Betty J. Brown (born August 20, 1939) is an American politician and rancher who was 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. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...

from 1999 to 2011.

Career

From 1999 to 2011, Brown represented House District 4 for

Henderson Henderson may refer to: People *Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname *Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan Places Argentina *Henderson, Buenos Aires Australia *Henderson, Western Australia Canada *He ...

and

Kaufman Kaufman or Kauffman may refer to: People *Kaufmann (surname) ''Includes Kaufman, Kauffman, Kauffmann'' Places * Kaufman, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Madison Count * Kaufman, Texas, a city in Kaufman County * Kaufman County, Texas, ...

counties. When she was initially elected to the position in 1998, the district included Kaufman and

Hunt Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, et ...

counties. After two terms, the district was changed to Kaufman and Henderson counties as far east as

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Texas. In the March 2010 Republican primary, Brown was defeated by

Lance Gooden Lance Carter Gooden (born December 1, 1982) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Texas's 5th congressional district since 2019. His district includes parts of eastern Dallas, as well as a large swath of exurban and rur ...

, her former legislative aide.

Controversy

In 2009, Brown was criticized for her comments made during Texas House Elections Committee testimony on the voting difficulties encountered by

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

s who use two different names. During the testimony, Brown suggested that Asian-Americans adopt names that are "easier for Americans to deal with". Though at first defending her statement, accusing Democrats of making the issue "about race", she eventually apologized for the incident, acknowledging the "diversity of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

" and the "enrichment" that Asian-Americans bring to the state.

References

External links

Official biography

Official page of the Texas House of Representatives' 4th District
Republican Party members of the Texas House of Representatives 1939 births Living people People from Terrell, Texas Ranchers from Texas Southern Methodist University alumni 21st-century American politicians {{TX-politician-stub