Matthew Frank Shaheen (born June 8, 1965) is an American politician serving as a member of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

from the 66th district. Elected in the November 2014, he assumed office in January 2015.

Early life and education

Shaheen was born in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business economics from Randolph–Macon College and a Master of Arts in liberal arts from

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

Career

Shaheen worked as a business executive at

Hewlett Packard Enterprise The Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE) is an American multinational information technology company based in Spring, Texas. It is a business-focused organization which works in servers, storage, networking, containerization software and ...

. He was also a member of the Collin County Board of Commissioners. Shaheen was elected to the

in November 2014 and assumed office in January 2015. During the 2019–2020 legislative session, Shaheen was the vice chair of the House Urban Affairs Committee. Shaheen is the founder of the Texas Freedom Caucus, a legislative caucus in the Texas House modeled after the

Freedom Caucus The Freedom Caucus, also known as the House Freedom Caucus, is a congressional caucus consisting of Republican Party (United States), Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. It is generally considered to be the most Cons ...

. During the

2016 Republican Party presidential primaries Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place within all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories between February 1 and June 7, 2016. These elections selected the 2,472 delegates that we ...

, Shaheen endorsed Senator

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 ...

. Shaheen was viewed as a possible candidate for 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 ...

in 2018, but opted to seek re-election to the House instead. Shaheen supports a ban on Democrats being given committee chairmanships as long as the Republicans hold the majority of seats in the Texas House.Johnson, Brad
The Back Mic: Legislators Opposed to Democratic Chairs Listed, Rep. Moody Quells DA Appointment Rumors, House Rules Discussed
''The Texan'', December 9, 2022.

Electoral history

References

External links

Campaign website

State legislative page
1965 births Living people Anti-pornography activists People from Plano, Texas Randolph–Macon College alumni Republican Party members of the Texas House of Representatives Southern Methodist University alumni 21st-century members of the Texas Legislature {{Texas-politician-stub