Rep. Kevin Brady (R) Elected 1996, 4th term
Born:	Apr. 11, 1955, Vermillion, SD
Home:	The Woodlands, TX
Education:	U. of SD, B.S. 1990
Religion:	Catholic
Marital Status:	married (Cathy)
Elected  Office:	TX House of Reps., 1990-96.
Professional Career:	Exec., Woodlands Chamber of Commerce, 1978-96.
Additional Info
Recent Articles · Offices · Committees · Ratings · Key Votes · Election Results District Demographics
More On Texas
At A Glance · State Profile District Map Redistricting · Almanac Home

When Houston Intercontinental Airport opened in 1969, it was located far north of the city, in vacant ground near the small town of Humble (named for a wandering fisherman, and later home of the oil company that was the predecessor of Exxon)--25 miles away from downtown Houston or from just about any other concentration of population. Today, the airport, known now as George Bush Intercontinental, is still a jaunt from downtown Houston. But it's in the middle of a zone of rapid metropolitan expansion and growth, of commercial office space and upscale residential subdivisions rising on land that once held roadside stands and barbecues and unpainted farmhouses with water pooling on low swampy fields. Greater Houston has spread far out into the countryside, past Loop 610 in the inner city, past the Sam Houston Tollway, past the now mislabeled Farm-Market Route 1960, out past The Woodlands, Conroe and Woodbranch Village in once rural Montgomery County.

The 8th Congressional District occupies most of this territory. The district includes Humble and the developments north of Bush Intercontinental Airport. It includes the suburban areas around Tomball and Jersey City in Harris County, which includes 60% of its population. It also includes all but the eastern edge of Montgomery County just to the north. In past decades the affluent, highly educated west side of Houston that made up the 7th District was the most Republican congressional district in the nation. But after the 1990s, in which cultural issues tended to determine party preference, the not quite so affluent and not quite as highly educated 8th District, where many people are still close to their country roots, became even more Republican, and in 2000 the 8th voted 78% for George W. Bush, a higher percentage than in any other congressional district in the nation.

The congressman from the 8th District is Kevin Brady, a Republican first elected in 1996. Brady grew up and went to college in South Dakota, moved to Montgomery County in 1978 and headed The Woodlands Chamber of Commerce for 18 years. In 1990 he was elected to the Texas House. When Congressman Jack Fields announced in 1995 he was retiring, Brady decided to run. His main opponent in the decisive Republican primary was Eugene Fontenot, a physician who wanted "to restore America to its Christian heritage." Brady was the choice of party regulars; Fontenot was endorsed by conservatives. Fontenot attacked Brady for being one of two Republicans to vote against the concealed weapons law. Brady had opposed most gun control bills, but not this one; when he was 12, his father was shot and killed while trying a case in a South Dakota courtroom. Brady and Fontenot ran against each other four separate times in that one year. In the March primary, Fontenot led Brady 36%-22% in a six-candidate field. In the April runoff Brady won 53%-47%. After the U.S. Supreme Court in June ordered a redrawing of 13 districts, there was an all-party primary in November, in which Brady led Fontenot 41%-39%. Finally, in the December runoff, turnout was sharply down. This evidently helped party regular Brady, who won 59%-41%.

In the House, Brady has compiled a conservative voting record, though a bit less so on foreign issues. He gained a reputation as more of a pragmatist than other Texas Republicans. With the murder of his father always a fresh memory, Brady has been an advocate of victims' rights and the death penalty. In January 2001, he took Bill Archer's seat on Ways and Means; he is an advocate of abolishing the IRS and moving toward a consumption tax. He strongly backed the Bush tax cuts, and helped to win House passage of a scaled-back version of Bush's plan to give tax breaks for contributions to faith-based groups. In 2002, he reached a compromise with advocates of campaign finance regulation and got enacted a modification of a recent tax code change to reduce paperwork requirements for tax-exempt state and local political party committees that raised less than $100,000 a year. In March 2002, he sponsored a proposal to establish at Texas A&M a national center for homeland security research. In December this became controversial when Dick Armey inserted it in the homeland security bill; the bill passed the Senate only after Trent Lott, the majority leader-designate, promised a vote on the provision in 2003. Brady said that critics were using the issue to take "cheap shots" at Republican leaders. In early 2003, he called for a U.S. free trade agreement with Central America.

Since his four contests in 1996, Brady has had no problem winning reelection. In 2003, Roy Blunt appointed Brady one of his deputy whips.

Recent News Coverage
Search the CongressDaily, Hotline, House Race Hotline, National Journal and Technology Daily archives using the form below:

DC Office
428 CHOB 20515, 202-225-4901; Fax: 202-225-5524; Web site: www.house.gov/brady

State Offices
Conroe, 936-441-5700; Houston, 281-895-8892.

Committees

• Ways & Means (22d of 24 R): Select Revenue Measures; Social Security.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	0	7	0	0	58	100	61	100	100	94	100
2001	0	--	0	0	--	--	69	100	96	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	0%	--	94%		0%	--	91%
Social	0%	--	81%		0%	--	75%
Foreign	33%	--	60%		24%	--	72%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 2. Limit Patients' Bill of Rights Y 3. Campaign Finance Reform * 4. Ban ANWR Development N 5. Faith-Based Charities Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts Y		7. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  8. Arm Commercial Pilots Y  9. Trade Promotion Authority Y 10. Bar Funds for Intl. Court Y 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Deny Home. Sec. Dept. Union Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	Kevin Brady (R)	140,575	93%	$222,082
	Gil Guillory (Lib)	10,351	7%
2002 primary	Kevin Brady (R)	unopposed
2000 general	Kevin Brady (R)	233,848	92%	$370,246
	Gil Guillory (Lib)	21,368	8%
Prior winning percentages: 1998 (93%); 1996 (59%)

2000 presidential
	Bush (R)	187,243	78%
	Gore (D)	53,843	22%
For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Eighth District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R +28
• District Size: 1,193 square miles
• Population in 2000: 651,619; 83.8% urban; 16.2% rural
• Median Household Income: $60,198; 6.7% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 18.6% blue collar; 70.0% white collar; 11.4% gray collar; 12.3% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 77.2% White, 5.2% Black, 3.0% Asian, 0.3% Amer. Indian, 0.1% Hawaiian, 1.2% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 13.0% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 12.8% German, 9.0% Irish, 8.6% English
• Click here for statewide demographic data.