Gary Wayne Elkins (born March 15, 1955), is a

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

man from

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

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 ...

, who is a

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former 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 1995, with the advent of the

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

gubernatorial A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

administration, until 2019, Elkins represented District 135 in Harris County. Elkins won his eleventh term in the state House in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

held on November 4, 2014, when he defeated

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Moiz A. Abbas of Houston. He won his twelfth term on November 8, 2016, with 26,685 votes (47.7 percent). He was unseated in his bid for a thirteenth term by Democrat

Jon Rosenthal Jon Eric Rosenthal (born August 17, 1963) is an American engineer and politician. He is a Democrat member of the Texas House of Representatives, representing the 135th District including Northwest Houston, Cypress, and Jersey Village. Rosenthal ...

, who polled 28,430 votes (50.8 percent). Another 866 votes (1.5 percent) went to the

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candidate, Paul Bilyeu.

Background

Elkins graduated in 1974 from Bellaire High School in the Bellaire section of Houston. He subsequently earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in Practical Theology from the

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Southwestern Assemblies of God University Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) is a private Christian university in Waxahachie, Texas. SAGU is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges and officially endorsed by the Assemblies of Go ...

in Waxachachie in Ellis County in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. He has worked in

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

and since 1985 has owned Personal Credit Corporation, which operates a dozen payday-lending locations in Houston. He is a long-term legislative opponent of attempts to regulate his own industry. Elkins and his wife, the former Julie Ann Brown, have four children, Crystal Boyd, Jeremy Ross Elkins, and Grace and Rachael Elkins, and as of 2014, four grandchildren. The couple resides in the Jersey Village section of Houston. He is a member of the Faith Assembly of God Church in Houston.

Political life

Legislative voting records

Interest group ratings

Election to twelfth term, 2016

Elkins won his twelfth term in the state House in the general election held on November 8, 2016. With 32,682 votes (54.9 percent), he defeated Democrat Jesse A. Ybanez, who drew 26,905 (45.2 percent). In 2017, Representative Elkins introduced HB 3418, which would make it more difficult for local governments to designate historic landmarks. According to the historic preservation group, Preservation Texas, Inc., the legislation would make it easier for the owners of previously-designated landmarks to uproot those facilities. It would limit public input in the zoning process and impede local governments in the passage of zoning regulations. Texas municipalities have long depended on zoning ordinances as well as historic resource surveys, and tax incentives to assist in the preservation of historic landmarks. The bill is pending before the House Urban Affairs Committee.

In popular culture

One of Elkins's attempts to defeat payday loan industry regulation, in which fellow Representative Vicki Truitt pointed out his

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

in being opposed to it while owning several payday loans himself, was featured in an episode 14, season 1, ''

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver ''Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' (often abridged as ''Last Week Tonight'') is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by comedian John Oliver. The half-hour-long show premiered in April 2014 on HBO. ''Last Wee ...

'' segment on payday loans.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elkins, Gary (Texas politician) 1955 births Living people Politicians from Houston Republican Party members of the Texas House of Representatives Businesspeople from Houston American real estate businesspeople Bellaire High School (Bellaire, Texas) alumni Southwestern Assemblies of God University alumni Assemblies of God people 21st-century American politicians People from Harris County, Texas