Jonathan Stickland

Jonathan Spence Stickland (born September 4, 1983) is an American politician from Texas. A member of the Republican Party, he was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 92 for four terms, from 2013 to 2021. The district includes a portion of Tarrant County in suburban Fort Worth. He did not seek re-election in 2020.

Early life and education

Online comments, 2001–2008 In 2015, the political newsletter Quorum Report published online posts on a fantasy sports forum made by Stickland in 2001 and 2008 given to them by his Republican primary opponent, Scott Fisher. In a 2008 post, Stickland condoned marital rape (in response to another user's request for advice on sex, Stickland wrote: "Rape is non existent in marriage, take what you want my friend!"); in other posts, Stickland referred to his marijuana use (in 2001, Stickland sought a "smoking buddy"; in 2002 he asked for advice on how to grow marijuana; in 2008, he asked for advice on how to pass an employer's drug test). The comments became an issue during Stickland's 2016 campaign for reelection to the state House. Stickland apologized for his remarks; he said in college "I wasted much of life, said and did things I wish I hadn't" and that "by the Grace of God my past sins are forgiven."

Elections to the state House When the incumbent Republican Representative Todd Smith did not seek reelection in 2012, Stickland defeated Roger Fisher, 6,332 votes (60.2 percent) to 4,190 (39.8 percent) in the Republican primary election held on May 29, 2012. In the general election on November 6, 2012, in conjunction with the U.S. presidential race, Stickland faced no Democratic opponent and defeated the Libertarian Party nominee, Sean D. Fatzinger of Fort Worth, 37,084 votes (80.7 percent) to 8,884 (19.3 percent).

In the Republican primary election held on March 4, 2014, Stickland defeated challenger Andy Cargile, a retired principal and school district trustee, earning 7,612 votes (65 percent) to Cargile's 4,102 votes (35 percent).

In the Republican primary on March 1, 2016, Stickland faced opposition in his bid for a third term from Scott Weston Fisher, the senior pastor since 2000 of the Metroplex Chapel in Euless, Texas. Fisher carried the backing of former Governor Rick Perry, who in 2008 appointed Fisher to the Texas Youth Commission. Stickland defeated Fisher in the primary election with 58% of the vote.

Stickland retained his state House seat in the November 2018 general election, by a narrow margin. With 29,755 votes (49.82 percent), he defeated his Democratic opponent, Steve Riddell, who polled 28,327 votes (47.43 percent); Libertarian Party nominee Eric P. Espinoza, received 1,644 votes (2.75 percent).

Tenure in the state House Committees For all of his four terms in the state House, Stickland was a member of the County Affairs Committee. The Texas Right to Life Committee rated Stickland 78 percent favorable,

Stickland voted against the legislation to establish a taxpayer-funded breakfast program for public schools; the measure passed the House, 73–58. He co-sponsored legislation to provide marshals for school security as a separate law-enforcement entity. He voted for the extension of the franchise tax exemption to certain businesses, which passed the House 117–24. He voted against the adoption of the biennial 2013 state budget. He voted to require testing for narcotics of those individuals receiving unemployment compensation. Stickland voted against a bill relating to unlawful employment practices regarding discrimination in payment of compensation, which nevertheless passed the House, 78–61.

In 2017, Stickland offered an unsuccessful amendment to prohibit state aid to the abatement of feral hogs. In retaliation for Stickland's amendment, his Republican colleague, Drew Springer, Jr., of Muenster, backed by Speaker Joe Straus of San Antonio, obtained passage of another amendment to defund $900,000 from the Texas Department of Transportation earmarked for Stickland's hometown of Bedford.

Stickland was one of the most prominent Republican state House members who designated themselves the "Freedom Caucus" (a right-wing grouping aligned with the Tea Party movement). The group was founded at the beginning of the 2017 session. Stickland resigned from the Freedom Caucus in 2019.

Stickland is one of only twelve House Republicans organized through the House Freedom Caucus, which he claims is the true representative of most conservative Republicans statewide. He has emerged as a critic of Speaker Joe Straus and an ally in the House of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, the presiding officer of the Texas State Senate. In 2017, Patrick and Straus quarreled over the bathroom bill sponsored by State Senator Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham, which would require persons to use the public rest room corresponding with their genitalia at birth. Straus agreed to a more moderate bill because of what he called concerns about economic boycotts of Texas by business and athletic groups who view the bathroom legislation as infringing on the rights of transgender persons. The Patrick-Straus split created an impasse on the legislation as the regular session wound down. Stickland said, "I absolutely think that there is a fight going on for the heart and soul of the Republican Party." This was the first bill introduced by Stickland to become law. at the end of the 2019 legislative session, when Texas Monthly published its perennial Best and Worst Legislators list, it gave Stickland the "first-ever Cockroach Award" for "a lawmaker who accomplishes nothing but always manages to show up in the worst possible way." The reasons given for the newly created award included a "needless" Twitter fight between Stickland and a prominent vaccine researcher, in which Stickland called vaccines "sorcery" before saying he was only objecting to government-mandated vaccines, and Stickland's verbal sparring with other representatives who resurrected Governor Greg Abbott's signature $100 million plan for high school mental health services after Stickland used a procedural maneuver to kill it.

The NRA Political Victory Fund graded Stickland an "A" rating and endorsed him in 2014. In 2017, Texans Uniting for Reform & Freedom scored Stickland 104 percent. In 2017, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility scored him at 100 percent and rated him as one of the top 10 Best Legislators of 2017.

In 2019, civil rights group Equality Texas gave Stickland a zero percent rating. Environmental groups gave Stickland low ratings; the Texas League of Conservation Voters gave Stickland a 14 percent rating in 2015, while Environment Texas gave Stickland a 10 percent rating in 2019. The group spent more than $15 million from 2020 to 2023 to oppose Republican Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan's allies in the 2022 legislative elections and support Don Huffines, who unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Republican Greg Abbott in the primary election for Texas governor. The group was also a major donor to Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton. Almost all of the group's money was donated by Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, both oil billionaires from West Texas. This prompted calls by some Republicans, including Phelan, for Republican politicians in Texas to return donations they had received from the PAC or donate them to charity.

Personal life Stickland and his wife, Krissy, met in church. The couple has two daughters.