Dan Branch

Representative Dan Branch, 46, serves as a member of the Texas House of Representatives. Elected in 2002, Mr. Branch, a Republican, represents downtown, uptown and near east Dallas, as well as the Town of Highland Park and the City of University Park (District 108). He serves on the Appropriations Committee and as Budget and Oversight Chair of the Public Education Committee. He is the only Dallas County member on either committee. In addition, he sits on the House Select Committee on Public School Finance and on the Education Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee. Capitol Inside listed Branch as a 2003 Freshmen Legislator of the Year and as the only first-term member to be recognized among its 2003 Legislators of the Year. In the recently concluded 4th Called Special Session, Capitol Inside recognized Branch as one of six "Impact Players" in the Legislature.

A longtime civic and community leader, Rep. Branch previously served in various government posts as well as several presidential and Texas gubernatorial campaigns, including those of President George W. Bush and former Presidents Reagan and Bush. Along with his Co-Chair, Dan led George W. Bush's 1994 and 1998 gubernatorial campaigns in Dallas County. In 1999, Governor Bush appointed Branch as Chairman of the Texas Public Finance Authority, the state agency that oversees the funding of Texas' long-term capital projects. In 1999 and 2000, Branch was one of the initial Bush Pioneers and directed various national outreach efforts of the Bush presidential campaign, served on the executive committee of Americans for Bush-Cheney and, immediately following election night in 2000, served on the Bush-Cheney Florida Recount legal team in Austin, Palm Beach County and Tallahassee.

In addition to his service in the Texas Legislature, Rep. Branch is a senior member of the law firm of Winstead Sechrest & Minick. In 1999, Branch merged the practice of his previous law firm, Langley & Branch, into Winstead. Prior to establishing Langley & Branch in 1991, he practiced law at Baker Botts and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. He is a former judicial clerk to Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Jack Pope. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City and a former president of The Dallas Assembly. He serves on numerous boards, including the Boards of Directors of SMU's John Tower Center for Political Studies, The Fund for American Studies in Washington, D.C., and the Southwestern Medical Foundation in Dallas. Dan is a graduate of the SMU School of Law, Oklahoma Christian University and the Institute on Comparative Political & Economic Systems at Georgetown University. He and his wife, Stacey, reside in University Park with their five school age children: Daniel, Jr., Spencer, Catherine, Charles and Sarah.