Preceded by Marva Beck Education Texas A&M University Name Trent Ashby | Alma mater Texas A&M University Nationality American | |
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Spouse(s) Nicole Marie Cormack "Nickie" Ashby Children Garin AshbyGrant Ashby Residence Lufkin, Angelina CountyTexas | ||
Trent Edward Ashby (born October 9, 1972) is a title insurance executive from Lufkin, Texas, who is a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 57, which encompasses Angelina, Houston, Leon, Madison, San Augustine, and Trinity counties in East Texas.
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First elected in 2012, Ashby won a second two-year term in the general election on November 4, 2014.
Background
Ashby was reared on a diversified livestock and dairy farm in Rusk County. As a youth, he was the state president and vice-president, respectively of 4-H and the Future Farmers of America organizations. In 1996, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics from Texas A&M University in College Station. He was elected by the student body as a yell leader at TAMU, as was an earlier alumnus Governor Rick Perry. Ashby is president of Community Title Company, which maintains offices in Angelina as well as Nacogdoches and Polk counties.
Ashby and his wife, the former Nicole Marie Cormack, known as "Nickie" Ashby (born c. 1973), have two sons, Garin and Grant. The Ashbys attend the Harmony Hill Baptist Church at 2708 S. Chestnut St. in Lufkin and work in various nonprofit organizations in the district, such as the Museum of East Texas, which opened in Lufkin in 1976. He is affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce, United Way of America, and Lions International.
Political life
Ashby is a former president of the nonpartisan Lufkin Independent School District.
In the Republican primary election held on May 29, 2012, Ashby unseated one-term Representative Marva Black Beck (born 1944) of Centerville in Leon County, 11,730 votes (58.1 percent) to 8,454 (41.9 percent), in the reconfigured District 57. Beck was supported by the Tea Party movement. During her brief tenure, the district included Leon, Madison, Falls, part of McLennan, and Robertson counties but not Ashby's home base of Lufkin in Angelina County.
In the general election held on November 2, 2010, Marva Beck defeated seven-term Democrat Jim Dunnam, a lawyer from Moody, Texas, but no Democrat ran in 2012 for the District 57 seat, which includes territory historically friendly to that party.
Ashby serves on the following House committees: Appropriations Subcommittee on Article III (Chair); Natural Resources (Vice Chair); Appropriations; and House Administration.
Legislative positions
Ashby supported in 2013 the ban on abortion after twenty weeks of gestation; the measure passed the House, 96-49. He also co-sponsored companion legislation to increase medical and licensing requirements of abortion providers. These issues brought forth an unsuccessful filibuster in the Texas State Senate by Wendy R. Davis of Fort Worth. The Texas Right to Life Committee rated Ashby 73 percent favorable.
Ashby voted for legislation to establish a taxpayer-funded breakfast program for public schools; the measure passed the House, 73-58. He supported legislation to provide marshals for school security as a separate law-enforcement entity. He voted to extend the franchise tax exemption to certain businesses. He voted for the adoption of the biennial state budget. Ashby voted to prohibit texting while driving, which nevertheless passed the House, 97-45. He voted to require testing for narcotics of those individuals receiving unemployment compensation. He voted against the "equal pay for women" measure, which nevertheless passed the House, 78-61, but was vetoed by Governor Rick Perry.
Ashby backed the measure to forbid the state from engaging in the enforcement of federal regulations of firearms. He voted to allow college and university officials to carry concealed weapons in the name of campus security. He co-sponsored the measure to reduce the time required to obtain a concealed-carry permit. He backed the redistricting bills for the state House and Senate and the United States House of Representatives. Ashby voted for term limits for certain state officials.
Interest group ratings
In 2013, Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, managed in Texas by Cathie Adams, a former state chairman of the Texas Republican Party, rated Ashby 75 percent favorable, compared to Beck's 40 percent in 2011. The Young Conservatives of Texas scored him 59 percent; the organization rated Beck 71 percent in 2011. The Texas League of Conservation Voters rated him 79 percent; a similar group Environment Texas rated him 50 percent. The interest group, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, founded by Michael Quinn Sullivan, rated him 49 percent, but the Texas Association of Business scored him 100 percent. The National Rifle Association, of which he is a member, scored Ashby 92 percent.