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Kevin Eltife

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Kevin Eltife
President pro tempore of the Texas Senate
In office
June 1, 2015 – January 10, 2017
Preceded byJuan Hinojosa
Succeeded byKel Seliger
Member of theTexas Senate
from the1stdistrict
In office
September 2, 2004 – January 9, 2017
Preceded byBill Ratliff
Succeeded byBryan Hughes
Personal details
Born
Kevin Paul Eltife

(1959-03-01)March 1, 1959(age 65)
Tyler, Texas,U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseKelly
EducationUniversity of Texas, Austin(BBA)

Kevin Paul Eltife(born March 1, 1959)[1]is an American businessman and former politician fromTyler, Texas.ARepublican,served in theTexas Senatefrom 2004 through 2017. He was sworn in on August 15, 2004, after winning aspecial electionto representDistrict 1.He declined to seek re-election in 2016 and was succeeded in office by fellow RepublicanBryan Hughes.

Early life and education

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Eltife was born inTyler, Texas,and grew up there. He is aLebanese American;all of his grandparents immigrated to the United States from Lebanon.[2]His father died when he was under two years old.[2]

Business and political career

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Eltife is the owner and operator of Eltife Properties, a commercial real estate company.[2]

He first entered politics in 1991, when he ran for a city council seat. He subsequently served asmayorof Tyler for two terms (six years).[2]

He defeatedPaul Sadlerin the special election for Texas Senate; in 2012, Sadler was the unsuccessfulDemocraticnominee againstTed Cruzfor one of the two Texas seats in theUnited States Senate.The position opened when state Senator and formerLieutenant GovernorBill RatliffofMount Pleasantresigned with less than a year remaining in his state Senate term.

Eltife was a strong proponent of raisingsales taxesand reducingproperty taxes.[2]He wishes to use additional sales tax revenue to reduce the debt of theTexas Department of Transportation.[2]

He was considered one of the mostliberalof the nineteen (as of 2013) Texas Senate Republicans, along withRobert L. Duncanof Lubbock,Kel SeligerofAmarillo,Bob DeuellofGreenville,andJohn CaronaofDallas,according to an analysis by Mark P. Jones of the political science department atRice UniversityinHouston.Jones also found that these Republicans saw passage of 90 percent of the bills for which they voted.[3]Of these five senators, Deuell lost arunoff electionon May 27, 2014, and Carona was narrowly defeated for re-nomination on March 4.[4]Duncan, meanwhile, resigned from the Senate to become chancellor of theTexas Tech University System.

In 2015, Eltife announced that he would not seek reelection to the Senate in 2016.[5]He was succeeded in office by Republican state RepresentativeBryan HughesofMineola,who defeated Republican state RepresentativeDavid SimpsonofLongviewin the Republican primary and automatically won the seat because there was no Democratic opponent.[6]

In January 2017, GovernorGreg Abbottappointed Eltife, along with two others, as a regent of theUniversity of Texas System.[7]

Electoral history

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2006

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Texas general election, 2006:Senate District 1[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Kevin P. Eltife 109,450 83.13 +14.96
Libertarian Jason Albers 22,211 16.87 +16.87
Majority 87,239 66.26 +29.92
Turnout 131,661 −21.23
Republicanhold

2004

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Special runoff election, 15 August 2004:Senate District 1,Unexpired term[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Kevin Eltife 46,437 51.86 ' "`UNIQ−−ref−0000001F−QINU`" '+15.85
Democratic Paul Sadler 43,103 48.14 +8.63
Majority 3,334 3.72
Turnout 89,540 ' "`UNIQ−−ref−00000020−QINU`" '+29.38
Republicanhold
Special election, 12 August 2004:Senate District 1,Unexpired term[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Kevin Eltife 24,919 36.01
Republican Bill Godsey 502 0.73
Republican Tommy Merritt 14,786 21.36
Democratic Paul Sadler 27,339 39.50
Constitution Daryl Ware[12] 480 0.69
Republican Jerry Yost 1,180 1.71
Turnout 69,206

References

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  1. ^ Texas Department of State Health Services, Vital Records (March 1, 1929)."Birth Certificate for Kevin Paul Eltife".Rootsweb. Archived fromthe original(Third party index of birth records for Smith County)on January 6, 2008.RetrievedDecember 26,2006.
  2. ^abcdefAman Batheja (March 14, 2013)."A G.O.P. Senator Who Is Unafraid to Suggest Raising Taxes".New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on January 4, 2017.
  3. ^"Enrique Rangel," Why state Sen. Kel Seliger has a Republican primary challenger, "February 24, 2014".Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.Archivedfrom the original on March 10, 2014.RetrievedMarch 8,2014.
  4. ^"Republican primary election returns, March 4, 2014".team1.sos.state.tx.us. Archived fromthe originalon March 5, 2014.RetrievedMarch 5,2014.
  5. ^"Eltife won't run in 2016".Henderson Daily News.June 15, 2015.RetrievedNovember 30,2015.
  6. ^Roy Maynard (May 24, 2016)."Bryan Hughes wins Senate District 1 seat, defeating David Simpson".Tyler Morning Telegraph.Archived fromthe originalon January 4, 2017.
  7. ^Nicole Cobler (February 4, 2017). "Texas Supreme Court rules against UT regent".San Antonio Express-News.p. A4.
  8. ^"2006 General Election".Office of the Secretary of State (Texas). Archived fromthe originalon January 9, 2014.RetrievedDecember 28,2006.
  9. ^"Special Election Runoff, State Senate, District 1".Office of the Secretary of State (Texas). Archived fromthe originalon January 9, 2014.RetrievedDecember 28,2006.
  10. ^abchange from special election
  11. ^"Special Election, State Senate, District 1".Office of the Secretary of State (Texas). Archived fromthe originalon January 9, 2014.RetrievedDecember 28,2006.
  12. ^Secretary of State’s web page says party is "CON";"Daryl Ware to Run for Texas State Senate".August 15, 2004. Archived fromthe originalon March 19, 2008.confirms it is theConstitution Party
[edit]
Texas Senate
Preceded by Member of theTexas Senate
from the1stdistrict
2004–2017 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President pro tempore of the Texas Senate
2015–2017 		Succeeded by
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