Matt Krause

Texas legislator

Matt Krause

Member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 93rd district
In office January 8, 2013 – January 10, 2023
Preceded by	Barbara Nash
Succeeded by	Nate Schatzline

Personal details
Born	Matthew Haston Krause (1980-08-19) August 19, 1980 (age 43) Tyler, Texas, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Jennie
Children	5
Residence(s)	Haslet, Texas, U.S.
Education	San Diego Christian College (BA) Liberty University (JD)
Website	Campaign website

Matthew Haston Krause (born August 19, 1980)^[1] is an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 93rd district from 2013 to 2023. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Early life and education

Krause was born in Tyler, Texas, and raised in San Antonio. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and social sciences from San Diego Christian College and a Juris Doctor from the Liberty University School of Law in 2007.^[2]^[3]

Career

From 2007 to 2012, Krause worked as an attorney for Liberty Counsel. Since December 2017, Krause has also worked as a business development officer for Vista Bank.^[4]

Texas House of Representatives

He was elected to the Texas House of Representatives from District 93 in November 2012 and assumed office in 2013. He was reelected to four additional terms.^[5] Throughout his tenure in the House, Krause has been ranked one of the most conservative members of the Texas Legislature.^[6] In the 2021–2022 legislative session, Krause was chair of the House General Investigating Committee.^[7] In 2017, Krause was one of the dozen Republicans who founded the Texas Freedom Caucus, a group of hardline conservatives modeled after the Freedom Caucus.^[8]

Krause is among the most avid anti-abortion members of the Texas Legislature.^[9] In 2015, Krause sponsored legislation to make it more difficult for pregnant teens to obtain abortions using the judicial bypass procedure.^[10] In 2015, following the death of Marlise Muñoz, Krause introduced legislation that would require Texas hospitals to keep brain-dead pregnant women on life support, and appoint legal counsel for the fetus to represent the fetus in court.^[11] In 2019, after a spate of mass shootings in Texas, Krause said that he would support Democratic members' calls for a special session on gun violence only if anti-abortion legislation was also on the agenda.^[12] Krause sponsored the House version of Senate Bill 8, which passed and enacted the Texas Heartbeat Act. The Act protected fetuses at around six weeks gestation from abortion on demand. This was later challenged in the courts.^[13]

In 2017, Krause proposed legislation to end no-fault divorce in Texas and to require couples to live separately for three years before obtaining a divorce, except in cases of abuse, adultery, or other issues.^[14]^[15]

In 2019, despite a recent measles outbreak, Krause introduced a bill to make it easier for parents to opt their children out of school vaccination requirements.^[16]^[17]

In 2019, Krause was one of 13 House Republicans who joined Democrats to pass a bill, 77–66, to make defendants with severe mental illness ineligible for the death penalty.^[18] Later that year, Krause was part of a bipartisan group of Texas legislators who urged a delay in the execution of Rodney Reed, a Texas death-row inmate, over questions about Reed's guilt.^[19]

In August 2021, after Texas House Democrats left the state to prevent Republicans from obtaining a quorum to pass legislation to restrict voting Krause voted in favor of a Republican measure to issue civil arrest warrants to compel the missing members to return to the Capitol to appear for the special session.^[20]

In October 2021, Krause, as chair of the House Committee on General Investigating, launched an investigation into Texas school boards, asking them whether a list of 850 books on subjects of race and sexuality were in Texas libraries and classrooms. The list included Pulitzer Prize-winning novels, best sellers, and other award-winning works of literature,^[21] many of them written by women, people of color, or LGBTQ authors.^[22] This list included William Styron's The Confessions of Nat Turner, Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me, and Isabel Wilkerson's Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.^[21]^[23] The Texas State Teachers Association described Krause's investigation as a politically motivated "witch hunt"^[21] and Texas Democrats denounced it.^[23] Krause refused to explain how the list of 850 books was created, which school districts received the letter, or why he was seeking this information.^[23] Seven Texas school districts confirmed receiving the letter from Krause, and several indicated that they would decline to respond.^[23]

2022 Texas attorney general election

In September 2021, Krause announced a challenge to incumbent Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the 2022 Republican primary.^[24] Though previously a long-time ally of Paxton, Krause has alleged that Paxton is "distracted" and unable to pay sufficient attention to his role as Attorney General, in light of a pending criminal case against him and allegations by former staff members that Paxton abused his office to benefit a campaign contributor. Krause was the third major challenger to announce against Paxton, following George P. Bush and Eva Guzman in summer 2021. Krause has said that his decision to run was triggered by the inability of Bush and Guzman to build a strong connection with rank-and-file conservatives in Texas.^[25]^[26]

In November 2021, Krause dropped out of the election and instead announced he would run for Tarrant County District Attorney.^[27] He endorsed U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert for Attorney General.^[27]

References

^ "Rep. Matt Krause - Texas State Directory Online". www.txdirectory.com. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
^ Institute, The Leadership. "State Representative Matt Krause: A Deep Heart in Texas". Leadership Institute. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
^ "Texas State Bar - Find a Lawyer". texasbar.com. State Bar of Texas. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
^ "Texas House of Representatives District 93". Reform Austin. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
^ Craig Huber, State Rep. Matt Krause announces bid for Texas attorney general, Spectrum News (September 16, 2021).
^ Jones, Mark P. (June 15, 2021). "Analysis: The 2021 Texas House, from left to right". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
^ "Matt Krause". Ballotpedia. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
^ Patrick Svitek & Cassandra Pollock, Four years in, the Freedom Caucus finds a less contentious role in the Texas House, Texas Tribune (February 3, 2021).
^ Emma Platoff, With Kennedy's retirement, Texas abortion opponents see "opportunity" in 2019 and beyond, Texas Tribune (June 28, 2018).
^ Eva Ruth Morave, Texas lawmakers want to close 'bypass' for teen abortions, Associated Press (April 6, 2015).
^ Brittney Martin, Rep. Krause files bill to give fetus legal representation if woman is brain-dead, Dallas Morning News (February 25, 2021).
^ Tessa Weinberg, TX Republican: Session on guns OK if abortion is discussed, Fort World Star-Telegram (September 5, 2019).
^ Taylor Goldstein, 'Chick-fil-A' case has strong implications for Texas abortion ban, San Antonio Express-News (September 28, 2021).
^ EDITORIAL: Proposed bill is divorced from reality. Enterprise editorial staff via Associated Press (January 7, 2017).
^ Maria Anglin, Much fault in junking no-fault divorce, Associated Press (January 7, 2017).
^ Amid measles outbreak, lawmaker seeks simpler way to opt out of vaccines, Austin American-Statesman (March 8, 2019).
^ Amid measles crisis, Texas bills targeting vaccine issues slow to slow, Austin American-Statesman (May 3, 2019).
^ Renzo Downey, Texas House OKs death penalty ban for severely mentally ill, Austin American-Statesman (May 9, 2019).
^ Chuck Lindell, In bipartisan plea, lawmakers urge delay to Rodney Reed execution, Austin American-Statesman (November 6, 2019).
^ David Montgomery, Texas Republicans order the arrest of Democrats who fled to block G.O.P. voting bill, New York Times (August 13, 2021).
^ ^a ^b ^c Lopez, Brian (October 26, 2021). "Texas House committee to investigate school districts' books on race and sexuality". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
^ "Books probed by a Texas lawmaker by women, people of color, LGBTQ writers. They're asking: 'Really?'". Dallas News. October 28, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Cassandra Pollock & Brian Lopez, Texas lawmaker keeping mum on inquiry into what books students can access as school districts grapple with how to respond, Texas Tribune (October 29, 2021).
^ Goldenstein, Taylor (September 16, 2021). "GOP state Rep. Matt Krause jumps into Texas attorney general race". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
^ Svitek, Patrick (September 16, 2021). "House Freedom Caucus member Matt Krause challenges Ken Paxton for Texas attorney general". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
^ GOP's Matt Krause joins race against Texas AG Ken Paxton, Associated Press (September 16, 2021).
^ ^a ^b Taylor, Goldenstein (November 22, 2021). "State Rep. Matt Krause decides to run for Tarrant District Attorney, not Texas AG". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved December 15, 2021.