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Kenny Marchant
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 24th district
In office 2005–present
Preceded by	Martin Frost
Born	February 23, 1951 (1951-02-23) (age 58) Bonham, Texas
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Donna Marchant
Residence	Carrollton, Texas
Alma mater	Southern Nazarene University
Occupation	construction executive
Religion	Church of the Nazarene

Kenneth "Kenny" Marchant, a Republican from Texas, was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2004. He was born February 23, 1951 in Bonham, Texas, though he calls Coppell, Texas, home. He is married to Donna Marchant and has four children.

Marchant grew up in suburban Dallas and graduated from R.L. Turner High School. He attended college at Southern Nazarene University (SNU) in Bethany, Oklahoma, graduating with a business degree. He worked as a real estate developer and he owned a homebuilding company prior to entering politics.

Marchant served as councilman on the Carrollton, Texas City Council from 1980 to 1984, was mayor of Carrollton from 1984 to 1986. He was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1987 to 2004. During three of his nine terms in the Texas House, Marchant served as chairman of the Committee on Financial Institutions. He pushed for legislation that reorganized the Texas Banking Code. In 2002, he was chosen as Chairman of the Texas House Republican Caucus

Marchant has been named a Top Ten Legislator by Texas Monthly and Legislator of the Year by the Texas Municipal League.^[1] In the 110th Congress, Marchant served on the United States House Committee on Financial Services, Committee on Education and Labor, and Oversight and Government Reform Committee.^[2]

Marchant, a veteran Texas politician, represents Texas's 24th congressional district. ^[3] Marchant had planned to run for Congress two years earlier in a bid to represent the newly-created 32nd district in suburban Dallas, but fellow Republican Pete Sessions, an incumbent, chose to run there instead. During the 2003 Texas redistricting, Marchant, in his position on the Texas House's Redistricting Committee, was ideally positioned to help draw Texas districts. As part of this effort, the 24th District, represented by 13-term Democrat Martin Frost, was reconfigured into a heavily Republican district with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+15. In the process, Frost's home was drawn into the heavily Republican 6th District of Joe Barton. It was an open secret that Marchant redrew this district for himself; indeed, the new 24th is centered around Carrollton, which he has represented for a quarter century.

Marchant worked closely with George W. Bush when he was governor of Texas. A moderate conservative, Marchant has occasionally broken ranks with the GOP, as he did to increase the minimum wage.^[4] He has said that his top priority on Capitol Hill will be cutting the federal deficit with fiscal conservative policies. Marchant played a strong role in shaping the Texas State financial regulatory environment and has formidable experience in reducing deficits.^[5] The Sunlight Foundation pointed out that among the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008, Marchant has the fifth-highest amount of investment in oil stocks.^[6]

Congressional committee assignments

• Committee on Financial Services
  • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit
  • Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity

References

External links

• Official U.S. House site
• Official campaign site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues