John N Raney

Background

A sixth-generation Texan, Raney was born in Huntsville in Walker County and reared for several years on a farm in Madison County, which had been owned by his family for 125 years. In 1950, he moved back to Huntsville. In 1960, he relocated to Bryan, where he graduated in 1965 from the former Stephen F. Austin High School, renamed and consolidated in 1971 as Bryan High School. In 1969, Raney received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Texas A&M University, with a concentration in marketing. In June 1969, after his graduation from TAMU, Raney launched Aggieland Book Store, a business which he still operates. From 1969 to 1975, he was a first lieutenant in the Texas Army National Guard.

Political life

A lifelong Republican, Raney has been active in the party since the early 1970s, including a stint as Brazos County GOP chairman, at a time when Bryan-College Station was solidly Democratic in political orientation.

Raney has served in the state House since December 23, 2011, having won with 58 percent of the vote in a special runoff election to fill the seat vacated by fellow Republican Fred Brown, whose tenure had extended from 1999 until his resignation in 2011.

Raney won his first full term in the House on November 6, 2012 by a 60%–36% margin of the general election vote over the Democrat Judy Le Unes. The Libertarian candidate, Joshua Baker, received the remaining 4%.

In 2014, he ran against the Democrat Andrew Metscher, a Texas A&M student in economics. He defeated Metscher in the general election 68%–28%.

Raney faced a Republican primary opponent in the 2016 election cycle, Jess Fields, a former College Station City Councilman. Raney defeated Fields 68%-31%.

Policy positions

A member of the House committees on Administration, Appropriations, and Higher Education, Raney supports tuition revenue bonds for public universities, the concealed-carry law in classrooms for the purpose of self-defense from attackers, and the prohibition of abortion after twenty weeks of gestation. Raney authored a bill to allow Texas A&M University to lease and sell land on the main campus in College Station.

Raney backed the approved 2013 Texas state budget and legislation to assist College Station in the establishment of a medical district. He supports legislation to allow Brazos County to earmark specified hotel and motel sales taxes to underwrite part of the costs for renovations to Kyle Field at TAMU. Raney supported legislation to increase funding of highways and transportation, securing the border with Mexico, and more funding for education at the vocational, technical, and higher levels.

Endorsements

In Representative Raney's time in office, he has been endorsed by: Life PAC, Texas Alliance for Life, Texas Retailers Association, Texas Municipal Police Association, Texas Association of Business, Texas Association of Manufacturers, Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, Texas Association of Realtors, National Rifle Association, Texas State Rifle Association, College Station Professional Firefighters Association, Bryan Professional Firefighters Association, National Federation of Business, Conservative Roundtable of Texas, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Department of Public Safety Officers Association, Independent Bankers Association of Texas, A&M PAC, Texas Medical Association, Texas Farm Bureau, Texas Society of Professional Engineers, and others.

Personal life

He met his wife, the former Elizabeth Hodges, at the 1972 Republican State Convention. The couple married in 1974 and have two daughters and sons-in-law, Beth and Grant Hawkins and Laura and Alex Scogin, and seven grandchildren.

Raney is affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, and the Texas Retailers Association. He is active in the First United Methodist Church in Bryan.