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. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...

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 state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business economics from

Randolph–Macon College Randolph–Macon College is a private liberal arts college in Ashland, Virginia. Founded in 1830, the college has an enrollment of more than 1,500 students. It is the second-oldest Methodist-run college in the country, and the oldest in continu ...

and a Master of Arts in liberal arts from

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

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, United States. HPE was founded on November 1, 2015, in Palo Alto, California, as part of the splitting of the H ...

. 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 conservative Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. It is generally considered to be the most conservative and farth ...

. 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 were se ...

, Shaheen endorsed Senator

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" 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 served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...

. Shaheen was viewed as a possible candidate for the

Texas Senate The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per cons ...

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 People from Plano, Texas Randolph–Macon College alumni Southern Methodist University alumni Republican Party members of the Texas House of Representatives {{Texas-politician-stub