Dan Crenshaw

Daniel Reed Crenshaw (born March 14, 1984) is an American politician and former United States Navy SEAL officer serving in the United States House of Representative for Texas's 2nd congressional district since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected in the 2018 midterms.

Early life and education
Born to American parents in Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom, Crenshaw grew up in Katy, Texas. His mother died of cancer when he was ten years old. While his father worked in the oil industry, Crenshaw spent some time growing up in Ecuador and Colombia, gaining a proficiency in Spanish. He graduated from Colegio Nueva Granada high school in Bogotá, Colombia in June 2002.

Crenshaw graduated from Tufts University with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in international relations in May 2006. He earned a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in September 2017 and worked as a military legislative assistant for Congressman Pete Sessions.

Military service
While at Tufts, he joined the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps and was commissioned in the United States Navy after his graduation. He served in the Navy SEALs for ten years, including five tours of duty, reaching the rank of lieutenant commander. His first deployment was to Fallujah, Iraq, where he joined SEAL Team Three. He was based out of Naval Amphibious Base Coronado in Coronado, California.

While serving in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan in 2012, during his third deployment, he was injured by the detonation of an improvised explosive device; he lost his right eye and required surgery to save the vision in his left eye. After the injury, he was deployed to his fourth and fifth tours of duty in Bahrain and South Korea. As a Navy SEAL, he earned two Bronze Star Medals, the Purple Heart, and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with valor. He medically retired from military service in 2016 as a Lieutenant Commander.

Primary election
In the 2018 elections, Crenshaw ran for the United States House of Representatives in TX's 2nd congressional district to succeed the retiring Ted Poe. He announced his candidacy for Congress in November 2017. Crenshaw credited national security analyst John Noonan for encouraging him to run for Congress. During an interview in February 2018, he stated that border security and immigration reform would be two of his election issues.

Crenshaw and Kevin Roberts advanced from the nine-candidate first-round of the Republican Party primary election to face each other in a second-round runoff election; Crenshaw received 155 votes more than Kathaleen Wall, a candidate who was backed by Senator Ted Cruz and Governor Greg Abbott. The lead-up to the runoff election was contentious. A super PAC, funded by Roberts' brother-in-law, Mark Lanier, focused on Crenshaw's 2015 statements that were critical of presidential candidate Donald Trump, despite his opponent being critical of Trump as president. The ads also compared Crenshaw's policy proposals to the likes of President Barack Obama and Senator Bernie Sanders. Gaining the endorsement of Senator Tom Cotton, Crenshaw received national attention, appearing in print and television, including on Laura Ingraham's show on Fox Business.

General election
Crenshaw won the runoff to advance to the November general election. In August, it was reported that Crenshaw and four other candidates for Congress were current or former administrators of a conservative Facebook group called "Tea Party" that advanced debunked conspiracy theories. Crenshaw responded that he was unaware of the group's content and that he had been made an administrator without his consent. Crenshaw responded that he had shared the same campaign content to many other local and national groups without prior investigating their backgrounds. On November 6, Crenshaw was elected, defeating Democrat Todd Litton by seven percent margin, 52.8% to 45.6%.

Following the election, Crenshaw called for the de-politicization of comedy and sports and expressed a desire for political rhetoric to be toned down.

On the November 3 episode of Saturday Night Live, comedian Pete Davidson joked about the appearances of multiple candidates in the 2018 midterm elections, and described Crenshaw as looking like a "hit man in a porno movie" while adding that he lost his eye in "war or whatever." The joke received significant criticism, and on the following episode, Davidson and Crenshaw appeared on air together. Davidson offered an apology, which Crenshaw accepted. Crenshaw and others have speculated that the joke may have helped him win.

Committee assignments

 * Committee on the Budget
 * Committee on Homeland Security
 * Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery
 * Subcommittee on Oversight, Management and Accountability (Ranking Member)

Healthcare
Crenshaw favors repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), describing it as an "unmitigated disaster." During his 2018 campaign, Crenshaw ran on a policy of allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, becoming one of a handful of Republicans to endorse what was primarily a progressive idea. However, by 2019, Crenshaw had retreated from this pledge.

On May 24, 2019, Crenshaw co-sponsored a bill to extend time limits for claims under the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act.

Election reform
In 2019, Crenshaw voiced opposition to the For the People Act of 2019. Crenshaw said the bill would "limit free speech drastically." Crenshaw also stated that the bill would use taxpayer money to "legalize" the kind of electoral fraud that occurred in the 2018 North Carolina's 9th congressional district election. PolitiFact rated Crenshaw's assertion concerning the North Carolina race "false," adding that "nothing in the bill that expands who can collect absentee ballots, allows people to fill out ballots for others, or loosens witnessing procedures for absentee ballots," which relate to the controversial election in North Carolina.

Environmental issues
According to Business Insider, Crenshaw is among the members of Congress who reject the scientific consensus on climate change. In 2018, Crenshaw called for a debate on the causes of climate change, adding, "We can't start off the conversation saying the climate is settled. The right way to have this conversation is to actually listen to what the science says on both sides." In 2019, Crenshaw has said that "climate change is occurring and that man-made emissions play a part in that. What isn't clear is how our actions will serve to reverse that warming trend, and what the cost-benefit outcome would be. Regardless, we should continue pursuing new green energy solutions that lessen our impact on the environment and create cleaner air and water." During his 2018 election campaign, Crenshaw's website made brief mention of global warming, applauding President Trump for withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords. Crenshaw described the agreement as "costly and meaningless." He went on to call the agreement value signaling and said it was not good policy. He also stated that "We must use our money to develop better infrastructure."

Immigration
During his 2018 election campaign, Crenshaw defended Trump's proposal to build a border wall on the Southern border. During a May 2019 appearance on The View, Crenshaw claimed that 80–90% of asylum seeker requests "don't have a valid asylum claim." PolitiFact rated this as "not accurate." Politfact pointed out that while it is true about 20 to 30 percent of asylum requests have been granted annually since 2009, experts said this does not mean that the remaining cases do not have merit.

Social issues
Crenshaw is pro-life.

Crenshaw believes that government should not be involved in regulating marriage. He supports same-sex marriage and stated in 2015, "The worst thing modern Christianity stands for is anti-homosexual marriage".

Crenshaw opposes a ban on assault weapons.

He opposes federal funding to "subsidize college in general", but supports it in cases of vocational training.

Foreign policy
Crenshaw supports cooperation with the state of Israel.

Personal life
Crenshaw married Tara Blake in 2013. He is a Methodist.