Kevin Paul Eltife (born March 1, 1959) is an American businessman and former politician from

Tyler, Texas Tyler, officially the City of Tyler, is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, United States. As of 2020, the population is 105,995. Tyler was the List of municipalities in Texas, 38th most populous city in Texas (as well as the m ...

. A Republican, served in the

Texas Senate The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature, with the Texas House of Representatives functioning as the lower house. Together, they form the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the state of Texas. The Senate ...

from 2004 through 2017. He was sworn in on August 15, 2004, after winning a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

to represent

District 1 District 1 may refer to: Places * I District, Turku, in Finland * District 1, Düsseldorf, a district in Düsseldorf, Germany * Sector 1 (Bucharest), also known as District 1, in Bucharest, Romania * District I, Budapest in Budapest, Hungary * Dis ...

. He declined to seek re-election in 2016 and was succeeded in office by fellow Republican Bryan Hughes.

Early life and education

Eltife was born in

, and grew up there. He is a

Lebanese American Lebanese Americans () are Americans of Lebanese descent. This includes both those who are native to the United States of America, as well as immigrants from Lebanon and Latin America. Lebanese Americans comprise 0.79% of the American populatio ...

; all of his grandparents immigrated to the United States from Lebanon. His father died when he was under two years old.

Business and political career

Eltife is the owner and operator of Eltife Properties, a commercial real estate company. He first entered politics in 1991, when he ran for a city council seat. He subsequently served as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Tyler for two terms (six years). He defeated

Paul Sadler Paul Lindsey Sadler (born April 29, 1955) is an American Lawyer, attorney from Henderson, Texas, now residing in Bandera, Texas who served from 1991 to 2003 in the Texas House of Representatives. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Demo ...

in the special election for Texas Senate; in 2012, Sadler was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee against

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...

for one of the two Texas seats in the

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

. The position opened when state Senator and former

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Bill Ratliff William Roark Ratliff (born August 16, 1936) is an American politician and engineer who served as a member of the Texas Senate from 1988 to 2004.

of Mount Pleasant resigned with less than a year remaining in his state Senate term. Eltife was a strong proponent of raising

sales taxes A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a gover ...

and reducing

property tax A property tax (whose rate is expressed as a percentage or per mille, also called ''millage'') is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or Wealth t ...

es. He wishes to use additional sales tax revenue to reduce the debt of the

Texas Department of Transportation The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT ) is a Texas state government agency responsible for construction and maintenance of the state's immense Texas state highway system, state highway system and the support of the state's maritime trans ...

. He was considered one of the most

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

of the nineteen (as of 2013) Texas Senate Republicans, along with Robert L. Duncan of Lubbock,

Kel Seliger Kelton Gray Seliger (born June 16, 1953) is an American politician who represented the 31st district in the Texas Senate from 2004 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 30th mayor of Amarillo from 1993 to 2001 and as pre ...

of Amarillo, Bob Deuell of Greenville, and John Carona of

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, according to an analysis by Mark P. Jones of the political science department at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

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 ...

. Jones also found that these Republicans saw passage of 90 percent of the bills for which they voted. Of these five senators, Deuell lost a

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 ...

on May 27, 2014, and Carona was narrowly defeated for re-nomination on March 4. Duncan, meanwhile, resigned from the Senate to become chancellor of the

Texas Tech University System The Texas Tech University System is a Public university, public State university system, university system in Texas with five member universities. Headquartered in Lubbock, Texas, the Texas Tech University System is a $3 billion enterprise focus ...

. In 2015, Eltife announced that he would not seek reelection to the Senate in 2016. He was succeeded in office by Republican state Representative Bryan Hughes of Mineola, who defeated Republican state Representative David Simpson of Longview in the Republican primary and automatically won the seat because there was no Democratic opponent. In January 2017, Governor

Greg Abbott Gregory Wayne Abbott ( ; born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist who has served since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served from 2002 to ...

appointed Eltife, along with two others, as a regent of the

University of Texas System The University of Texas System (UT System) is a public university system in the U.S. state of Texas. It includes nine universities and five independent health institutions. The UT System is headquartered in Downtown Austin. It is the large ...

Electoral history

2006

2004

References

External links

Senate of Texas - Senator Kevin Eltife
(official TX Senate website)
Project Vote Smart - Senator Kevin P. Eltife (TX)
profile *''Follow the Money'' - Kevin Eltife
2006
campaign contributions , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Eltife, Kevin 1959 births American people of Lebanese descent Businesspeople from Texas Living people Mayors of Tyler, Texas People from Tyler, Texas Texas city council members Republican Party Texas state senators Presidents pro tempore of the Texas Senate McCombs School of Business alumni 21st-century members of the Texas Legislature