Gregory Haines Laughlin (born January 21, 1942) is a

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

from

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. He is a former member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

Early life and education

Laughlin was born in Bay City, Texas, and was raised in

West Columbia, Texas West Columbia is a city in Brazoria County, Texas, United States. The city is centered on the intersection of Texas Highways 35 & 36, southwest of downtown Houston. The population was 3,644 at the 2020 census. The 1st Congress of the Repub ...

, where he still maintains a residence, and he graduated from

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

. Laughlin served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

from 1968 to 1970 and later was a reservist. Before the election to Congress in 1988, he practiced law in Texas. He served as assistant district attorney in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

for four years before returning to private practice.

Election and tenure

conservative Democrat In American politics, a conservative Democrat is a member of the Democratic Party with more conservative views than most Democrats. Traditionally, conservative Democrats have been elected to office from the Southern states, rural areas, and t ...

, Laughlin ran for the

in 1986, narrowly losing to freshman Republican Mac Sweeney, who had served as an aide in the

Ronald W. Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party and became an important figure in ...

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

. Laughlin sought a rematch in 1988, and this time he won. Laughlin survived a bitter re-election campaign during the next cycle despite old allegations involving favoritism to a firm. Laughlin was the only member of Congress to see active duty during

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

, as a

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

in the U.S. Army Reserves in 1991. In 1995, the Republican Party, which had gained a majority in the House for the first time in four decades, offered Laughlin a seat on the

Ways and Means Committee A ways and means committee is a government body that is charged with reviewing and making recommendations for government budgets. Because the raising of revenue is vital to carrying out governmental operations, such a committee is tasked with fi ...

if he joined the GOP. Laughlin did so on June 26, 1995. He claimed that, as a Democrat, he had to make some hard votes. In the subsequent congressional election in 1996, Laughlin was endorsed by many Republican Party leaders, including then-Governor

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hung ...

Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1 ...

, and other members of the party from outside the district and the state. Despite this, Laughlin faced a primary challenge from former Texas Republican Congressman

Ron Paul Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American author, activist, and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1976 to 1977, and again from 1979 to 1985, as well as for Texas' ...

, the Libertarian Party presidential candidate in 1988, and Jim Deats, Laughlin's Republican opponent from 1994 (when Laughlin was still a Democrat). In the three-way race, Laughlin won the initial

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

with 42 percent of the vote, but by failing to win a majority he was required to face the second-place Paul in a run-off election. Paul defeated Laughlin by a 56–44 percent margin in the

runoff election The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

and went on to win the congressional seat. Paul, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2012, held the seat until he retired in 2013.

After Congress

Laughlin remained in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, practicing law at the office of

Patton Boggs Squire Patton Boggs is an international law firm with over 40 offices in 20 countries. It was formed in 2014 by the merger of multinational law firm Squire Sanders with Washington, D.C.–based Patton Boggs. It is one of the largest law firms in ...

, in the areas of public policy, energy, international trade, and tax law. He has since moved to the firm of Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman. Laughlin was contracted to work with the controversial Israeli spyware firm

NSO Group NSO Group Technologies (NSO standing for Niv, Shalev and Omri, the names of the company's founders) is an Israeli cyber-intelligence firm primarily known for its proprietary spyware Pegasus, which is capable of remote zero-click surveillance ...

, according to documents filed with the FARA Registration Unit of the Department of Justice. The firm's software was implicated in the murder of Washington Post columnist

Jamal Khashoggi Jamal Ahmad Hamza Khashoggi (13 October 1958 – 2 October 2018) was a Saudi journalist, Saudi dissidents, dissident, author, columnist for ''Middle East Eye'' and ''The Washington Post'', and a general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab New ...

. The software was also deployed on world leaders, journalists, dissidents and human rights activists. At the behest of

Paul Biya Paul Biya (born Paul Barthélemy Biya'a bi Mvondo, 13 February 1933) is a Cameroonian politician who has been serving as the second president of Cameroon since 1982. He was previously the fifth Prime Minister of Cameroon, prime minister under Pre ...

, Laughlin formed a bipartisan group of former members of Congress to monitor the 2004 presidential elections in Cameroon. According to the BBC, he stated "we have never seen such a transparent way to show who got the vote". This was in contrast to the observations of a delegation from the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an International organization, international association of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, 56 member states, the vast majo ...

led by former Prime Minister of Canada

Joe Clark Charles Joseph Clark (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian businessman, writer, and retired politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980. He also served as Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada), leader of the ...

and Episcopal Conference of Cameroon.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Laughlin, Greg 1942 births Living people United States Army personnel of the Gulf War United States Army colonels Military personnel from Houston Texas A&M University alumni People from Bay City, Texas Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas United States Army reservists Members of Congress who became lobbyists 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

Early life and education

Election and tenure

After Congress

See also

References

External links