Dan Patrick
Dan Goeb Patrick (born Dannie Scott Goeb;[1] April 4, 1950[2] is the 42nd Lieutenant Governor of Texas, serving since January 2015, and a conservative Christian. Before that, Patrick was a sportscaster and a conservative talk radio host.
| Dan Patrick | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| 42nd Lieutenant Governor of Texas From: January 20, 2015-present | |||
| Governor | Greg Abbott | ||
| Predecessor | David Dewhurst | ||
| Successor | Incumbent (no successor) | ||
| Former Member of the Texas Senate from the 7th district From: January 9, 2007 – January 13, 2015 | |||
| Predecessor | Jon Lindsay | ||
| Successor | Paul Bettencourt | ||
| Information | |||
| Party | Republican | ||
| Spouse(s) | Jan Patrick | ||
| Religion | Christianity | ||
Early life and career
Patrick was born April 4, 1950 in Baltimore, Maryland.[2] Patrick graduated from University of Maryland, Baltimore County.[3]
Starting with a radio job in 1968, Patrick held several jobs in radio and TV in his life.[1][3] In the 1980s, he started a sports bar chain, which went bankrupt in 1986.[4] The ordeal of bankruptcy would shape Patrick as a conservative and a Christian.[4]
In the 1990s, Patrick became a conservative talk radio host.[3][4] He became very influential in talk radio, promoting consistent conservative Christian views and becoming the owner of two radio stations.[3][4] A notable decision of Patrick was to sign Rush Limbaugh, who was not well known at the time, on his radio station.[4]
Texas State Senate
Due to his influential career in talk radio, Patrick gained large name recognition.[4] He considered running for Congress in 2004.[1]
In 2006, Patrick was elected to the Texas State Senate in 2006, receiving almost 70 percent of the vote in the general election.[5] Patrick quickly built up a conservative record. Shortly after the 2010 elections, where the GOP received record election gains, Patrick announced, and subsequently created, a Tea Party Caucus in the Texas state legislature, which at its creation has 48 legislatures as members.[6]
Lieutenant Governor of Texas
2014 election
Patrick ran for Texas lieutenant governor in the 2014 elections, challenging the Republican incumbent David Dewhurst. Patrick ran as a Tea Party conservative, while Dewhurst was the establishment candidate.[7] Dewhurst and Patrick went to a runoff after the primary, and Patrick won with 65 percent of the vote.[5] Patrick won the general election with over 58 percent of the vote, in a election where Tea Party candidates swept the state.[8][9]
Tenure
Patrick was sworn in on January 20, 2015, and made no delay in showing his Christian conservative principles once again.[10][11] Soon after assuming office, the Texas Senate voted to drop the threshold needed to consider a bill from two-thirds to three-fiths, something that Patrick supported.[9][12]
As Lieutenant Governor, Patrick made moves to keep National Guard troops sent to the Texas-Mexico border during the illegal immigration surge of 2014 indefinitely, rather than in March 2015, as originally planned.[13] Patrick's 2015 budget in the Texas Senate called for spending $815 million on border security, which he said was more than the previous seven years combined.[13]
On May 13, 2016, Patrick criticized the Obama administration, after it released a directive stating that all public schools must allow transgender students to use the bathroom and locker facilities that correspond with their identified gender, stating that, on the prospect of the federal government withholding funding for Texas schools for not following the directive, "he can keep his 30 pieces of silver [and that w]e will not yield to blackmail from the president of the United States."[14][15][16]
Personal life
Patrick is married to Jan Patrick and they have two children.[2] Patrick has written a best-selling book, The Second Most Important Book You Will Ever Read: A Personal Challenge to Read the Bible, and a film, The Heart of Texas.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Truth – Name Change » Dan Patrick for Lieutenant Governor. Dan Patrick for Lieutenant Governor. Retrieved on 13 January 2015.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Dan Patrick's Biography. Project Vote Smart. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Sweeney, Paul (Febaruary 24, 2006). Party Crasher: Can Houston's king of right-wing talk radio bust into the Texas Senate?. The Texas Observer. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "Lieutenant governor candidate Dan Patrick knows struggles of going broke", Dallas News, September 19, 2013. Retrieved on May 28, 2014.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 State Sen. Dan Patrick. The Texas Tribune. Retrieved on September 27, 2016.
- ↑ Grissom, Brandi (December 16, 2010). "Sen. Dan Patrick Announces Tea Party Caucus". The texas Tribune. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
- ↑ "Lieutenant Governor Loses Texas Runoff as Tea Party Holds Sway", The New York Times, May 27, 2014. Retrieved on April 2, 2015.
- ↑ Grissom, Brandi (May 28, 2014). Tea Party Conservatives Win Top GOP Runoff Contests, Texas Tribune. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Koppel, Nathan (January 21, 2015). "Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick Moves Quickly to Advance Conservative Agenda". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
- ↑ Lindell, Chuck (January 20, 2015). "Dan Patrick Snaps Selfies, Vows ‘Next Level’ Conservatism". Austin American -Statesman. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
- ↑ Fernandez, Manny (January 20, 2015) - "Texas’ New Governor Echoes the Plans of Perry". The New York Times. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
- ↑ Smith, Morgan (January 21, 2015). "With Change in Procedure, Senate Democrats Lose Clout". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 The Associated Press (February 10, 2015) - "Lt. Gov. Patrick: National Guard Not Leaving Texas Border". CBS-DFW. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
- ↑ Texas Lt. Gov. Accuses Obama of 'Blackmail' on Transgender Bathrooms. Politico (May 13, 2016). Retrieved on May 14, 2016.
- ↑ Solace and Fury as Schools React to Transgender Policy. The New York Times (May 13, 2016). Retrieved on May 14, 2016.
- ↑ "Texas to Instruct Schools Not to Obey Obama's Transgender Bathroom Decree", Fox News Insider. Retrieved on 14 May 2016.