Brooks Landgraf

Brooks Frederick Landgraf (born March 15, 1981) is an attorney and rancher in his native Odessa, Texas, who is a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 81, which encompasses Ector, Andrews, Ward and Winkler counties. In January 2015, he succeeded the three-term Republican Tryon D. Lewis, who did not seek re-nomination in the primary election held on March 4, 2014.

Background

Landgraf is descended from a five-generation pioneer ranching family, which still owns and operates a ranch near Marathon in Brewster County in West Texas. On September 28, 2013, he married Shelby Levins, who was then news anchor at KMID, the ABC affiliate in Midland, Texas and is now a news anchor at KOSA, the CBS affiliate in Odessa. Though she has lived all over the world, her father's family is from Andrews, Texas. The two wed in a ceremony held at the family's Brooks Ranch, named for his maternal grandparents, Conoly and Peggy Brooks.

In 1999, Landgraf graduated from Permian High School in Odessa. In 2003, he completed his undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University in College Station, where he was a member of the United States Army Corps of Cadets and the Student Senate, serving as Speaker of the Senate. In 2008, Landgraf earned his Juris Doctor degree from St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, where he was the editor-in-chief of the St. Mary's Law Review.

After earning his law degree, Landgraf worked as an associate attorney at the Shafer, Davis, O'Leary & Stoker law firm in Odessa, where he represented energy producers and small businesspeople. Landgraf later served as the chief legal counsel at Medical Center Health System before returning to private practice in 2015. Landgraf also works in the management of his family's cow-calf operation and mineral interests.

Landgraf serves on the board of directors for: Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance, a non-profit which "promotes transportation infrastructure and economic development in the Permian Basin"; and the Education Foundation, a non-profit with the mission: "to be the catalyst for opportunity through education in ECISD." He is also a member of the advisory council of the John Ben Shepperd Public Leadership Institute, which aims to "provide Texans an education for and about leadership, ethics and public service." An Eagle Scout, he also serves a mentor to young adults through the Odessa Teen Court program, and is a member of the state advisory council of YMCA Texas Youth & Government. Landgraf and his wife attend St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Odessa.

2014 election

Landgraf won the Republican primary in March with 6,141 votes (58.5 percent) to his lone opponent, Austin Robert Keith (born July 21, 1955), the president of Pinkie's, Inc., in Odessa, who received the remaining 4,348 votes (41.5 percent).

No Democrat opposed Landgraf in the November 4 general election, but Landgraf defeated a write-in candidate, Dr. Michael McCulloch, with 98.87 percent of the ballots cast.

Landgraf carried the endorsement of: the Texas Farm Bureau, which represents "Texas food and fiber producers, farmers and ranchers on issues important to rural Texans and agriculture in Texas"; the Texas Hospital Association, which represents hospitals and health systems in Texas; and the Gun Owners of America a Second Amendment rights group. He's also been endorsed by Michael Quinn Sullivan, the conservative political figure who formed Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, an interest group with the stated mission to: "create and sustain a system of strong fiscal stewardship within all levels of Texas government, ensuring the greatest amounts of economic and personal liberty, and promoting public policies that provide individuals with the freedom to use their strengths and talents in pursuit of greater opportunities."

Landgraf and his wife said that they knocked on some two thousand doors in soliciting voter support.

Landgraf handily won his third legislative term in the general election held on November 6, 2018. With 29,018 votes (75 percent), he defeated the Democrat Armando Gamboa, who trailed with 9,670 (25 percent).