Ted Poe

Lloyd Theodore Poe (born September 10, 1948) is an American politician who represented Texas's 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2005 to 2019.

Poe was the first Republican to represent the 2nd district.

After serving as a chief Felony prosecutor in Harris County (Houston) for eight years, Poe was appointed a Felony court judge in Harris County in 1981, becoming one of the youngest judges in the state.

In this position, he gained national prominence for his unusual criminal sentences that included ordering thieves to carry signs in front of stores from which they stole.

However, in at least one case, Poe amended the sentence afterwards without notifying the victim's family.

In November 2004, Poe ran for the U.S. House in the 2nd District.

The district had previously been the 9th, represented by four-term Democrat Nick Lampson.

However, as the result of a controversial mid-decade redistricting, the new 2nd was considerably more Republican than the old 9th.

It lost Galveston and the area around the Johnson Space Center, while picking up several heavily Republican areas north of Houston, including Poe's home in Humble.

Poe won 55% of the vote to Lampson's 43%.

While Lampson trounced Poe in Beaumont and Port Arthur, Poe swamped Lampson in the Harris County portion of the district.

Poe made border security a centerpiece of his re-election strategy, calling for "more [National] Guardsmen on the border front".

In November 2006, Poe won a second term with 65.6% of the vote, defeating Democrat Gary Binderim, who took 32.7%.

He voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006 and against the DREAM Act when it was introduced in 2010.

Poe received a 0 rating from the abortion rights group NARAL in 2007 and a rating of 100 from the National Right to Life Committee in 2007–2008.

In November 2008 and 2010, Poe did not face a Democratic challenger in the general election.

In 2008, he defeated Libertarian Craig Wolfe, taking 88.9% of the vote to Wolfe's 11.1%.

In 2008, the National Taxpayers Union, an organization that supports "lower taxes and smaller government", gave Poe the grade B+, and in 2007 received a rating of 90 from the group Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that advocates "taxes [that] are simpler, [and] flatter".

In 2008, Poe voted for the Medicare Bill (HR 6331).

Poe supports healthcare reform that would "Allow insurance to be purchased across state lines, provide for a safety net for catastrophic injury or illness…and allow for a health savings account".

He also voted for the Prohibiting Federal Funding of Abortion Services amendment on November 7, 2009.

Poe voted against the 2009 Economic Stimulus Package (HR 1) and the 2010 Concurrent Budget Resolution (S. Con. Res. 13).

The Club for Growth PAC gave him a power ranking of 85.85%.

Poe favors repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

Poe does not support what he calls "government-run health care".

Poe voted "Nay" on the Health Care and Insurance Law Amendments bill on November 7, 2009.

In 2010, he defeated Libertarian David Smith with 88.6 percent of the vote to Smith's 11.4 percent.

Poe's district was made significantly more compact in the 2010s round of redistricting.

It was cut back to an exclusively Harris County-based district, wheeling from Humble through northern and western Houston to just outside downtown.

This district was slightly less Republican than its predecessor, and Poe was elected three more times from this district with over 60 percent of the vote.

Since 2012, he has been the head of the Congressional Serbian Caucus.

He is also a member of the Republican Study Committee, the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, the Tea Party Caucus, the House Baltic Caucus and the United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus.

Poe is a signer of Americans for Tax Reform's Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

In November 2017, Poe announced that he would retire from Congress, and not seek re-election in 2018.

Poe announced on November 7, 2017, that he would not seek re-election in 2018.

In addition to Poe's committee assignments, he is the founder and co-chair of the Congressional Victim's Rights Caucus.

Poe resigned from the Freedom Caucus in March 2017, after the Caucus's opposition to the American Health Care Act of 2017 contributed to Speaker Ryan's decision to pull the bill.

Poe supported the March 2017 version of the American Health Care Act before its collapse.

On May 4, 2017, he voted to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and pass the American Health Care Act.

Poe is an advocate of stronger action against illegal immigration and increased security on the Mexico–United States border.