Kevin Brady

Kevin Patrick Brady (born April 11, 1955) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for TX's 8th congressional district from 1997 to 2023.

He is a member of the Republican Party.

The district includes northern Houston, including The Woodlands.

He retired after the 2022 election cycle.

Brady was born in Vermillion, South Dakota, one of five children of William F. and Nancy A. Brady.

His father, a lawyer, was killed in 1967 in a courtroom shooting in Rapid City when Brady was 12 and his mother was in her early 30s.

He graduated from Central High School in 1973.

Brady has a degree in mass communications from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

Brady worked for the Rapid City area Chamber of Commerce.

He was elected to the Rapid City common council at age 26.

In 1982, he moved to Texas to work for the Beaumont, Texas Chamber of Commerce.

In 1985, he went to work for the South Montgomery County Woodlands Chamber of Commerce.

In 1990, Brady was elected to the Texas House of Representatives, district 15, representing The Woodlands, parts of Montgomery County, and five other counties west and north of Houston.

He succeeded Mike McKinney as a representative of the 15th district in the Texas House of representatives on January 10, 1991.

Incumbent U.S. Representative Jack Fields of Texas's 8th congressional district decided to retire.

Brady ran for the seat and ranked second in the Republican primary with 22% of the vote in a six-candidate field.

The candidate who ranked first, Gene Fontenot, received 36% of the vote, short of the 50% threshold.

In the runoff election, Brady defeated him, 53%–47%.

But the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Bush v. Vera that three of Texas's congressional districts were unconstitutional.

After hearings, the court concluded that there was no longer time to hold primaries and instead forced all candidates (Democrats and Republicans) be listed together on the November general election ballot in a jungle primary.

If no candidate reached 50%, a special runoff would be held on December 10 between the two highest-ranking candidates.

In the November election, Brady ranked first with 41% of the vote.

In the December runoff, he defeated Fontenot again, 59%–41%.

During this period, Brady never received less than 67% of the vote.

For the first time since 1998, Brady was challenged in the Republican primary.

Three candidates filed against him.

He defeated all of them in the March primary with 79% of the vote.

He was reelected with 80% of the vote.

In the May Republican primary, in a newly redrawn district, he defeated his challenger with 76% of the vote.

In the November 6 general election, he defeated the Democratic nominee with over 77% of the vote.

Brady won the March 4 Republican primary with 41,549 votes (68%) to Craig McMichael's 19,508 (32%).

In the November 4 general election, Brady was reelected with 124,897 votes (89.32%) to Democratic nominee Ken Petty's 14,930 (10.67%).

In November 2015, Steve Toth, a former state representative from The Woodlands, Texas, announced that he would run against Brady.

Brady eked out a victory in the March 1 primary with 53% of the vote, his lowest total in his 18-year career.

He spent over $1.5 million to Toth's $89,325.

Toth criticized Brady for compromising too often with President Obama, for supporting the omnibus federal budget bill, and for voting to revive the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

Brady won the Republican primary unopposed, as did the Democratic nominee, Steven David.

Brady won the general election with 198,241 votes (73.5%) to David's 67,027 (24.8%).

Libertarian Chris Duncan received 4,597 votes.

As of September 30, 2018, Brady had outraised David in contributions, $4,899,672 to $31,664.