Nathan Macias

Nathan G. Macias (born January 22, 1960) is a businessman and public policy analyst from Bulverde, Texas, who is a Republican former member of the Texas House of Representatives. He held the District 73 seat for one term between the tenures of fellow Republicans Carter Casteel and the current representative, Doug Miller, both from New Braunfels. The district now encompasses Comal, Gillespie, and Kendall counties, but prior to 2013, it also included Bandera County.

A native of San Antonio, Macias is of Hispanic descent. In 1982, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University in College Station. He held a scholarship for Reserve Officer Training Corps, was a member of the Ross Volunteers, and thereafter became a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force. He obtained two master's degrees, one in Business Administration from New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and one in Public Administration from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, when he resided in Cary in Wake County. Macias commanded the "Silver Flag", the USAF Civil Engineering Contingency Training Center at Tyndall Air Force Base east of Panama City, Florida. He commanded the 436th Civil Engineer Squadron at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware.

He is the vice president of operations of Boyd/Kleypas & Associates in San Antonio, south of his residence in Bulverde. He and his wife, Susan, whom he married in 1984, have seven children. He has coached youth baseball and track and is certified through the Character Training Institute, a 501(c) organization, non-profit and tax-exempt and based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Macias is active in the Living Water Fellowship Church in Bulverde as a Bible teacher.

Macias ran for the state House in the March 2006 Republican primary. He garnered financial support of the Texas Republican Legislative Campaign Committee, a pac that San Antonio physician and conservative political activist James R. Leininger personally gave over a million dollars. While Leininger intended to avoid attention regarding his role in the campaign, he was only large contributor to the PAC and nearly the sole source of campaign funds to the virtual newcomer Macias. Texas Republican Legislative Campaign Committee was created shortly before the election although it appeared from campaign contracts that the Leininger shell was laying the ground work months earlier. Leininger is also the founder and principal contributor of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. By a margin of only forty-six votes, Macias unseated the two-term incumbent, Carter Casteel, a former Comal County county judge. He polled 10,183 votes (50.1 percent) to her 10,137 ballots (49.9 percent). In the 2008 Republican primary, again where almost sole source came Leininger sources, Macias was defeated for a second term by Doug Miller, a former mayor of New Braunfels. Miller received 14,684 votes (50.02 percent) to Macias' 14,667 (49.97 percent), a margin of 17 votes.

Macias, who was voted by colleagues as "Freshman of the Year" in 2007, was a legislative ally of former Speaker Tom Craddick of Midland. As Macias left the House, the members voted to replace Craddick with the more moderate Representative Joe Straus of San Antonio. Macias issued a statement to constituents opposing the change in Speakers:

As a legislator, Macias was rated 97 percent conservative in 2007 by Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, which is maintained in Texas by Cathie Adams, a former state chairman of the Texas Republican Party. Macias ranked 45 points higher than Carter Casteel's rating for her last term and 26 points higher than his successor Doug Miller in the 2013 session. The Young Conservatives of Texas ranked Macias 92 percent, compared to 53 percent for Casteel and 64 percent for Miller. He was rated 93 percent by Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, compared to 47 percent for Miller. The National Abortion Rights Action League ranked him 0 percent in 2007 but gave Casteel a 27 percent score. The Texas League of Conservation Voters rated him 38 percent.

In the 2007 legislative session, Representative Macias supported enhanced voter identification requirements; the new procedures finally took effect after many legal hurdles with the primary elections on March 4, 2014. He voted for the legislative ban on human papillomavirus vaccines though Governor Rick Perry had advocated compulsory immunizations of sixth-grade girls as a preventative against sexually-transmitted diseases. Macias voted against a pay increase for public school employees, but the measure passed, 90-56. He co-sponsored a bill to permit religious expression in Texas public school but did not vote on final passage, when the measure was approved by the House, 107-28. He voted against allowing casino gambling on Indian reservations; the measure deadlocked 66-66 ikn the House, with 18 members not voting.