Phil King
King in 2023
Member of the Texas Senate
from the 10th district
Assumed office
January 10, 2023
Preceded byBeverly Powell
Member of the Texas House of Representatives
from the 61st district
In office
January 12, 1999 – January 10, 2023
Preceded byRic Williamson
Succeeded byFrederick Frazier
Personal details
Born
Phillip Stephen King

(1956-02-29) February 29, 1956
NationalityAmerican
Political partyRepublican
SpouseTerry King
Children6
Residence(s)Weatherford, Texas, U.S.
Alma materDallas Baptist University (BA, MBA)
Texas Wesleyan University (JD)
OccupationAttorney

Phillip Stephen King (born February 29, 1956) is an American attorney from Weatherford, Texas, who has been a Republican member of the Texas State Senate since 2023. He previously served in Texas House of Representatives from 1999 to 2023.[1] House District 61 encompasses Parker and Wise counties located west of Fort Worth. In 2022, he was a candidate for the District 10 seat in the Texas Senate, which he won unopposed in the general election, due to the democratic opponent dropping out of the race in April 2022.[2]

Election history

King was nominated without opposition in the 1998 Republican primary when the incumbent, Ric Williamson, did not seek re-election. In the general election, King defeated the Democratic candidate, Brenda Brown Rotramble, 21,200 (65%) to 11,626 (35%). (At the time, the district included a portion of neighboring Cooke County.)[3]

  • 2000 - King ran unopposed.[3]
  • 2002 - King defeated the Democratic candidate Mack Dobbs, 25,525 (69%) to 11,475 (31%).[3]
  • 2004 - King ran unopposed.[3]
  • 2006 - King defeated the Libertarian candidate Richard Forsythe, Jr., 27,470 (80% to 6,696 (20%), in the general election the Democratic Party did not field a candidate.[3]
  • 2008 - King faced two opponents in the general election, Democratic candidate Charles William Randolph and (once again facing) Libertarian candidate Forsythe, defeating them 48,879 (73%) to Randolph's 16,308 (24%) and Forsythe's 2,205 (4%).[3]
  • 2010 - King defeated the Libertarian candidate, Richard Forysthe, Jr. 34,513 (86%) to 5,508 (14%), in the general election.[3]
  • 2012 - King defeated Green Party candidate Matthew Britt, 55,737 (89%) to 6,954 (11%).[4]
  • 2014 - King again defeated candidate Matthew Britt (who ran under the Democratic banner), 36,466 (83%) to 7,451 (17%).[4]
  • 2016 - King was unopposed.[4]
  • 2018 - He again ran unopposed.[5]
  • 2022 - King won the Republican nomination for the District 10 state Senate seat with 75.5 percent of the Republican primary vote.

Legislative history

King has supported legislation that would institute parental notification and parental consent.[6]

In the regular and then the three special legislative sessions of 2003, King authored the congressional redistricting legislation favored by the Republican Party,[7] which won more than 55 percent of the total votes cast in thirty-two separate congressional races in the 2002 midterm elections even though the Republican Party obtained just fifteen of the U.S. House seats.[8] The result gave the Texas delegation to the U.S. House a temporary 21–11 Republican majority.[8] After the 2006 elections, that margin was reduced to 19–13 Republican and after 2008, 20-12 Republican.[9]

In 2005, King was the House sponsor of Senate Bill 5, which deregulated Texas telecommunications laws and banned Texas cities from participating in projects that offer free wi-fi in airports and public spaces.[10][11][6][12]

King was involved in other legislative matters, including the testing of high school athletes for steroid use,[11] and methods for preventing the circumvention of the parental notification law by abortion clinics.[6] In 2011, he sponsored Senate Bill 14 which required proof of U.S. citizenship by voters at the time of registration.[12]

King authored a bill in the Texas House, HB 347 of the 86th Session, to ban the process of forced annexation by cities over suburban and rural areas. The bill will require a Texas city to get the approval of the people and businesses that are affected by the annexation. It passed both chambers of the Texas legislature and was signed by Governor Greg Abbott on May 24, 2019.[13][14]

In 2023, King introduced SB 1515 of the 88th Session of the Texas Senate, which would require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every classroom of every public school in Texas.[15][16] The bill failed to pass.[17][18][19]

Personal life

Prior to his legislative service, King was a captain in the Fort Worth Police Department. He was also an instructor at Dallas Baptist University which is his alma mater, and he served as a justice of the peace in Parker County, Texas. He currently serves as an officer in the Texas State Guard.[1]

King obtained his Bachelor of Arts and M.B.A. degrees (1980 and 1986) from Dallas Baptist University in Dallas.[20] He also attended Texas Wesleyan University where he obtained his Juris Doctor degree.[1] King and his wife, Terry, are active members of Trinity Bible Church in Weatherford. The couple have six children and sixteen grandchildren.[21]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Meet Phil". philking.org. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  2. ↑ Jankowski, Philip (April 6, 2022). "Democratic state Sen. Beverly Powell ends campaign to keep her redrawn North Texas seat". The Dallas Morning News.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Phil King". Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 "Texas House of Representatives District 61". Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Election Returns". Texas Secretary of State. November 6, 2018. Archived from the original on November 10, 2018. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 Joyce, T (September 2010). "Parental Consent for Abortion and the Judicial Bypass Option in Arkansas: Effects and Correlates". Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 42 (3): 168–175. doi:10.1363/4216810. PMC 2951271. PMID 20887286.
  7. ↑ "Cases and Codes". Caselaw.lp.findlaw.com. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  8. 1 2 TRANDAHL, Jeff (May 1, 2003). "Statistics Of The Congressional Election of November 5, 2002". US House of Representatives. Archived from the original on May 1, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Election Statistics, 1920 to Present". History, Art, & Archives. United States House of Representative. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Wireless networks don't click with some: Telecom bill would ban free Internet access like that in model East End program". Houston Chronicle. 2005. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
  11. 1 2 Livingston, Seth (June 8, 2005). "Fight against Steroids Gaining Muscle In High School Athletics". Sports Weekly. USA Today. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  12. 1 2 Malewitz, Jim (June 7, 2017). "Scrap New Texas Voter ID Law, Plaintiffs Tell Federal Judge". The Texas Tribune.
  13. ↑ Owens, Autumn. Bill ending forced annexation becomes law, Weatherford Democrat, June 4, 2019.
  14. ↑ HB 347 86th Session Legislative Session, Texas Legislature Online, May 24, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Public schools would have to display Ten Commandments under bill passed by Texas Senate". Texas Tribune. April 20, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
  16. ↑ SB 1515 88th Session Legislative Session, Texas Legislature Online, April 23, 2023.
  17. ↑
  18. ↑
  19. ↑
  20. ↑ Killingsworth, Blake (April 28, 2014). "Decatur Reunion Honors King, Miller". Dallas Baptist University. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Texas House of Representatives". State of Texas House of Representatives. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
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