Marc Allison Veasey (; born January 3, 1971) is an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives for Texas's 33rd congressional district since 2013. From 2005 to 2013, he was a member of the Texas House of Representatives, where he served as chair pro tempore of the House Democratic Caucus.
On December 8, 2025, Veasey announced that he would not run for re-election and would instead run for Tarrant County judge. He suspended his campaign a week later on December 15.
Early life and education Veasey was born on January 3, 1971, to Connie and Joseph Veasey. With his parents and brother, Ryan, Veasey and his family lived in numerous rental houses in the Stop Six neighborhood of Fort Worth, Texas. When he was ten years old, his parents divorced, and Marc, Ryan and their mother moved in with their maternal grandmother in the Como neighborhood of Fort Worth.
Veasey attended Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth. He graduated from Texas Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communications.
Early career Veasey worked as a substitute teacher and sportswriter, as well as writing scripts for an advertising agency. One summer, he volunteered for U.S. Representative Martin Frost, and was hired as a field representative. Veasey worked for Frost for five years.
Texas House of Representatives Elections As a result of the 2003 Texas redistricting, Frost lost his reelection effort in 2004 to Pete Sessions. In 2004, Veasey challenged Democratic State Representative Glenn Lewis for Texas's 95th House district. He defeated Lewis 54%-46% in the primary and won the general election unopposed. He was reelected in 2006 (91%), 2008 (96%), and 2010 (100%).
Tenure Veasey represented Texas House District 95 from 2005 to 2013. He was the chair pro tempore of the House Democratic Caucus. He sponsored measures to create career and technology training in high schools, and authored HB 62, which honored Tim Cole, a Texas Tech University student wrongly convicted of raping a fellow student in 1985. Veasey also authored a bill requiring a study to lead to greater enforcement of the James Byrd Jr. hate crime bill.
Committee assignments Elections Committee Environmental Regulation Committee Pensions, Investments, and Financial Services Committee Redistricting Committee Voter Identification & Voter Fraud Select Committee (Vice Chair)
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2012 Veasey declared his candidacy for Texas's 33rd congressional district, a new congressional district for the United States House of Representatives that was created by reapportionment following the 2010 United States census. The district is based in Tarrant and Dallas counties. It is heavily Democratic: the Cook Partisan Voting Index (PVI) was D+14. It is also highly diverse: 66% Hispanic and 17% African American.
Eleven candidates filed to run in the Democratic primary. Veasey finished first, with 37% of the vote, less than the 50% needed to win the primary outright. State Representative Domingo García ranked second with 25% of the vote, qualifying for the runoff election. Veasey won Tarrant with 49% of the vote, while Garcia won Dallas with 44% of the vote. In the runoff, Veasey defeated Garcia, 53%-47%. He carried Tarrant with a 68% of the vote, as opposed to Garcia's 70% in Dallas. In the general election, he defeated Republican Chuck Bradley, 73%-26%. He won Tarrant with 78% of the vote and Dallas with 66% of the vote. Veasey is the first African-American U.S. Representative elected from Tarrant County.
2014
Veasey won re-nomination in the March 4 primary, defeating Tom Sanchez, 13,285 votes (73.5%) to 4,797 (26.5%). He faced no Republican opponent in the general election but Jason Reeves qualified for the ballot as a Libertarian.
2016 Veasey won re-nomination in the March 1 primary against activist Carlos Quintanilla with 63% of the vote. He lost Dallas County but won Tarrant County. He defeated Republican M. Mark Mitchell in the general election, 74% to 26%. Veasey spent $1.5 million on his campaign.
2018 Veasey again defeated Quintanilla in the primary, with 70% of the vote. In the general election he defeated Republican Willie Billups and Libertarian Jason Reeves with 76%.
2020 Veasey defeated Sean Segura in the primary, 64% to 36%. He was endorsed by the Dallas Morning News, which claimed Segura "lacks a cohesive knowledge of the district's public policy needs."
In the general election, Veasey beat Republican Fabian Cordova Vasquez and three minor candidates, including Quintanilla, with 67% of the vote, his weakest showing to date, largely due to Quintanilla's independent candidacy.
Political positions Veasey voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis.
On July 19, 2024, Veasey called for Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 United States presidential election.
Civil rights Veasey is a supporter of abortion rights.
Veasey voted for the Violence Against Women Act and was rated the "preferred" candidate in 2020 by Feminist Majority Foundation. He co-sponsored the Student Non-Discrimination Act.
Energy and oil Veasey has agreed with The Heritage Foundation and opposed the Sierra Club regarding offshore oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico.
Veasey defended Texas oil and interests in February 2021 when President Joe Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline and issued a moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters.
Committee assignments Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy Subcommittee on Health Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Caucus memberships
Black Maternal Health Caucus Congressional Black Caucus LGBT Equality Caucus Congressional Arts Caucus Congressional Solar Caucus Blue Collar Caucus Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus U.S.-Japan Caucus New Democrat Coalition Medicare for All Caucus Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans Congressional Taiwan Caucus
Personal life Veasey is married to Tonya Jackson, a former Texas Senate aide. They have a son. Veasey's uncle, Robert James English, was a television reporter and worked for Jim Wright, a former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
Electoral history Election resultsYearOfficeElectionSubjectPartyVotes%OpponentPartyVotes%OpponentPartyVotes%2004State RepresentativePrimaryMarc VeaseyDemocratic4,88054.29%Glenn Lewis (i)Democratic4,10945.71%2004State RepresentativeGeneralMarc VeaseyDemocratic33,769100.00%2006State RepresentativeGeneralMarc Veasey (i)Democratic18,25990.53%John Paul RobinsonLibertarian1,9099.47%2008State RepresentativeGeneralMarc Veasey (i)Democratic39,15095.52%Hy SiegelLibertarian1,8384.48%2010State RepresentativeGeneralMarc Veasey (i)Democratic19,835100.00%2012U.S. RepresentativePrimaryMarc VeaseyDemocratic6,93836.77%Domingo GarciaDemocratic4,71524.99%Kathleen HicksDemocratic2,37212.57%David AlameelDemocratic2,06410.94%Manuel ValdezDemocratic8844.69%Steve SalazarDemocratic4822.56%Chrysta CastanedaDemocratic3952.09%Jason E. RobertsDemocratic3421.81%Carlos QuintanillaDemocratic2861.52%Kyev P. Tatum Sr.Democratic2011.07%J. R. MolinaDemocratic1891.00%2012U.S. RepresentativePrimary RunoffMarc VeaseyDemocratic10,76652.73%Domingo GarciaDemocratic9,65347.27%2012U.S. RepresentativeGeneralMarc VeaseyDemocratic85,11472.51%Chuck BradleyRepublican30,25225.77%Ed LindsayGreen2,0091.71%2014U.S. RepresentativePrimaryMarc Veasey (i)Democratic13,29273.48%Tom SanchezDemocratic4,79826.52%2014U.S. RepresentativeGeneralMarc Veasey (i)Democratic43,76986.51%Jason ReevesLibertarian6,82313.49%2016U.S. RepresentativePrimaryMarc Veasey (i)Democratic20,52663.41%Carlos QuintanillaDemocratic11,84636.59%2016U.S. RepresentativeGeneralMarc Veasey (i)Democratic93,14773.71%M. Mark MitchellRepublican33,22226.29%2018U.S. RepresentativePrimaryMarc Veasey (i)Democratic15,17570.32%Carlos QuintanillaDemocratic6,40529.68%2018U.S. RepresentativeGeneralMarc Veasey (i)Democratic90,80576.16%Willie BillupsRepublican26,12021.91%Jason ReevesLibertarian2,2991.93%2020U.S. RepresentativePrimaryMarc Veasey (i)Democratic23,86963.57%Sean Paul SeguraDemocratic13,67836.43%2020U.S. RepresentativeGeneralMarc Veasey (i)Democratic105,31766.82%Fabian Cordova Vasquez Republican39,63825.15%Carlos Quintanilla Independent8,0715.12%Jason Reeves Libertarian2,5861.64%Rene Wilton Independent1,9941.27%2022U.S. RepresentativePrimaryMarc Veasey (i)Democratic16,80669.51%Carlos QuintanillaDemocratic7,37330.49%2022U.S. RepresentativeGeneralMarc Veasey (i)Democratic82,081 71.98%Patrick David Gillespie Republican29,20325.61%Ken Ashby Libertarian2,746 2.41%2024U.S. RepresentativePrimaryMarc Veasey (i)Democratic15,313 68.32%Carlos QuintanillaDemocratic7,10231.68%2024U.S. RepresentativeGeneralMarc Veasey (i)Democratic114,28968.79%Patrick David Gillespie Republican51,86431.21%
See also List of African-American United States representatives
References
External links
Congressman Marc Veasey official U.S. House website Marc Veasey for Congress campaign website