TX District 33 Race – Nov 06, 2012”.
  18. ^ Tinsley, Anna M. (August 28, 2010). “Marc Veasey, Roger Williams set to join North Texas congressional delegation | Elections &”. Star-telegram.com. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
  19. ^ Tinsley, Anna M. (August 28, 2010). “Fort Worth’s Veasey wins runoff for U.S. House seat | Elections & Politics | News from F”. Star-telegram.com. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
  20. ^ “Democratic primary election returns”. team1.sos.state.tx.us. Archived from the original on March 7, 2014. Retrieved March 9, 2014.
  21. ^ Young, Stephen (July 10, 2014). “Meet Jason Reeves, the Guy Guaranteed to Finish at Least Second to Marc Veasey”. Unfair Park. Dallas Observer. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  22. ^ “We recommend Marc Veasey in the 33rd Congressional District Democratic primary”. The Dallas Morning News. January 30, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  23. ^ “TX District 33 2020”. Our Campaigns. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  24. ^ Bycoffe, Aaron; Wiederkehr, Anna (April 22, 2021). “Does Your Member Of Congress Vote With Or Against Biden?”. FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
  25. ^ “Marc Veasey on the Issues”. ontheissues.org. On the Issues. 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  26. ^ a b “Marc Veasey on Civil Rights”. ontheissues.org. On the Issues.
  27. ^ “Marc Veasey on Energy & Oil”. ontheissues.org. On the Issues. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  28. ^ Greene, Richard (February 5, 2021). “When Biden put the squeeze on Texas’ oil and gas industry, Democrats squealed, too”. news.yahoo.com. Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  29. ^ “Membership”. Congressional Black Caucus. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
  30. ^ “Membership”. Congressional Arts Caucus. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  31. ^ “Boyle and Veasey form “Blue Collar Caucus” in Congress”. Congressman Brendan Boyle. December 1, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  32. ^ “Members”. Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  33. ^ “Members”. U.S. – Japan Caucus. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  34. ^ “Members”. New Democrat Coalition. Archived from the original on February 8, 2018. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  35. ^ “Star Telegram: Search Results”. December 12, 2004.
  36. ^ “The Graham Leader”. The Graham Leader. March 20, 2009. Retrieved November 8, 2012.[permanent dead link]
  37. ^ “Texas’ 33rd Congressional District election, 2018”. Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 25, 2019.

External links

Texas House of Representatives
Preceded by

Glenn Lewis
 Member of the Texas House of Representatives
from the 95th district
2005–2013		Succeeded by

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by

New constituency
 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas’s 33rd congressional district
2013–present		Incumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by

 Seniority in the U.S. House of Representatives
143rd		Succeeded by


source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Veasey