Steve Toth

Steven Hixson Toth (born November 29, 1960)^[1] is an American businessman from The Woodlands, Texas, who served one term as a Republican in the Texas House of Representatives from District 15, based entirely in suburban Montgomery County, part of the Houston Metro area in the southeastern portion of the state.^[2]

Background

Toth attended Pittsford Mendon High School in the Pittsford Central School District in suburban Rochester, New York. He also attended the former Rochester Bible College,.^[3]

Toth owns Acclaim Pools and My Pool Xpert in The Woodlands. He is a former pastor at Family Life Ministries of the Fellowship of The Woodlands, a congregation now known as The Woodlands Church.^[4] He was formerly an elder and teacher at another non-denominational congregation, WoodsEdge Community Church also in The Woodlands, Texas.^[1]

Political life

In the 2012 Republican primary for the District 15 House seat, the more conservative Toth unseated the five-term incumbent, Rob Eissler, 9,630 (56.5 percent) to 7,420 (43.5 percent).^[5] In the general election, Toth defeated the Libertarian Party nominee, Sterling Russell 57,520 (86.6 percent) to 8,872 (13.4 percent). No Democrat sought the seat.^[6]

Representative Toth was a member of two House committees: Corrections and Criminal Jurisprudence.^[1]

In February 2013, newly inaugurated Representative Toth was elected by his colleagues to the House Republican Caucus Policy Committee as the East Texas representative on the panel

In his first legislative session in 2013, Toth authored and carried the CSCOPE Transparency Act in the House (SB-1406). The bill brought the CSCOPE (Common Core) curriculum under the purview of the Texas State Board of Education. Toth was a co-sponsor of the measure which drew the most attention of the session, the forbidding of abortion after twenty weeks of gestation; the bill passed the House, 96-49. He voted for companion legislation to increase medical and licensing requirements of abortion providers. Texas Right to Life rated him 112 percent favorable.^[7] Right to Life gave his predecessor Rob Eissler only 56 percent in Eissler's last term in 2011.^[8][9]

Toth co-sponsored legislation to provide marshals for school security. He opposed the bill requiring the immunization of minors without parental consent, a measure which the House nevertheless approved, 71-61. He co-sponsored the law to extend the franchise tax exemption to certain businesses. He co-sponsored the bill to require testing for narcotics of those receiving unemployment compensation. He authored the Firearms Protection Act (HB 1706) restricting federal control and regulations of firearms. He also supported another law allowing college and university officials to carry concealed weapons in the name of campus security. He voted for the redistricting bills for the state House, the Texas Senate, and the United States House of Representatives. He voted against term limits for certain state officials because the legislation exempted both House and Senate Members.^[10]

In 2013, the Eagle Forum, founded by anti-reproductive choice fanatic Phyllis Schlafly and managed in Texas by Cathie Adams, a former state chairman of the Texas Republican Party, rated Toth 95 percent favorable, as did the Young Conservatives of Texas. Eagle Forum gave Eissler a rating of only 36 percent in 2011.^[9] The interest group, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, founded by Michael Quinn Sullivan, rated him 92 percent, compared to 25 percent for Eissler in 2011.^[9] The Texas Association of Business gave him an 80 percent score. He ranked 57 percent from the Texas League of Conservation Voters and 92 percent by the National Rifle Association.^[8]

Election of 2014

Toth did not seek a second term in House District 15 in the Republican primary on March 4, 2014. Instead he ran for the District 4 seat in the Texas Senate, vacated in the fall of 2013 by the resignation of Republican Tommy Williams of The Woodlands, who accepted a position with Texas A&M University in College Station.^[11] Toth faced intraparty opposition for the Senate vacancy from neighboring District 16 Representative Brandon Creighton of Conroe, who left the House after four terms, Richard Finely "Gordy" Bunch (born 1972), a native of San Diego, California, who serves on The Woodlands township council, and Michael Galloway, an oil and gas developer who formerly held the District 4 seat in the 1990s.^[4]

The Republican nominee to replace Representative Toth in District 15 is Mark Keough, who polled 57.4% in the March 4 primary election.^[12] Keough was then unopposed in the November 4, 2014, general election.

In the May 10, 2014, special election Toth came in second place behind the Creighton.^[13] Creighton received 45.2%, Toth 23.7%, Bunch 21.8%, and Galloway 9.3%.^[13] Toth and Creighton then met in a runoff election on August 5, 2014.^[13]

In the special election runoff, Toth was defeated by Creighton 67.37 to 32.6 percent.^[14][15] Rice University political science professor Mark Jones said both Creighton and Toth “are significantly more conservative than Williams.”^[16]

8th District congressional race of 2016

In November 2015, Toth announced his candidacy for Texas's 8th congressional district seat currently held by Kevin Brady.^[17][18][19] In January 2016, Toth received the endorsement of all Tea Party organizations in Montgomery County, Texas.^[20] Professor Jones of Rice University stated: "Toth is certainly a more credible challenger than the typical Republican gadfly who is unknown and unfunded."^[18]

In the March 1, primary, Toth and two fellow challengers held incumbent Brady to 53 percent of the vote.^[21][22] In 2014, Brady had received 68 percent of the vote in the primary.^[21] In 2016, Brady prevailed with 64,745 votes (53.4 percent) to Toth's 45,298 (37.4 percent). Two other candidates held the remaining 9.2 percent of the ballots cast.^[22]

Toth spent $89,325 on the primary.^[23] Brady spent over $1.5 million on the primary.^[24] Toth criticized Brady for compromising too often with U.S. President Barack H. Obama^[23] and was critical for supporting the omnibus federal budget bill and voting to revive the U.S. Export-Import Bank.^[25] Toth had tea party support.^[25]

Personal life

Toth and his wife, Babette Jayne Toth (born 1957), have three children.^[26] They have resided in The Woodlands since 1997.^[4]

Election results

2014 Special Election for State Senate

2016 Republican primary for Texas 8th Congressional district

References