Ronald Ellis Simmons (born September 21, 1960) is an investment advisor from Carrollton,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, who is a 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 abo ...

from District 65 in suburban southeastern

Denton County Denton County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 906,422, making it the 7th-most populous county in Texas. The county seat is Denton. The county, which was named for John B. Denton, was establis ...

. Simmons lost his bid for a fourth term in the general election held on November 6, 2018. He polled 28,567 votes (48.9 percent) to 29,894 (51.1 percent) for his Democratic opponent, political newcomer and local business owner

Michelle Beckley Michelle Jane Beckley (born November 28, 1969) is a former Democratic Party (United States), Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives from Texas House of Representatives, District 65, District 65. She was first elected in November ...

Political life

Simmons served on the House committees of (1) Appropriations, (2) Transportation, and (3) Local and Consent Calendars. In 2017, Simmons obtained House passage, 88–57, of his bill to abolish straight-ticket voting in Texas, a procedure still allowed in eight other states. With a straight ticket, a voter pulls one lever or touches one computer square to vote for all nominees of the same party. Most of the opponents of the legislation are Democratic, though straight-ticket Republican voters have constituted the majority statewide since at least 1996. Instead the Democrats claim the legislation would disenfranchise some elderly, disabled, or minority group voters. Simmons said that his intent is to encourage voters to make selections down ballot, including proposition and tax measures, instead of concentrating on a few offices at the top of the ticket. Simmons won his third term in the state House in the November 8, 2016, general election. He defeated the Democrat Alex Mendoza, 34,418 votes (56.3 percent) to 26,759 (43.7 percent). He ran in the 2018 primary against Kevin Simmons, but was then defeated by Democratic candidate

in the 2018 midterms general election in November.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simmons, Ron (Politician) 1960 births Baptists from Texas Businesspeople from Texas Dallas Baptist University alumni Living people Republican Party members of the Texas House of Representatives People from Carrollton, Texas Politicians from Dallas People from El Dorado, Arkansas Southern Arkansas University alumni 21st-century American politicians Baptists from Arkansas Texas Public Policy Foundation people