Marc Veasey

Marc Allison Veasey /ˈviːsi/ (born January 3, 1971) is an American politician from Fort Worth, Texas. Veasey is currently the United States Representative for Texas's 33rd congressional district, first elected in November 2012. Previously he was a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives from 2005 to 2013, where he served as Chair Pro Tempore of the House Democratic Caucus.

Marc Veasey
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas's 33rd district
Assumed office
January 3, 2013
Preceded byConstituency established
Member of the Texas House of Representatives
from the 95th district
In office
January 11, 2005 – January 3, 2013
Preceded byGlenn Lewis
Succeeded byNicole Collier
Personal details
Born
Marc Allison Veasey

(1971-01-03) January 3, 1971
Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Tonya Jackson
Children1
EducationTexas Wesleyan University (BA)
WebsiteHouse website

Early life, education, and early career

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, Texas.[3] He graduated from Texas Wesleyan University with a bachelor of science degree in mass communications.[2][4]

Veasey worked as a substitute teacher and sportswriter, as well as writing scripts for an advertising agency. One summer, he volunteered for United States 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 the 2004 elections, Veasey challenged Democratic State Representative Glenn Lewis for Texas's 95th House district.[5] He defeated the incumbent 54%-46% in the Democratic primary.[7] He won the general election unopposed. He was re-elected 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 has sponsored measures to create career and technology training in high schools. He authored HB 62 which honored Tim Cole, a Texas Tech University student wrongly convicted of raping a fellow student in 1985. Marc 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's official freshman portrait

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 a heavily Democratic district: the Cook Partisan Voting Index (PVI) was D+14. The district is also highly diverse: 66% Hispanic and 17% African American.[14]

Eleven candidates filed to run in the Democratic primary. Veasey finished first, but failed to reach the 50% threshold needed to win the primary outright. He received 37% of the vote. State Representative Domingo García ranked second with 25% of the vote, qualifying for the run-off election. Veasey won Tarrant with 49% of the vote, while Garcia won Dallas with 44% of the vote.[15] In the run-off primary election, 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 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 election by defeating Tom Sanchez, 13,285 votes (73.5 percent) to 4,797 (26.5 percent).[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. Veasey lost Dallas County but won Tarrant County by majority. He subsequently defeated Republican M. Mark Mitchell easily in the general election. Veasey Spent 1.5 Million Dollars.

2020

Veasey faced two Democratic candidates in the primary.

Republicans Fabian Cordova Vasquez and Rich Helms are also running.

Civil Rights

Marc Veasey is a supporter of a woman′s right to choose.[22]

Congressman Veasey voted in favor of the Violence Against Women Act and was rated the "preferred" candidate in 2020 by Feminist Majority Foundation.[23] He co-sponsored the Student Non-Discrimination Act.[23]

Energy & Oil

Veasey has joined the The Heritage Foundation and opposed the Sierra Club on Offshore oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico.[24]

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.[25]

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Personal life

Veasey is married to Tonya Jackson, a former Texas Senate aide.[32] The couple have a son, named Adam Clayton.[33] Veasey's uncle, Robert James English, was a television reporter and worked for Jim Wright, the former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.[2]

Electoral history
Election results
Year Office Election Subject Party Votes % Opponent Party Votes % Opponent Party Votes %
2004 State Representative Primary Marc Veasey Democratic 4,880 54.29% Glenn Lewis (i) Democratic 4,109 45.71%
2004 State Representative General Marc Veasey Democratic 33,769 100.00%
2006 State Representative General Marc Veasey (i) Democratic 18,259 90.53% John Paul Robinson Libertarian 1,909 9.47%
2008 State Representative General Marc Veasey (i) Democratic 39,150 95.52% Hy Siegel Libertarian 1,838 4.48%
2010 State Representative General Marc Veasey (i) Democratic 19,835 100.00%
2012 U.S. Representative Primary Marc Veasey Democratic 6,938 36.77% Domingo Garcia Democratic 4,715 24.99% Kathleen Hicks Democratic 2,372 12.57%
David Alameel Democratic 2,064 10.94% Manuel Valdez Democratic 884 4.69%
Steve Salazar Democratic 482 2.56% Chrysta Castaneda Democratic 395 2.09%
Jason E. Roberts Democratic 342 1.81% Carlos Quintanilla Democratic 286 1.52%
Kyev P. Tatum, Sr. Democratic 201 1.07% J. R. Molina Democratic 189 1.00%
2012 U.S. Representative Primary Runoff Marc Veasey Democratic 10,766 52.73% Domingo Garcia Democratic 9,653 47.27%
2012 U.S. Representative General Marc Veasey Democratic 85,114 72.51% Chuck Bradley Republican 30,252 25.77% Ed Lindsay Green 2,009 1.71%
2014 U.S. Representative Primary Marc Veasey (i) Democratic 13,292 73.48% Tom Sanchez Democratic 4,798 26.52%
2014 U.S. Representative General Marc Veasey (i) Democratic 43,769 86.51% Jason Reeves Libertarian 6,823 13.49%
2016 U.S. Representative Primary Marc Veasey (i) Democratic 20,526 63.41% Carlos Quintanilla Democratic 11,846 36.59%
2016 U.S. Representative General Marc Veasey (i) Democratic 93,147 73.71% M. Mark Mitchell Republican 33,222 26.29%
2018 U.S. Representative Primary Marc Veasey (i) Democratic 15,175 70.32% Carlos Quintanilla Democratic 6,405 29.68%
2018 U.S. Representative General[34] Marc Veasey (i) Democratic 90,805 76.16% Willie Billups Republican 26,120 21.91% Jason Reeves Libertarian 2,299 1.93%

See also

References
  1. "State Rep. Marc Veasey". texastribune.org. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  2. 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. 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
  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. "Marc Veasey on the Issues". ontheissues.org. On the Issues. 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  23. "Marc Veasey on Civil Rights". ontheissues.org. On the Issues.
  24. "Marc Veasey on Energy & Oil". ontheissues.org. On the Issues. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  25. 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.
  26. "Membership". Congressional Black Caucus. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
  27. "Membership". Congressional Arts Caucus. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  28. "Boyle and Veasey form "Blue Collar Caucus" in Congress". Congressman Brendan Boyle. December 1, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  29. "Members". Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  30. "Members". U.S. - Japan Caucus. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  31. "Members". New Democrat Coalition. Archived from the original on February 8, 2018. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  32. "Star Telegram: Search Results". December 12, 2004.
  33. "The Graham Leader". The Graham Leader. March 20, 2009. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
  34. "Texas' 33rd Congressional District election, 2018". Ballotpedia. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
Texas House of Representatives
Preceded by
Glenn Lewis		 Member of the Texas House of Representatives
from the 95th district
2005–2013		 Succeeded by
Nicole Collier
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
Juan Vargas		 Seniority in the U.S. House of Representatives
195th		 Succeeded by
Filemon Vela Jr.
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