The congressman from the 10th District is Michael McCaul, a Republican first elected in 2004 and a protégé of Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn. McCaul grew up in Dallas, studied business and history at Trinity University and went to law school at St. Mary’s University, both in San Antonio. He worked as a federal prosecutor and then moved to Austin in 1999 to be a deputy to then-Attorney General Cornyn in Austin. In 2002, he joined the U.S. attorney’s office and was chief of the Terrorism and National Security Section for West Texas. Read More

The congressman from the 10th District is Michael McCaul, a Republican first elected in 2004 and a protégé of Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn. McCaul grew up in Dallas, studied business and history at Trinity University and went to law school at St. Mary’s University, both in San Antonio. He worked as a federal prosecutor and then moved to Austin in 1999 to be a deputy to then-Attorney General Cornyn in Austin. In 2002, he joined the U.S. attorney’s office and was chief of the Terrorism and National Security Section for West Texas.

McCaul was one of eight candidates in the Republican primary for the newly created congressional district in 2004. The top Republican contenders were McCaul, mortgage company owner Ben Streusand and former Judge John Devine. McCaul focused on his anti-terrorism work in the U.S. attorney’s office. “I’m the only candidate that’s had a top-secret security clearance,” he said. “I won’t have a learning curve.” Streusand, based in Harris County, called for less government regulation and opposed the Bush administration’s immigration proposals. Devine, who had refused to remove a Ten Commandments display from his Harris County courtroom, had the support of Christian conservatives and called for a crackdown on illegal immigration. In the primary, Streusand carried seven of the eight counties to finish with 28% of the vote, to 24% for McCaul and 21% for Devine.

In the runoff campaign, McCaul and Streusand agreed on most issues. McCaul criticized Streusand’s past donations to Democratic candidates, while Streusand questioned McCaul’s service in the Clinton administration Justice Department. McCaul used his connections—his father-in-law is Clear Channel Communications chairman Lowry Mays—to collect major Republican endorsements, including from former President George H.W. Bush, Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. McCaul won 63%-37%, carrying every county except one, which he lost by seven votes. He faced no major-party opposition in the general election.

In the House, McCaul has a voting record that is only slightly less conservative than the Texas delegation’s other Republicans. He supported requiring insurers to treat mental illness the same as other health conditions in 2008 and allowing the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products in 2009. As a freshman, he gained headlines with hearings that revealed more than $1 billion in fraud in Hurricane Katrina disaster relief. He also has repeatedly introduced legislation banning so-called “monuments to me,” landmarks honoring incumbent lawmakers that he considers arrogant examples of earmarking.

He is on the Homeland Security Committee and chairs its Oversight, Investigations & Management Subcommittee. In 2011, he became a regular guest on television news shows to discuss Mexican drug cartel violence and the committee’s high-profile hearings on Muslim extremism. Despite complaints from American Muslims that they were being unfairly singled out at the hearings, he told MSNBC: “I don’t really understand the controversy when we talk about this, because of the 27 plots thwarted in the last two years, they were all radical Islam.”

In March 2011, McCaul introduced legislation to have six Mexican drug cartels designated as foreign terrorist organizations, a move that could lead to much stiffer penalties for drug traffickers. In May 2011, he accused Obama Justice and Homeland Security Department officials of underestimating the level of drug-related violence coming from Mexico. He pressed administration officials at a hearing over the lack of a definition of “spill-over violence.” He also highlighted more alarmist testimony on border security and violence from law enforcement agents in Arizona and Texas. McCaul co-sponsored a cybersecurity bill with Rep. Daniel Lipinski, D-Ill. The bill, which would increase education and develop standards for dealing with cyberthreats, passed the Science, Space, and Technology Committee in July 2011.

Until 2010, his re-election performances suggested he needed to work harder in this once-solidly GOP district. In 2006, against retired Navy Captain Ted Ankrum, an underfunded challenger, McCaul won 55%-40%. Hs challenger in 2008 was Larry Joe Doherty, a Houston lawyer who stars as a judge in a courtroom reality television show called “Texas Justice.” Doherty characterized McCaul as voting most of the time for the Republican agenda, including cuts in Medicare. McCaul accused Doherty of supporting a health care plan that would lead to rationing. McCaul won 54%-43%.

Two years later, wealthy Democratic entrepreneur Jack McDonald raised his party’s hopes of a serious challenge, but McDonald dropped out. McCaul coasted in a return matchup against Ankrum, 65%-33%.

A Roll Call story in August 2011 reported that McCaul had become the richest member of Congress, with much of the wealth connected to his wife and Clear Channel. After the announced retirement of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas., there was some speculation that McCaul would run for the Senate in 2012. However, McCaul took his name out of the running in October 2011.