Dan Crenshaw

Daniel Reed “Dan” Crenshaw
U.S. Representative for Texas' 2nd congressional district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2019
Preceded by	Ted Poe
Born	March 14, 1984 Houston, Texas
Spouse(s)	Tara Blake Crenshaw Parents: Carmen and Jim Crenshaw
Religion	Christian
Military Service
Service/branch	United States Navy SEALS
Battles/wars	Fallujah, Iraq and Afghanistan
Awards	Bronze Star and Purple Heart

Daniel Reed Crenshaw, known as Dan Crenshaw (born March 14, 1984), is the Moderate Republican U.S. Representative for Texas' 2nd congressional district seat, based in his native Houston metro area, and a former lieutenant commander in the United States Navy SEALS and a national security authority, He holds the seat vacated by the more conservative Republican Ted Poe, who retired.^[1]

He is derided as “a globalist RINO” and a new version of the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ),^[2] who bickered with Trump and never embraced movement conservatives, losing in 2008 in a landslide to Barack Obama. Political comedian Alex Stein has dubbed Crenshaw as "Eye-Patch McCain."

Military life[edit]

Crenshaw lived in various parts of the world, including Ecuador and Colombia, because his father, Jim Crenshaw, was employed in the Texas oil and natural gas industry. He graduated in 2006 from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, at which he obtained his Navy officer commission through the Reserve Officer Training Corps. He reported for SEAL training in Coronado, California, where a few months later he met his future wife, the former Tara Blake. After successful SEAL training, Crenshaw deployed to Fallujah, Iraq, for the first of five overseas deployments. On his third deployment in 2012, six months into combat, he was struck by a blast during a mission in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He was evacuated and awoke from a medically-induced coma to learn that his right eye over which he since had to wear a black eyepatch had been destroyed, and his remaining left eye was badly damaged. Doctors said that they did not believe he would ever see again. Tara, who comes from a career Navy family, prayed repeatedly that God would restore your young husband's sight. After several difficult surgeries, he regained sight in his left eye, which was considered a medical miracle. He was then deployed twice more to the Middle East in 2014 and South Korea in 2016,. when he was medically retired from the SEALS.^[3]

Crenshaw won two Bronze Stars (one with Valor), the Purple Heart, and the Navy Commendation Medal with Valor. In September 2017, he completed his Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Soon he was back in Houston and volunteered in the Katy area to help victims of Hurricane Harvey. He saw Texan grit and resilience emerge from the terrible losses that his neighbors sustained.^[3]

Elections[edit]

In the Republican primary for House District 2 on March 6, Crenshaw trailed veteran legislator Kevin Roberts by a significant margin. Roberts had said that Crenshaw lacked "real world experience", with his background being military; However Crenshaw turned the tables in the May 22 runoff contest with a large victory for his party's nomination. Crenshaw received 20,322 votes (69.9 percent) to Roberts' 6,263 (30.1 percent).^[4]Crenshaw said that his runoff victory occurred because "if anybody had done any less work, went to bed a little earlier, we wouldn't be here."^[1] Crenshaw carried important endorsements too, including U.S. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who also came to Washington, D.C., from a military background. Michael Reagan, adopted son of U.S. President Ronald W. Reagan, also endorsed Crenshaw.^[5]

Crenshaw attributed his strength in part to the support of younger voters in their twenties and thirties. Conservative radio host Michael Berry of Houston said that Crenshaw has star power because of his personal story, but he is perceived as a cerebral guy who oozes authenticity. Berry said that the GOP needs an authentic, young conservative voice with real-world experience and not just another suit who was a college student body president. Crenshaw was for a time the youngest member of the Texas House delegation. He also speaks Spanish.^[1].

In the November 6, 2018, general election, he defeated the Democrat Todd Litton, an attorney, 138,502 votes (53 percent) to 118,570 (45.4 percent). Another 2,363 votes (.9 percent) went to the Libertarian Patrick Gunnels^[6].

On the weekend before the general election, NBC's Saturday Night Live aired an attack on "unusually looking" Republican candidates. Liberal comedian Pete Davidson placed on the screen the photo of the one-eyed Crenshaw amid much laughter. Davidson said in his remarks that Crenshaw had lost the eye in war. Crenshaw, who did not see the live broadcast, said any apology that might come from Saturday Night Live would be insincere and therefore unacceptable. Instead, he urged the program to donate $1 million to veterans' causes.^[7] Then on the Saturday after his election to Congress, Crenshaw accepted an invitation from Pete Davidson to appear on Saturday Night Live to roast the comedian. On the program, Crenshaw repeated his call that Americans respect military veterans: "When you say ‘never forget,’ you are implying that as an American you are in it with them, not separated by a barrier between civilians and veterans. ... Never forget those we lost in war, and never forget those we lost on 9/11, like Pete's father.”^[8]

Despite Crenshaw's increasing liberal policy positions, Crenshaw ran unopposed in the Republican congressional primary on March 3, 2020. Crenshaw was reelected in the 2020 general election by defeating Democratic nominee Sima Ladjevardian with 55.61% of the vote to Ladjevardian's 42.79%.^[9]

Increasingly liberal positions[edit]

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^[10].

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^[11].

Crenshaw supports red flag laws that permit confiscation of weapons from persons turned in as an alleged terrorist threat.^[12] He has also defended endless wars^[13].

Crenshaw is a defender of the homosexual 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^[14].

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"^[15][16].

In January 2021, after rioting broke out at the U.S. Capitol during a 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.^[17] 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."^[18]

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.”^[19]

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.”^[20] When confronted by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Crenshaw denounced her as a propagandist for the Russian state-funded media network Russia Today.^[21]

In January 2023, Crenshaw used provocative language to describe opponents of Kevin McCarthy's bid for Speaker of the House, referring to them as "enemies" during an interview with left-wing CNN.[1]

2022 reelection campaign[edit]

Crenshaw handily defeated opposition in the 2022 Republican primary from Jameson Ellis, a businessman from Conroe who supports the Trump agenda,^[22] and Martin Etwop, an African-American conservative,^[23] and Milam Langella, a conservative firebrand from Spring, Texas.^[24] Crenshaw will now meet the unopposed Democrat woman, Robin Dawn Fulford of The Woodlands,^[25] in the November 5 general election.^[26] 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.^[27]

As 2022 began, Crenshaw attacked conservative colleague Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgian who was banned by Twitter for exposing COVID statistics, as "either a Democrat or just an idiot."^[28]

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.^[29]

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.^[30]

Crenshaw opposes abortion and was introduced along with other representatives, at the January 21, 2022, March for Life.

See also[edit]

• John McCain
• Van Taylor
• Michael McCaul

References[edit]