Pete Olson

Pete Olson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 22nd district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2009
Preceded by	Nick Lampson
Personal details
Born	(1962-12-09) December 9, 1962 Fort Lewis, Washington
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Nancy Olson
Children	two children
Residence	Sugar Land, Texas
Alma mater	Rice University University of Texas Law School
Profession	Naval Aviator, Congressman
Religion	Methodist
Awards	Joint Service Commendation Medal Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal Joint Service Achievement Medal Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal Southwest Asia Service Medal Joint Chiefs of Staff Badge
Website
Military service
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	(USN) 1988–1997 (USNR) 1997–2009
Rank	Lieutenant Commander

Peter Graham "Pete" Olson (born December 9, 1962) is the U.S. Representative for Texas's 22nd congressional district, serving since 2009. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes much of southeastern Houston, as well as most of the city's southern suburbs such as Pearland and Sugar Land.

Early life, education, and military service

Peter Graham Olson was born on December 9, 1962, in Fort Lewis, Washington. In 1972, Olson moved with his family to Seabrook, Texas,^[1] a southeast suburb of Houston; and attended public schools, graduating from Clear Lake High School in 1981. In 1985, Olson graduated from Rice University, where he played college basketball his freshman year, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in computer science.^[1] Upon graduation, Olson enrolled in law school at the University of Texas at Austin. He completed the Texas Bar Exam in 1988 and joined the United States Navy.

Olson served in the United States Navy for nine years. He entered the Navy in 1988, and earned his Naval Aviator wings in March 1991. After earning his wings as a P-3C Orion pilot, post-Gulf War, he flew missions over the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific.^[1] In 1994, he was assigned as a Naval liaison to the United States Senate, during which time he assisted Republican U.S. Senator Phil Gramm on several overseas trips.^[1]

Early political career

After leaving active military duty, he joined Senator Gramm's staff in 1998. After Gramm's retirement from the Senate in 2002, Olson served as Chief of Staff to Gramm's successor, U.S. senator and former Texas Attorney General John Cornyn, from December 2002 until May 2007.^[2]

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2008

Olson defeated incumbent Democratic Representative Nick Lampson in the general election on November 4, 2008. Olson received 53% of the vote and Lampson received 45%.^[3][4] Olson had won the Republican nomination by defeating former Congresswoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs in the April 8, 2008, run-off election.^[5][6] Democratic candidate Nick Lampson won in 2006 when the 11-term Republican incumbent, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, was indicted. DeLay's resignation came too late for another Republican to replace him on the ballot, so Lampson defeated a Republican running as a write-in candidate.

An October 22, 2008, poll by John Zogby and The Houston Chronicle stated that Olson had a 17- point lead over Lampson.^[7][8][9] On October 30, 2008, Larry Sabato predicted in the Crystal Ball that Olson's congressional race would be a race that would be a "Republican Pick Up."^[10]

Lampson was considered the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent in the House because of the heavily Republican tilt of the district. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+15, it was the fourth most Republican district in the nation to be represented by a Democratic representative. U.S. President George W. Bush carried the 22nd with 64 percent of the vote in 2004.

Because of the unusual circumstances in District 22, the race attracted national attention. In 2007, Stuart Rothenberg called the district "arguably the best Republican takeover opportunity in the country".^[11] After Olson was nominated, the Electoral-vote.com website identified his campaign as "probably the GOP's best pickup opportunity for 2008."^[12] The Hill, a leading Washington, D.C. political newspaper, has stated that Olson's victory over Sekula Gibbs has set "up one of the top House races in the country in a conservative Houston district."^[13] Olson is expected to be well funded.^[14]

Republican primary race

In 2007, Olson announced he would run for the Republican nomination in the 22nd District. He was one of 10 Republicans in the field. Also running were Sekula-Gibbs, former Pasadena mayor John Manlove, former Sugar Land mayor Dean Hrbacek, State Representative Robert Talton, Senior District Judge Jim Squier, Texas State Board of Education member Cynthia Dunbar, and three minor candidates.

Sekula-Gibbs won the first round with 30%. Olson finished second, with 21%. As Sekula-Gibbs finished well short of the majority needed to win the nomination outright, Olson and Sekula-Gibbs advanced to a runoff in April.^[15][16] Sekula-Gibbs criticized Olson as "a Washington insider ... [who] moved here just six months ago to run."^[17] Nevertheless, 12 of Texas' 19 Republican congressmen endorsed Olson in the primary.^[18]

Olson won the April 8 runoff in a rout with 69 percent of the vote to Sekula-Gibbs' 31 percent.^[13][19]

General election race

Olson faced Lampson in the general election, and John Wieder, the Libertarian Party candidate. Many election experts considered the race one of the best opportunities for the Republicans to pick up a Democratic seat. Hastings Wyman's Southern Political Report placed the race on its watch list because the roots of the district are solidly Republican, and Lampson won the seat with only 52 percent against a write-in candidate.^[20]

On June 20, 2008, the Washington Post's "The Fix" commented on the congressional race: "it's hard to see Rep. Nick Lampson (D) winning reelection. Lampson's slim hopes got even slimmer" with the nomination of Olson.^[21]

Olson and Lampson agreed to a debate of the issues on October 20, 2008, in Rosenberg, Texas.^[22]

Fundraising efforts

At the end of March 2008, Olson's campaign was technically in debt, with almost $128,000 on hand and a debt to the candidate, who provided a personal loan of $175,000.^[23]

On June 5, 2008, Vice President Dick Cheney visited Houston to raise money for Olson's congressional campaign.^[24][25] The event took place at the home of Houston billionaire Dan Duncan.

From July 1 to September 30, 2008, Olson raised more money than Lampson, $312,700 to $149,000.^[26]

In the November 2008 election, Olson defeated Lampson with 53 percent of the vote to Lampson's 45 percent. He won four of the district's five counties.^[27]

Election of 2010

Olson won re-election in 2010 with 67 percent of the vote against Democratic challenger Kesha Rogers,^[28] who on May 27, 2014, is a Democratic runoff election contestant for the U.S. Senate seat held by Olson's former employer, Republican John Cornyn, who seeks a third term in the November 4 general election.

House tenure

During the 2008 campaign, Olson claimed he was a better fit for the district than Lampson. Olson told Wall Street Journal reporter Leslie Eaton that "I have conservative values, and he (Lampson) doesn't." ^[2] Indeed, not long after being sworn in, Olson joined the Republican Study Committee, a caucus of conservative House Republicans.

Olson opposes the current incarnation of Interstate 69, which since 2002 has been part of Governor Rick Perry's controversial Trans-Texas Corridor, a project Gramm did not provide funding for as a U.S. Senator. The previous incarnation of I-69 (which Gramm did fund) was slated to go through the current U.S. Highway 59 which passes through Houston and outlying suburbs such as Sugar Land and Humble.

On July 24, 2013, Olson voted to continue funding NSA surveillance.^[29]

In mid-November 2013, Olson led a group of 19 other Republican congressmen in an effort to impeach Attorney General Eric Holder, charging that Holder had refused to comply with a subpoena issued by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in 2011 and that he had failed to enforce laws defending the Defense of Marriage Act (which had been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court)^[30] or mandatory minimum sentencing for low-level drug offenders. Olson also charged that Holder had failed to enforce the Controlled Substances Act by not suing Washington and Colorado for deciding to regulate rather than criminalize marijuana.^[31]

Committee assignments

• Committee on Energy and Commerce
  • Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Power

Caucus Memberships

Constitution Caucus, Aerospace Caucus, General Aviation Caucus, Coal Caucus, Balanced Budget Amendment Caucus, Natural Gas Caucus, National Guard and Reserve Caucus, Beef Caucus, Gulf Coast Caucus, Cystic Fibrosis Caucus, Taiwan Caucus, Ports to Plains Caucus, Diabetes Caucus, Rice Caucus

Election of 2014

In the November 4 general election, Briscoe polled 3,377 votes (53.2 percent) to defeat his intraparty rival, Mark Gibson, who received 2,967 votes (46.8 percent).^[32] Briscoe is a son of the late Harris County District Attorney Frank Briscoe, who was twice defeated in a bid for mayor of Houston and lost the 1966 race in Texas' 7th congressional district to future President George Herbert Walker Bush. He is a cousin of the late Governor Dolph Briscoe.^[33][34]

Electoral history

Personal life

Olson lives in Sugar Land with his wife Nancy and their two children, Kate and Grant, and their dog Riley.

References

External links

• Congressman Pete Olson official U.S. House site
• Pete Olson for Congress
• Pete Olson at DMOZ
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Project Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at The Library of Congress