Dan Crenshaw

Dan Crenshaw
File:Dan Crenshaw, official portrait, 116th Congress.jpg
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 2nd district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2019
Preceded by	Ted Poe
Personal details
Born	Daniel Reed Crenshaw (1984-03-14) March 14, 1984 Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Tara Blake (m. 2013)
Education	Tufts University (BA) Harvard University (MPA)
Website	House website
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	2006–2016
Rank	Lieutenant Commander
Unit	30px U.S. Navy SEALs SEAL team 3
Battles/wars	War in Afghanistan (WIA)
Awards	Bronze Star (2) Purple Heart 23px Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with valor

Daniel Reed Crenshaw (born March 14, 1984) is a Scottish-American politician and former United States Navy SEAL officer serving as the U.S. Representative for Texas's 2nd congressional district since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected in the 2018 midterms.

Early life and education

Born to American parents in Aberdeen, Scotland, Crenshaw grew up in Katy, Texas. His mother died of cancer when he was ten years old. While his father worked in the oil industry, Crenshaw spent some time growing up in Ecuador and Colombia, gaining a proficiency in Spanish. Crenshaw graduated from Colegio Nueva Granada high school in Bogota, Colombia in June 2002.

Crenshaw graduated from Tufts University in 2006. He earned a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in September 2017 and worked as a military legislative assistant for Congressman Pete Sessions.

Military service

File:DanCrenshaw.jpg

Crenshaw in Afghanistan

While at Tufts, he joined the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps and was commissioned in the U.S. Navy after his graduation. He served in the Navy SEALs for ten years, including five tours of duty, reaching the rank of lieutenant commander. His first deployment was to Fallujah, Iraq, where he joined SEAL Team Three. He was based out of Naval Amphibious Base Coronado in Coronado, California.

While serving in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan in 2012, during his third deployment, he was injured by the detonation of an improvised explosive device; he lost his right eye and required surgery to save the vision in his left eye. After the injury, he was deployed to his fourth and fifth tours of duty in Bahrain and South Korea. As a Navy SEAL, he earned two Bronze Star Medals, the Purple Heart, and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with valor. He medically retired from military service in 2016 as a Lieutenant Commander.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2018 special election

In the 2018 elections, Crenshaw ran for the United States House of Representatives in Texas's 2nd congressional district to succeed the retiring Ted Poe. He announced his candidacy for Congress in November 2017. Crenshaw credited national security analyst John Noonan for encouraging him to run for Congress. During an interview in February 2018, he stated that border security and immigration reform would be two of his primary issues.

Crenshaw and Kevin Roberts advanced from the nine-candidate first round of the Republican Party primary election to face each other in a runoff election; Crenshaw received 155 votes more than Kathaleen Wall, a candidate who was backed by Senator Ted Cruz and Governor Greg Abbott. The lead-up to the runoff election was contentious. A super PAC, funded by Roberts' brother-in-law, Mark Lanier, focused on Crenshaw's 2015 statements that were critical of presidential candidate Donald Trump, despite his opponent being critical of Trump as president. The ads also compared Crenshaw's policy proposals to the likes of President Obama and Senator Bernie Sanders. Gaining the endorsement of Senator Tom Cotton, Crenshaw received national attention, appearing in print and television, including on Laura Ingraham's show on Fox Business.

Crenshaw won the runoff to advance to the November general election. In August, it was reported that Crenshaw and four other candidates for Congress were current or former administrators of a conservative Facebook group called "Tea Party" that was accused by critics of advancing what they described as debunked conspiracy theories. Crenshaw responded that he was unaware of the group's content and that he had been made an administrator without his consent. Crenshaw responded that he had shared the same campaign content to many other local and national groups without prior investigating their backgrounds. On November 6, Crenshaw was elected, defeating Democrat Todd Litton by seven percent 52.84% to 45.56%.

File:Dan Crenshaw & Candace Owens (46479209571).jpg

Crenshaw and Candace Owens speaking at the 2018 Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA

Following the election, Crenshaw called for the de-politicization of comedy and sports and expressed a desire for political rhetoric to be toned down.

On the November 3 episode of Saturday Night Live, comedian Pete Davidson joked about Republican candidates' appearances, and described Crenshaw as looking like a "hit man in a porno movie" while adding that he lost his eye in "war or whatever." The joke received significant criticism, and on the following episode, Davidson and Crenshaw appeared on air together. Davidson offered an apology, which Crenshaw accepted. Crenshaw and others have speculated that the joke may have helped him win.

2022 reelection campaign

Crenshaw will defeated opposition in the 2022 Republican primary from Jameson Ellis, a businessman from Conroe who supports the Trump agenda, Martin Etwop, an African-American conservative, and Milam Langella, a conservative firebrand from Spring, Texas. Crenshaw will now meet the unopposed Democrat woman, Robin Dawn Fulford of The Woodlands, in the November 5 general election. Citizen Free Press released an article on January 2 which calls Crenshaw "the best actor in Congress," a would-be Mitt Romney or Liz Cheney, or the future John McCain.

Increasingly liberal positions

Though initially a conservative favorite, Crenshaw quickly moved steadily to the left soon after he took office. He joined with a group of liberals seeking to require the Department of Energy to establish a carbon capture research program for natural gas plants. This is the House version of a bipartisan bill called the Leading Act.

Crenshaw voted to allow 300,000 workers from India to enter the United States under the H-1B immigration program, a popular option for businesses seeking new lower-waged workers.

Crenshaw supports red flag laws that permit confiscation of weapons from persons turned in as an alleged terrorist threat. He has also defended endless wars.

Crenshaw is a defender of the LGBT rights advocacy group, the Log Cabin Republicans, who were denied a booth at the 2020 Republican State Convention by party leaders. Crenshaw warned conservatives not to allow difference over some policy issues, such as homosexuality and transgendered persons, to exclude groups otherwise seeking recognition from the GOP.

In July 2020, Crenshaw and seventy-one other House Republicans, both conservatives and moderates, joined the Democrats in support of the removal of Confederate statues from the gallery of the House of Representatives, two of whom are Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis. Crenshaw said that he was pleased by his vote to help the Democrats "confront that racist past".

In January 2021, after rioting broke out at the United States Capitol during a Donald Trump rally, Crenshaw claimed that the violence was linked to Trump having allegedly lied about the House-Senate electoral certification on January 6, thus giving its listeners and viewers false hope. He called the certification for Joe Biden completed on January 7 "constitutional." He also said that those who thought there could have been successful challenges to voter fraud were "wildly misinformed."

In December 2021, Crenshaw denounced the conservative House Freedom Caucus, led by Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona, slated to be replaced by Scott Perry of Pennsylvania. Caucus members include Mo Brooks of Alabama, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Louie Gohmert of Texas, Paul Gosar of Arizona, and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Crenshaw said that among two types of lawmakers — performance artist and legislators — members of the Freedom Caucus fall into the former category because they “get all the attention. They’re the ones you think are more conservative because they know how to say slogans real[ly] well,” he said. “They know how to recite the lines that they know our voters want to hear.”

In May 2022, Crenshaw expressed support for the neoconservative position of sending $40 billion dollars to Ukraine on Twitter, and publicly defended using Ukrainians as proxies against Russia “without losing a single American troop.” When confronted by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Crenshaw denounced her as a propagandist for the Russian state-funded media network Russia Today.

As 2022 began, Crenshaw attacked conservative colleague Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was banned by Twitter for exposing COVID statistics, as "either a Democrat or just an idiot."

Crenshaw has refused to speak up about the plight of the January 6 political prisoners on the grounds that he has "no power" to act in the matter.

In January 2020, Crenshaw got into a public dispute at a Tea Party political action committee meeting in Montgomery County with a teen-aged girl who questioned the congressman's Christian faith in regard to a comment that Crenshaw made about Jesus Christ being "a hero archetype." Crenshaw was booed by those in attendance.

Committee assignments

• Committee on the Budget
• Committee on Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery
  • Subcommittee on Oversight, Management and Accountability (Ranking Member)

Electoral History

Republican primary results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kevin Roberts	15,236	33.0
	Republican	Dan Crenshaw	12,644	27.4
	Republican	Kathaleen Wall	12,499	27.1
	Republican	Rick Walker	3,315	7.2
	Republican	Johnny Havens	934	2.0
	Republican	Justin Lurie	425	0.9
	Republican	Jon Spiers	417	0.9
	Republican	David Balat	348	0.8
	Republican	Malcolm Whittaker	322	0.7
Total votes			46,140	100.0

Republican primary runoff results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Crenshaw	20,322	69.9
	Republican	Kevin Roberts	8,760	30.1
Total votes			29,082	100.0

Texas's 2nd congressional district, 2018
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Crenshaw	139,188	52.8
	Democratic	Todd Litton	119,992	45.6
	Libertarian	Patrick Gunnels	2,373	0.9
	Independent	Scott Cubbler	1,839	0.7
Total votes			263,392	100.0
	Republican hold

Political positions

During his 2018 election campaign, Crenshaw defended Trump's proposal to build a border wall on the Southern border. During a May 2019 appearance on The View, Crenshaw claimed that 80-90% of asylum seeker requests "don't have a valid asylum claim". PolitiFact rated this as "false".

Crenshaw initially favored repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), initially describing it as an "unmitigated disaster." During his 2018 campaign, Crenshaw ran on a policy of allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, becoming one of a handful of Republicans to endorse what was primarily a progressive idea. However, by 2019, Crenshaw had retreated from this pledge.

Crenshaw is opposed to abortion and was introduced, along with other representatives, at the March for Life on January 21, 2022.

Crenshaw opposes a ban on assault weapons.

He opposes federal funding to "subsidize college in general", but supports it in cases of vocational training.

Crenshaw believes that government should not be involved in marriages.

According to Business Insider, Crenshaw is among the members of Congress who have doubted the scientific consensus on climate change. In 2018, Crenshaw called for a debate on the causes of climate change, adding, "We can't start off the conversation saying the climate is settled. The right way to have this conversation is to actually listen to what the science says on both sides." When asked by Business Insider in 2019, Crenshaw said that "climate change is occurring and that man-made emissions play a part in that. What isn't clear is how our actions will serve to reverse that warming trend, and what the cost-benefit outcome would be." During his 2018 election campaign, Crenshaw's website made brief mention of climate change, applauding President Trump for withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords. Crenshaw described the Paris Agreement as "costly and meaningless."

In 2019, Crenshaw voiced opposition to the For the People Act of 2019. Crenshaw said the bill would "limit free speech drastically". Crenshaw also stated that the bill would use taxpayer money to "legalize" the kind of electoral fraud that occurred in the 2018 North Carolina's 9th congressional district election. PolitiFact rated Crenshaw's assertion concerning the North Carolina race "false".

On May 24, 2019, Crenshaw co-sponsored a bill to permanently authorize the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act, and allow claims to be filed until October 2089.

Electoral history

Texas's 2nd Congressional District Election (2018)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Crenshaw	139,012	52.9%
	Democratic	Todd Litton	119,708	45.5%
	Libertarian	Patrick Gunnels	2,371	0.9%
	Independent	Scott Cubbler	1,833	0.7%
Total votes			262,924	100.00%
Voter turnout			%

Primary results

Republican runoff results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan Crenshaw	20,392	69.84
	Republican	Kevin Roberts	8,808	30.16
Total votes			29,200	100.0%

Republican primary results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kevin Roberts	15,236	33.02
	Republican	Dan Crenshaw	12,644	27.40
	Republican	Kathaleen Wall	12,499	27.09
	Republican	Rick Walker	3,315	7.18
	Republican	Johnny Havens	934	2.02
	Republican	Justin Lurie	425	0.92
	Republican	Jon Spiers	417	0.90
	Republican	David Balat	348	0.75
	Republican	Malcolm Whittaker	322	0.70
Total votes			46,140	100

Personal life

Crenshaw married Tara Blake in 2013.

External links

• Congressman Dan Crenshaw official House website
• Dan Crenshaw for Congress

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Project Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at The Library of Congress
• SNL mocked my appearance. Here's why I didn't demand an apology. Opinion by Crenshaw in The Washington Post

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Ted Poe	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 2nd congressional district 2019–present	Incumbent
United States order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by Angie Craig	United States Representatives by seniority 359th	Succeeded by Jason Crow

116th

Senate: ▌J. Cornyn (R) · ▌T. Cruz (R)

House: ▌E. B. Johnson (D) ▌L. Doggett (D) ▌S. Jackson Lee (D) ▌M. Thornberry (R) ▌K. Brady (R) ▌K. Granger (R) ▌M. Burgess (R) ▌J. Carter (R) ▌M. Conaway (R) ▌H. Cuellar (D) ▌L. Gohmert (R) ▌A. Green (D) ▌K. Marchant (R) ▌M. McCaul (R) ▌P. Olson (R) ▌B. Flores (R) ▌J. Castro (D) ▌M. Veasey (D) ▌F. Vela Jr. (D) ▌R. Weber (R) ▌R. Williams (R) ▌B. Babin (R) ▌W. Hurd (R) ▌J. Ratcliffe (R) ▌J. Arrington (R) ▌V. Gonzalez (D) ▌M. Cloud (R) ▌C. Allred (D) ▌D. Crenshaw (R) ▌V. Escobar (D) ▌S. Garcia (D) ▌L. Gooden (R) ▌L. Fletcher (D) ▌C. Roy (R) ▌V. Taylor (R) ▌R. Wright (R)