| Brandon Creighton | |
| State Senate: | Texas |
| District: | 4th |
| Term Start: | August 26, 2014 |
| Preceded: | Tommy Williams |
| State House2: | Texas |
| District2: | 16th |
| Term Start2: | January 9, 2007 |
| Term End2: | August 26, 2014 |
| Preceded2: | Ruben Hope |
| Succeeded2: | Will Metcalf |
| Party: | Republican |
| Birth Date: | 5 August 1970 |
| Birth Place: | Montgomery County, Texas, U.S. |
| Residence: | Conroe, Texas |
| Occupation: | Attorney |
| Children: | 2 |
| Alma Mater: | University of Texas, Austin (BA) Oklahoma City University (JD) |
| Signature: | Brandon Creighton Signature.png |
Charles Brandon Creighton (born August 5, 1970)[1] is an American attorney and politician from Conroe, Texas, who is a Republican member of the Texas Senate from District 4, and a former member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 16.
Brandon Creighton was born in Conroe, Texas to Patricia (née Kincannon) and Morris Creighton. He is the youngest of their three children. He is a long-term member of the First Baptist Church of Conroe. He is an eighth-generation Montgomery County resident, where he resides with his family. Creighton graduated from Conroe High School, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a Juris Doctor from Oklahoma City University School of Law in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.[1]
While he was a student at the University of Texas, Creighton worked as a Senate Messenger, and is the first Senate Messenger to ever go on to serve as a State Senator. He also served as a policy advisor in the Texas Senate.
Creighton is vice president and general counsel of the Signorelli Company, a home and office building development firm in Conroe.[2] He is also a rancher.[3]
Creighton's first campaign was for the Texas House District 16 in 2002 (based entirely in suburban Montgomery County, near Houston in the southeastern portion of the state). He lost to the incumbent, attorney Ruben W. Hope, Jr., 6,126 (55.6 percent) to 4,884 (44.4 percent).[4] In 2006, Hope decided to retire and not seek re-election.[5]
In 2006 after Hope's decision to retire, Creighton joined two intraparty rivals, Dale Inman and Vicky Rudy, in the Republican primary. Creighton won the Republican nomination for House District 16 with 56.6 percent of the vote.[6] In the 2006 general election, Creighton defeated the Democrat Pat Poland, 23,945 (75 percent) to 7,963 (25 percent).[7] Since first winning the seat in 2006, Creighton has faced no further primary or general election opponents.
While serving in the Texas House of Representatives for the 80th Legislative Session, Creighton was appointed to serve as Vice Chair of General Investigating and Ethics, Vice Chair of Local Government Ways and Means, Natural Resources and State Water Funding.[8]
Creighton ran unopposed in 2008, and won re-election with 49,263 votes.[9]
In 2009, during the 81st Texas Legislative Session, Creighton was appointed to serve as a Member of the Appropriations Committee, the Calendars Committee, General Investigating and Ethics and Natural Resources.[8]
Creighton again did not draw a challenger in the 2010 election, and was re-elected for a 3rd term to the Texas House of Representatives.
In 2011, Creighton served as Chair of the Committee on State Sovereignty, Vice Chair of General Investigating and Ethics, and appointed to serve on Natural Resources and the Pensions, Investments and Financial Services Committee. He was also appointed to the Medicaid Reform Waiver Legislative Oversight Committee and Texas Response to Sequestration Interim Committee.[8] [10] [11]
On January 11, 2019, Creighton filed Senate Bill 345 with the 86th Legislature and entitled it the Jones Forest Preservation Act ("Jones Forest Act"). The Jones Forest Act protects the 1,722 acre William Goodrich Jones State Forest from development. In 2018, Texas A&M University suggested that the university would develop a Texas A&M campus on the land, which sits next to The Woodlands, Texas. Neighborhood associations in the area complained that the development would add to traffic congestion and eliminate a forest that has been part of Texas heritage since 1923.[12] [13]
In January 2023, during the 88th Texas Legislative Session, Creighton was appointed to serve as Chairman of the Education Committee of the Senate and as Chair of the Higher Education Subcommittee. He was also appointed as a member of various committees, which included Business & Commerce, Finance, Jurisprudence, and the special committee on Redistricting.[14]
On October 3, 2013, State Senator Tommy Williams said he would not run again in the State Senate Republican primary election scheduled for March 4, 2014.[15] [16]
In May 10, 2014, special election to fill the Senate seat that Williams left, Creighton came in first place with 45 percent of the vote.[17] Creighton received 45.2 percent, Toth 23.7 percent, Bunch 21.8 percent, and Galloway 9.3 percent.[17] Creighton and Toth faced other in a runoff election on August 5, 2014.[17]
Creighton won the August 5, 2014, special election runoff for the District 4 seat in the Texas Senate, 67 to 33 percent, over fellow former state representative Republican Steve Toth of The Woodlands.[18] [19]
Rice University political science professor Mark Jones said both Creighton and Toth "are significantly more conservative than Williams."[20]
In 2017, he sponsored, in the State Senate, House Bill 214, which limited insurance coverage for abortion procedures in Texas.[21] This law bans private and public health insurance plans from offering coverage for abortion except through the purchase of an optional rider, which insurance companies, HMOs, and employers are not required to provide and which must be purchased prior to pregnancy.[22]
In 2017, Creighton introduced legislation, SB 112,[23] which would forbid local governments from moving or changing memorials that have stood on public lands for more than 40 years. Monuments older than 20 years and less than 40 years old could be moved only with legislative approval, and under the legislation those monuments would need to be placed in "a prominent location." Monuments less than 20 years old could be moved if approved by the Texas legislature, the Texas Historical Commission, or the State Preservation Board.[23]
The measure would prevent San Antonio officials from removing the obelisk statue of an unnamed Confederate soldier in the downtown Travis Park.[24] [25]
In 2019, Creighton sponsored SB 15, which weakens anti-discrimination laws passed by Texas cities. Creighton said it stood for "Texas values."[26] [27] [28]