Brandon Creighton

Charles Brandon Creighton (born August 5, 1970)^[1] is an American attorney and politician from Conroe, Texas, who is a Republican member of the Texas Senate from District 4, and a former member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 16, based entirely in suburban Montgomery County, near Houston in the southeastern portion of the state.

In his last term in the chamber, Creighton was the House Majority Leader under Speaker Joe Straus.^[2]

Creighton won the August 5, 2014, special election runoff for the District 4 seat in the Texas Senate, 67 to 33 percent, over fellow former state representative Republican Steve Toth of The Woodlands.^[3][4]

Background

Creighton holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a Juris Doctor from Oklahoma City University School of Law in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.^[1]

Creighton is vice president and general counsel of the Signorelli Company, a home and office building development firm in Conroe.^[5] He is also a rancher.^[2] He was formerly employed in the state attorney's general offices in both Oklahoma City and Austin, Texas and as a member of the staff of the Texas State Senate. He is a current member of the Conroe Noon Lions International. He was formerly affiliated with Rotary International. He is a long-term member of the First Baptist Church of Conroe. He and his wife, Fawn, reside in Conroe and have two children.^[1][2]

Political career

Creighton was an unsuccessful candidate for the Texas House in 2002, but he lost his party's nomination to the incumbent, Ruben Hope, 6,126 (55.6 percent) to 4,884 (44.4 percent).^[6] In the 2006 Republican primary, Hope declined to seek re-nomination. Creighton hence won the nomination with 56.6 percent of the vote over two intraparty rivals, Dale Inman and Vicky Rudy.^[7] In the 2006 general election, Creighton defeated the Democrat Pat Poland, 23,945 (75 percent) to 7,963 (25 percent).^[8] Since his first election in 2006, Creighton has faced no further primary or general election opponents.^[5]

Representative Creighton served on three House committees: Insurance, International Trade & Intergovernmental Affairs, and Redistricting.^[1]

In the 2013 legislative session, Creighton supported the ban on abortion after twenty weeks of gestation; the bill passed the House, 96-49. He voted for companion legislation to increase medical and licensing requirements of abortion providers. Texas Right to Life rated him 116 percent in 2013 and 100 percent in 2011.^[9]

Creighton voted against a taxpayer-funded breakfast program for public schools; the measure nevertheless passed the House, 73-58. He supported legislation to provide marshals for school security. He opposed the bill requiring the immunization of minors without parental consent, a measure which the House nevertheless approved, 71-61. He co-sponsored the law to extend the franchise tax exemption to certain businesses. Creighton voted against the measure to prohibit texting while driving. He voted to require testing for narcotics of those receiving unemployment compensation. He voted against an "equal pay for women" measure, which passed the House, 78-61. He voted to forbid the state from enforcing federal regulations of firearms and in support of another law allowing college and university officials to carry concealed weapons in the name of campus security. He voted for the redistricting bills for the state House, the Texas Senate, and the United States House of Representatives.^[10]

In 2013, Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, managed in Texas by Cathie Adams, a former state chairman of the Texas Republican Party, rated Creighton 95 percent. The Young Conservatives of Texas ranked him 80 percent. The interest group, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, founded by Michael Quinn Sullivan, rated him 84 percent in 2013 but 100 percent in 2011. The Texas Association of Business gave him a cumulative score of 89 percent. He ranked 59 percent from the Texas League of Conservation Voters and 33 percent from the Sierra Club. The National Rifle Association ranked him 92 percent.^[11]

Elections of 2014

Creighton did not seek a fifth term in House District 16 in the Republican primary held on March 4, 2014. Instead he ran for the District 4 seat in the Texas Senate, vacated in the fall of 2013 by the resignation of Republican Tommy Williams of The Woodlands, who accepted a position with Texas A&M University in College Station.^[12] Creighton had announced that he would seek the position of Texas Agriculture Commissioner to succeed Todd Staples, who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor. Instead Creighton quickly left that race to run instead in the special election for the unexpired portion of Williams' term as well as the regular election for the Senate seat.^[13] The Republican nominee for Creighton's old seat is Will Metcalf, who defeated Ted Seago in the Republican runoff election on May 27, 2014.^[14]

Creighton faced opposition for the Senate vacancy from neighboring District 15 Representative Steve Toth of The Woodlands, who left the House after one term (Toth will be succeeded in the House by another Republican, Mark Keough, also of The Woodlands.), and entrepreneur Richard "Gordy" Bunch, a native of San Diego, California, who serves on The Woodlands township council.^[2]

In the May 10, 2014, special election Creighton came in first place with 45 percent of the vote.^[15] Creighton received 45.2 percent, Toth 23.7 percent, Bunch 21.8 percent, and Michael Galloway 9.3 percent.^[15] Creighton and Toth faced other in a runoff election on August 5, 2014.^[15]

Creighton won the August 5, 2014 special election runoff.^[4] Rice University political science professor Mark Jones said both Creighton and Toth “are significantly more conservative than Williams.”^[16]

2014 Special Election

References

External links

• Official webpage on Texas Senate
• CreightonForTX on Twitter
• CreightonForTX on Facebook

Members of the Texas Senate
83rd Texas Legislature (2013) President of the Senate: David Dewhurst (R) President Pro Tempore: Steve Ogden (R)
Kevin Eltife (R)    Bob Hall (succeeding Bob Deuell) (R)    Robert Nichols (R)    Brandon Creighton (R)    Charles Schwertner (R)    Sylvia Garcia (D)    Paul Bettencourt (succeeding Dan Patrick) (R)    Van Taylor (succeeding Ken Paxton) (R)    Kelly Hancock (R)    Konni Burton (R) (succeeding Wendy Davis (D)    Larry Taylor (R)    Jane Nelson (R)    Rodney Ellis (D)    Kirk Watson (D)    John Whitmire (D)    Don Huffines (succeeding John Carona) (R)    Joan Huffman (R)    Lois Kolkhorst (succeeding Glenn Hegar) (R)    Carlos Uresti (D)    Juan Hinojosa (D)    Judith Zaffirini (D)    Brian Birdwell (R)    Royce West (D)    Troy Fraser (R)    Donna Campbell (R)    Jose Menendez (succeeding Leticia Van de Putte) (D)    Eddie Lucio Jr. (D)    Charles Perry (R)    José R. Rodríguez (D)    Craig Estes (R)    Kel Seliger (R)
Republican (20)    Democratic (11) Texas Legislature Texas House of Representatives Texas State Senate