Pat Fallon

Patrick Edward Fallon (born December 19, 1967) is an American businessman and politician.

A member of the Republican Party, he has been the U.S. representative for TX's 4th congressional district since 2021.

Fallon earned his bachelor's degree in government and international relations from the University of Notre Dame, where he played varsity football under coach Lou Holtz and was part of the 1988 national championship team.

He ran a t-shirt business as a student and participated in campus political activities.

He was a cadet in the Reserve Officers Training Corps of the United States Air Force before serving for four years, during which he received the Air Force Achievement Medal.

After college, Fallon relocated to Denton County, Texas, in the early 1990s.

He is the president and chief executive officer of Virtus Apparel, a company that specializes in clothing of military and patriotic design.

Based in Prosper, Texas, it has a dozen national locations and about 100 total employees.

In 2009, Fallon launched a campaign that netted him 57% of the vote to defeat three opponents for an at-large seat on the Frisco City Council.

In the Denton County portion of Frisco, which consists of about one-third of the voters in House District 106, Fallon polled 65% of the vote.

In his first year on the city council, Fallon voted against a tax rate increase.

In 2010, he voted against a city budget that would have increased the municipal debt.

In May 2011, his council colleagues selected him to serve as mayor pro tem.

According to D Magazine, in 2012, Fallon falsified his residency, not living in the district he represented.

That same year, Fallon won the Republican nomination in the reconfigured District 106, in which incumbent Republican Rodney Anderson of Grand Prairie did not run.

Fallon won the general election on November 6, 2012, with 41,785 votes (83.2%) to Libertarian Party nominee Rodney Caston's 8,455 (16.8%).

Fallon faced no Democratic Party opponent in the election.

Fallon was also a member of the Texas House of Representatives for the 106th district from 2013 to 2019 and represented the 30th district of the Texas Senate from 2019 to 2021.

Fallon was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Both his parents were public school teachers, and he was raised in rural areas.

Fallon co-authored a 2013 Texas law that allows students and employees of independent school districts to say "Merry Christmas" rather than the secular "Happy Holidays".

In 2013 Fallon supported Texas House Bill 2, a bill that would ban abortion after 20 weeks of gestation and require abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.

The measure passed the House, 96–49.

These issues brought forth an unsuccessful filibuster in the Texas State Senate by Senator Wendy R. Davis.

Parts of the bill were later deemed unconstitutional and struck down by the Supreme Court of the United States in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt.

The Texas Right to Life Committee rated Fallon 100% favorable.

Fallon opposed the bill to establish a taxpayer-funded breakfast program for public schools; the measure passed the House, 73–58.

He co-sponsored legislation to provide marshals for school security as a separate law-enforcement entity.

He co-sponsored the successful bill to extend the franchise tax exemption to certain small businesses.

Instead, Anderson unseated incumbent Republican Linda Harper-Brown in the 2014 primary election in neighboring District 105.

Fallon ran unopposed for the Republican nomination in 2014 and defeated Democrat Lisa Osterholt and Libertarian Rodney Caston in the general election with 24,419 votes, almost 70% of the total.

In the 2016 Republican primary, Fallon defeated challenger Trent Trubenbach with 16,106 votes (82.9%) to Tubenbach's 3,327 (17.1%).

He won the general election with 80.8% of the vote.

In July 2017, Fallon announced that he would challenge incumbent state Senator Craig Estes for the Republican nomination in Senate District 30.

Fallon defeated Estes and Nocona businessman Craig Carter in the primary on March 6, 2018, with 53,881 votes (62%).

In the November 6 general election, Fallon defeated Democratic nominee Kevin Lopez with 233,949 votes (73.9%) to Lopez's 82,449 (26.1%).

Fallon served on the House committees on Human Services and Technology.

Fallon defended his "Merry Christmas" law in an appearance on David Barton's WallBuilders Live radio program, telling co-host Rick Green, a former member of the Texas House from Hays County in suburban Austin, that those offended by public schools hosting Christmas parties should examine their own hearts to evaluate their attitudes.

Both Fallon and Green said that no citizen has a constitutional right "not to be offended".

Fallon vowed to make T-shirts with a Christmas theme for pupils to wear on the day before the holiday break.