Personal life
Cook and his wife,Kay,have two daughters. [14] Outside of his political career,Cook is a businessman and rancher. [15]
Byron Cook | |
|---|---|
| Member of the TexasHouseofRepresentatives from the 8th district | |
| In office January 14, 2003 –January 8, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Paul Sadler |
| Succeeded by | Cody Harris |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Republican |
| Residence(s) | Corsicana,Navarro County Texas |
| Alma mater | Navarro College (A.A.,1974) |
| Occupation | Rancher;Businessman |
| Website | byroncook.com |
Byron Cook is an American businessman,rancher,and Republican politician from his native Corsicana in east central Texas,who is a former state representative for District 8,which encompasses the counties of Anderson,Freestone,Hill,and Navarro. In October 2017,Cook announced that he would not seek re-election in 2018. [1]
Cook graduated from Navarro College,a community college,with an associate degree in 1974. [2] Cook's father,the late Leland P. Cook,was the former circulation manager for the Corsicana Daily Sun . Leland left the newspaper to start a family business. In 1986,he and Cook founded Tradewest,a now-defunct video game company and licensee of several Nintendo games,including Double Dragon,Battletoads,and Super Off Road. [3] [4]
Cook served as the chairman of the Texas House State Affairs Committee and as a member of the Texas House Calendars Committee. He is also a member of the Texas House Republican Caucus and Texas Conservative Coalition. Cook has also served in past legislative sessions as chairman of the Texas House Committees on Civil Practices and the Committee on Environmental Regulation;and as a member of the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission.
During the 2015 Texas legislative session,Cook,who is generally considered to be a moderate Republican,filed a bill to allow illegal immigrants to obtain one-year driving permits,which received pushback from lawmakers within the state. [5]
Cook is one of two named investor victims in securities fraud charges filed against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2015. Cook and Paxton had earlier been friends who served together in the Texas House of Representatives. [6]
On March 22,2017,Cook asked an activist from Waxahachie to leave the Texas State Capitol as she was filming a governmental meeting. [7] She was charged with trespassing in spite of the Texas Open Meetings Act. [7]
In the March 2016 Republican primary,Cook defeated Thomas McNutt,a Tea Party challenger and an heir of the Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana. [8] Cook won nomination to his eighth term by 225 votes,14,421 (50.4 percent) to McNutt's 14,196 (49.6 percent). [9] McNutt's campaign claimed that there was voter fraud in Hill County during the primary. [10] [11] After investigation,the Hill County Election Administration Board and the Hill County Election Administrator declared that there was no voter fraud in the primary. [12]
McNutt ran again in the 2018 primary but lost the nomination to Cook's preferred successor,Cody Harris,who then prevailed in the general election,36,471 votes (78.3 percent) to 10,136 (21.7 percent) for the Democrat Wesley D. Ratcliff. [13]
Cook and his wife,Kay,have two daughters. [14] Outside of his political career,Cook is a businessman and rancher. [15]
Corsicana is a city and the county seat of Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 50 miles southeast of Dallas. Its population was 25,109 at the 2020 census. Corsicana is considered an important agribusiness center.
William McClellan "Mac" Thornberry is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 13th congressional district from 1995 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Thornberry represented the most Republican district in the United States by partisan voting index. The district covers the Texas Panhandle and stretched between the Oklahoma and New Mexico borders.
George Prescott Bush is an American politician and attorney who served as the commissioner of the Texas General Land Office from 2015 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, Bush unsuccessfully campaigned for the party's nomination in the 2022 Texas Attorney General election.
Kenneth Michael Conaway is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for Texas's 11th congressional district from 2005 to 2021. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district Conaway represented is located in West Texas and includes Midland, Odessa, San Angelo, Brownwood, and Granbury. Conaway led the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections after the Intelligence Committee chair, Devin Nunes, recused himself. Aside from serving as the chair of the House Ethics Committee, he served as the chair of the House Agriculture Committee, and later its ranking member. Conaway indicated in July 2019 that he would not be seeking reelection. Conaway was succeeded by fellow Republican August Pfluger.
Tradewest, Inc. was an American video game company based in Corsicana, Texas that produced numerous games in the 1980s and early 1990s. The company was the publisher of the Battletoads and Double Dragon series in North America and the PAL region. In 1994, the company was acquired by WMS Industries and became Midway Home Entertainment when WMS spun off its video game operations as Midway Games.
Thomas Russell Craddick is a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives representing the 82nd district. Craddick was Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from January 2003 to January 2009. He was the first Republican to serve as Speaker since Reconstruction.
North Carolina's 9th congressional district is a congressional district in south-central North Carolina. The district's current boundaries were redrawn in February 2016 after a U.S. District Court overturned the existing boundaries because of politically directed gerrymandering that suppressed minority representation. The new congressional district consists of Union, Chatham, Anson, Richmond, Scotland, and Robeson counties; a southeast portion of Mecklenburg County; and parts of Cumberland, Moore and Bladen counties.
The Collin Street Bakery is located in Corsicana, Texas, USA. Its products are shipped to all US states, overseas possessions and 195 countries. The bakery is best known for its production of fruitcake.
Navarro College is a public community college in Texas with its main campus in Corsicana and branches in Mexia, Midlothian, and Waxahachie. The college has an annual student enrollment of more than 9,000 students.
Joseph Richard Straus III is an American politician who served as the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from 2009 to 2019. A Republican, he represented District 121, which comprises northeastern Bexar County, including parts of San Antonio and several surrounding communities, from his first election to the House in 2005 until his retirement in 2019. He chose not to seek re-election to the state House in 2018.
Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the attorney general of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Texas Senate representing the eighth district and as a member of the Texas House of Representatives.
Douglas Bryan Hughes is an American attorney and politician who is a Republican member of the Texas State Senate for District 1. He was first elected to the Texas Senate in November 2016. Previously, Hughes was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 2003 through January 2017 as state representative for District 5, which includes Camp, Harrison, Upshur, and Wood counties in northeastern Texas. Senator Hughes authored some of the more significant legislation to come out of the 87th Session of the Texas Legislature. His bills on abortion, voting reform, and social media censorship prompted significant debate but were passed by both houses of the legislature and signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott.
Steve Hixson Toth is an American businessman and politician serving as a member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 15, The Woodlands area.
Tony Dale Tinderholt is an American politician who is Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives from Arlington, Texas currently representing District 94. On January 13, 2015, Tinderholt succeeded Diane Patrick, a four-term representative whom he unseated in the Republican primary election on March 4, 2014.
Matthew McDade Phelan is an American real estate developer and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he serves in Texas House of Representatives representing District 21, which includes most of Jefferson and all of Orange and Jasper counties in the southeast corner of the state. He has been Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives since January 2021.
The 2016 United States presidential election in New Hampshire was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. New Hampshire voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, businessman Donald Trump, and his running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence, against the Democratic Party's nominee, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her running mate Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. New Hampshire has four electoral votes in the Electoral College.
The 2016 United States presidential election in California was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. California voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, businessman Donald Trump, and running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her running mate Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. California had 55 electoral votes in the Electoral College, the most of any state.
Briscoe Cain is an American attorney and Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 128.
The 2018 Texas Senate elections took place as part of the biennial United States elections. Texas voters elected state senators in 15 of the state senate's 31 districts. The winners of this election served in the 86th Texas Legislature. State senators serve four-year terms in the Texas State Senate. A statewide map of Texas's state Senate districts can be obtained from the Texas Legislative Council here, and individual district maps can be obtained from the U.S. Census here.
The 2020 United States presidential election in Texas was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Texas voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, incumbent President Donald Trump, and running mate, Vice President Mike Pence, against the Democratic Party's nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris. The state of Texas had 38 electoral votes in the Electoral College.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
