James Lloyd Keffer (born January 20, 1953) is a businessman from

Eastland SS ''Eastland'' was a passenger ship based in Chicago and used for tours. On 24 July 1915, the ship rolled over onto its side while tied to a dock in the Chicago River. In total, 844 passengers and crew were killed in what was the largest loss ...

, Texas, who is a former

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

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 District 60, which includes

Eastland County Eastland County is a county located in central West Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 17,725. The county seat is Eastland. The county was founded in 1858 and later organized in 1873. It is named for William Mosby Eastland, ...

located east of Abilene, as well as

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

Callahan Callahan may refer to: *Callahan (surname) Fictional characters *Father Callahan, in Stephen King novels *Harry Callahan (character), in ''Dirty Harry'' movies * Jack Callahan (''Neighbours''), from the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'' *Mik ...

, Coleman, Shackelford,

Stephens Stephens is a surname. It is a patronymic and is recorded in England from 1086. Notable people with the surname include: *Alexander H. Stephens (1812–1883), Vice President of the Confederate States of America *Alison Stephens (1970–2010), Brit ...

Palo Pinto, and

Hood Hood may refer to: Covering Apparel * Hood (headgear), type of head covering ** Article of Academic dress#Hood, academic dress ** Bondage hood, sex toy * Hoodie, hooded sweatshirt Anatomy * Clitoral hood, a hood of skin surrounding the clitori ...

counties.

Biography

Keffer was born in

San Angelo San Angelo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tom Green County, Texas, United States. Its location is in the Concho Valley, a region of West Texas between the Permian Basin to the northwest, Chihuahuan Desert to the southwest, Osage Plai ...

in Tom Green County in

West Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the arid and semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Del Rio. No consensus exists on the boundary betwee ...

. A lifelong Republican, Keffer is a former Eastland County GOP chairman. A graduate of

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northwe ...

, Keffer is president of EBAA Iron Sales in Eastland. Keffer previously served as chairman of the House Ways and Means and Economic Development Committee. Keffer was initially elected to the Texas House in 1996, when he narrowly unseated the Democratic incumbent John R. Cook, 21,922 (50.6 percent) to 21,409 (49.4 percent). In 2010, he co-founded the "Debt Busters Program" for the

Texas Republican Party The Republican Party of Texas (RPT) is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in the state of Texas. It is currently chaired by Matt Rinaldi, succeeding Allen West who resigned prior to the expiration of his term to run for governo ...

, an endeavor that brought solvency to party coffers under the administration of

GOP The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP ("Grand Old Party"), is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. The GOP was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists who opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act, ...

state chairman

Steve Munisteri Stephen Peter Munisteri (born December 25, 1957) is an American attorney who served as the chairman of the Republican Party of Texas from 2010 to 2015. In 2017, Munisteri was appointed to the White House staff as deputy assistant to the pre ...

. A group called the Texas Conservative Roundtable's grading system dubbed him a "Lone Star Conservative Leader" in 2012 because of his pro-business voting record. Keffer was reelected without opposition to a ninth House term in the general election held on November 6, 2012. As of 2013, he was the chairman of the House Committee on Energy Resources and a member of the Natural Resources and Redistricting committees. In the Republican primary on March 4, 2014, Keffer won re-nomination with 14,160 votes (56.3 percent) against his lone opponent, Cullen Crisp, who received 10,992 votes (43.7 percent). Keffer's younger brother, William R. "Bill" Keffer, a

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

lawyer who was born in Upton County in 1958, was from 2003 to 2007 a member of the Texas House from District 107 in the

Lake Highlands Lake Highlands is a neighborhood constituting most of Northeast Dallas. The neighborhood is a collection of dozens of subdivisions served by Richardson ISD and Dallas ISD public schools, as well as an array of private schools. Geography Overview ...

section of northern

Dallas County Dallas County may refer to: Places in the USA: * Dallas County, Alabama, founded in 1818, the first county in the United States by that name * Dallas County, Arkansas * Dallas County, Iowa * Dallas County, Missouri * Dallas County, Texas, the nin ...

. Bill Keffer lost a Republican

runoff election The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resul ...

in District 114 on July 31, 2012, to

Jason Villalba Jason Villalba (born March 26, 1971) is a politician and attorney who is a Republican former member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 114 in Dallas County. He works for the law firm Frost Brown Todd. Villalba was defeated in ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keffer, Jim 1953 births Living people Republican Party members of the Texas House of Representatives People from San Angelo, Texas People from Eastland, Texas Texas Tech University alumni Businesspeople from Texas Baptists from Texas 21st-century American politicians