Beth Van Duyne

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Beth Van Duyne
Image of Beth Van Duyne
U.S. House Texas District 24
Tenure

2021 - Present

Term ends

2025

Years in position

3

Predecessor
Prior offices
Irving City Council Place 2

Mayor of Irving

Compensation

Base salary

$174,000

Elections and appointments
Last elected

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

Cornell University

Personal
Profession
Consultant
Contact


Beth Van Duyne (Republican Party) is a member of the U.S. House, representing Texas' 24th Congressional District. She assumed office on January 3, 2021. Her current term ends on January 3, 2025.

Van Duyne (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the U.S. House to represent Texas' 24th Congressional District. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Biography

Beth Van Duyne lives in Irving, Texas.[1] Van Duyne earned a B.A. in city/regional planning and government and law from Cornell University. Her career experience includes working as a consultant and as the regional administrator of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Southwest Region.[2][1]

Committee assignments

U.S. House

2023-2024

Van Duyne was assigned to the following committees:[Source]

2021-2022

Van Duyne was assigned to the following committees:[Source]


Key votes

See also: Key votes

Ballotpedia monitors legislation that receives a vote and highlights the ones that we consider to be key to understanding where elected officials stand on the issues. To read more about how we identify key votes, click here.

Key votes: 118th Congress, 2023

The 118th United States Congress began on January 3, 2023, at which point Republicans held the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives (222-212), and Democrats held the majority in the U.S. Senate (51-49). Joe Biden (D) was the president and Kamala Harris (D) was the vice president. We identified the key votes below using Congress' top-viewed bills list and through marquee coverage of certain votes on Ballotpedia.

Key votes: 118th Congress, 2023
Vote Bill and description Status
Yes check.svg Yea Yes check.svg Passed (310-118)
Yes check.svg Yea Yes check.svg Passed (227-201)
Yes check.svg Yea Yes check.svg Passed (217-215)
Yes check.svg Yea Yes check.svg Passed (328-86)
Yes check.svg Yea Yes check.svg Passed (225-204)
Yes check.svg Yea Yes check.svg Passed (219-200)
Yes check.svg Yea Yes check.svg Passed (229-197)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (314-117)
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) (216-212)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (216-210)
Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) (220-209)
Yes check.svg Yea Yes check.svg Passed (221-212)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (311-114)


Key votes: Previous sessions of Congress


Key votes: 117th Congress, 2021-2023

The 117th United States Congress began on January 3, 2021 and ended on January 3, 2023. At the start of the session, Democrats held the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives (222-213), and the U.S. Senate had a 50-50 makeup. Democrats assumed control of the Senate on January 20, 2021, when President Joe Biden (D) and Vice President Kamala Harris (D), who acted as a tie-breaking vote in the chamber, assumed office. We identified the key votes below using Congress' top-viewed bills list and through marquee coverage of certain votes on Ballotpedia.

Key votes: 117th Congress, 2021-2023
Vote Bill and description Status
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (228-206)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (220-210)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (220-207)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (220-204)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (220-210)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (217-213)
Yes check.svg Yea Yes check.svg Passed (363-70)
Yes check.svg Yea Yes check.svg Passed (350-80)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (228-197)
Yes check.svg Yea Yes check.svg Passed (342-88)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (243-187)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (218-211)
Yes check.svg Yea Yes check.svg Passed (321-101)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (260-171)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (224-206)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (258-169)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (230-201)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (217-207)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (227-203)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (220-203)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (234-193)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (232-197)
Red x.svg Nay Yes check.svg Passed (225-201)

Elections

2024

See also: Texas' 24th Congressional District election, 2024

Texas' 24th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Republican primary)

Texas' 24th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Texas District 24

Incumbent Beth Van Duyne defeated Sam Eppler in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 24 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Beth Van Duyne
Beth Van Duyne (R)
 
60.8
 
188,881
Image of Sam Eppler
Sam Eppler (D) Candidate Connection
 
39.2
 
121,683

Total votes: 310,564
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 24

Sam Eppler defeated Francine Ly in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 24 on March 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Sam Eppler
Sam Eppler Candidate Connection
 
58.6
 
17,451
Image of Francine Ly
Francine Ly Candidate Connection
 
41.4
 
12,314

Total votes: 29,765
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 24

Incumbent Beth Van Duyne advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 24 on March 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Beth Van Duyne
Beth Van Duyne
 
100.0
 
75,982

Total votes: 75,982
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Endorsements

Van Duyne received the following endorsements.

2022

See also: Texas' 24th Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Texas District 24

Incumbent Beth Van Duyne defeated Jan McDowell in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 24 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Beth Van Duyne
Beth Van Duyne (R)
 
59.7
 
177,947
Image of Jan McDowell
Jan McDowell (D) Candidate Connection
 
40.3
 
119,878

Total votes: 297,825
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House Texas District 24

Jan McDowell defeated Derrik Gay in the Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House Texas District 24 on May 24, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Jan McDowell
Jan McDowell Candidate Connection
 
51.2
 
7,118
Image of Derrik Gay
Derrik Gay Candidate Connection
 
48.8
 
6,788

Total votes: 13,906
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 24

Jan McDowell and Derrik Gay advanced to a runoff. They defeated Kathy Fragnoli in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 24 on March 1, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Jan McDowell
Jan McDowell Candidate Connection
 
39.3
 
11,467
Image of Derrik Gay
Derrik Gay Candidate Connection
 
32.8
 
9,571
Image of Kathy Fragnoli
Kathy Fragnoli Candidate Connection
 
27.9
 
8,139

Total votes: 29,177
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 24

Incumbent Beth Van Duyne defeated Nate Weymouth in the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 24 on March 1, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Beth Van Duyne
Beth Van Duyne
 
85.0
 
61,768
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Nate Weymouth
 
15.0
 
10,868

Total votes: 72,636
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2020

See also: Texas' 24th Congressional District election, 2020

Texas' 24th Congressional District election, 2020 (March 3 Republican primary)

Texas' 24th Congressional District election, 2020 (March 3 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Texas District 24

Beth Van Duyne defeated Candace Valenzuela, Darren Hamilton, Steve Kuzmich, and Mark Bauer in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 24 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Beth Van Duyne
Beth Van Duyne (R)
 
48.8
 
167,910
Image of Candace Valenzuela
Candace Valenzuela (D)
 
47.5
 
163,326
Image of Darren Hamilton
Darren Hamilton (L) Candidate Connection
 
1.6
 
5,647
Image of Steve Kuzmich
Steve Kuzmich (Independent) Candidate Connection
 
1.2
 
4,229
Image of Mark Bauer
Mark Bauer (Independent) Candidate Connection
 
0.8
 
2,909

Total votes: 344,021
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Watch the Candidate Conversation for this race!

Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House Texas District 24

Candace Valenzuela defeated Kim Olson in the Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House Texas District 24 on July 14, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Candace Valenzuela
Candace Valenzuela
 
60.4
 
20,003
Image of Kim Olson
Kim Olson Candidate Connection
 
39.6
 
13,131

Total votes: 33,134
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 24

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 24 on March 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Kim Olson
Kim Olson Candidate Connection
 
41.0
 
24,442
Image of Candace Valenzuela
Candace Valenzuela
 
30.4
 
18,078
Image of Jan McDowell
Jan McDowell
 
10.0
 
5,965
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Crystal Fletcher (Unofficially withdrew)
 
5.7
 
3,386
Image of Richard Fleming
Richard Fleming
 
5.1
 
3,010
Image of Sam Vega
Sam Vega Candidate Connection
 
4.5
 
2,677
Image of John Biggan
John Biggan Candidate Connection
 
3.4
 
1,996

Total votes: 59,554
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 24

Beth Van Duyne defeated David Fegan, Desi Maes, Sunny Chaparala, and Jeron Liverman in the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 24 on March 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Beth Van Duyne
Beth Van Duyne
 
64.3
 
32,067
Image of David Fegan
David Fegan Candidate Connection
 
20.7
 
10,295
Image of Desi Maes
Desi Maes Candidate Connection
 
5.8
 
2,867
Image of Sunny Chaparala
Sunny Chaparala Candidate Connection
 
5.6
 
2,808
Image of Jeron Liverman
Jeron Liverman Candidate Connection
 
3.6
 
1,809

Total votes: 49,846
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for U.S. House Texas District 24

Darren Hamilton advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. House Texas District 24 on March 21, 2020.

Candidate
Image of Darren Hamilton
Darren Hamilton (L) Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2014

See also: Irving, Texas mayoral election, 2014

Elections for the mayor of Irving, Texas took place on May 10, 2014. Incumbent Beth Van Duyne defeated challenger Herbert A. Gears.[39][40]

Mayor of Irving, 2014
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngBeth Van Duyne Incumbent 69.5% 4,934
Herbert A. Gears 30.5% 2,167
Total Votes 7,101
Source: Dallas County Elections - 2014 Official Election Results

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Beth Van Duyne did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Beth Van Duyne did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Beth Van Duyne did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign website

Van Duyne’s campaign website stated the following:

What is an example of how you led a team or group toward achieving an important goal?
Enacting the first ethics policy for the Irving City Council was quite a task. In order for me to be elected Mayor of Irving, I had to first defeat an incumbent whose campaign was literally being financed with more than a million dollars by just one person – that person also happened to be getting paid tens of millions of dollars by the city while not doing any real work on a project he had been contracted to create. Clearly, these kind of payoffs in campaign contributions to city elected officials needed to end and that is why passing the first ethics policy in city history was a key campaign item of mine.

In order to help educate other city council members and earn their support for the ethics policy, I brought in a team from Irving-based Kimberly Clark who had one of the best business ethics policies.

They were able to explain the importance of the creation of such a policy and how each person needed to be part of the development in order for the policy to be meaningful. Understanding that I had some council members who would be opposed to initiating a new policy, I asked a couple of them to chair the development so they would know their contribution was valued and important.

The result was an ethics policy that, for the first time, established term limits for council and Mayor, and prohibited council members from receiving campaign contributions from individuals or businesses doing work with the City as well as established rules of conduct to ensure the people of Irving could feel more confident about the integrity of our elected officials.

Why are you running for this office?
The people of the 24th District deserve to have a representative who is committed to being a strong voice and fierce advocate for them in Washington. While Congress has been focused on nothing but attacking the President, critical issues for the American people are being ignored: lowering the cost of healthcare, stopping the drug cartels and human traffickers from exploiting loopholes on our southern border, passing a much-needed infrastructure bill, and empowering more growth for our hard-working families. We need a U.S. Representative who is focused on delivering solutions and putting progress for the American people ahead of political theater and more Washington nonsense.

Why should voters choose you over your opponent?
I’m honored to have earned the early support of thousands of grassroots voters, numerous elected officials, and job creators throughout the District. This has been possible because folks know my record of being a tireless public servant who has always focused on reforms that empower growth, opportunity, and people over government. When I served as the Mayor of Irving, we were one of the fastest growing cities in the United States for job creation, one of the safest cities for our families and businesses, and we got rid of the corruption and back room deals that were so embarrassing for our city.

People are sick and tired of Congress playing political games and just focusing on attacking each other. Many folks I have been speaking with are deeply troubled by the rise of Socialism we are seeing in America. I promise to be a voice in Congress that is always focused on getting things done to help us grow and create more opportunities for our families future generations.

What political leader do you most admire and why?
Since there was no “alive or dead” qualification on this question, I will say Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln faced the most existential threat to our then, still young nation and guided our country through devastating circumstances in order to preserve the union, end the practice of slavery, and set America on a course that would have us emerge as a true super power.

The House voted along party lines to impeach President Donald Trump formally accusing him of abusing his office in a scheme to coerce Ukraine to tarnish a political rival then stonewalling Congress by withholding documents. What’s your position on the impeachment?
By voting to impeach President Trump, Democrat leadership of the House of Representatives completely caved to the extremists in their party, who have openly stated they were looking to impeach President Trump from the day he was elected. Despite the near universal cry from House Democrats that the President posed an immediate threat to the United States, Nancy Pelosi has refused to send the articles over to the U.S. Senate thereby exposing another sad example of what a farce and fraud this entire process has been. It is time for Congress to start working on the issues the American people actually care about: lowering the cost of healthcare, stopping the drug cartels and human traffickers from harming more of our citizens, passing an infrastructure bill, and expanding growth so our hard-working families have more job opportunities and higher wages.

A U.S. appeals court recently ruled the “individual mandate” of the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, but said other aspects of the law require further review. What changes, if any, would you make to this law?
The “Affordable Care Act,” more commonly known as Obamacare, was enacted based on lies, kept afloat through misappropriation of funds, and has done profound damage to the healthcare of Americans. We need to get rid of the regulations that are strangling doctor/patient relationships. Regulations are also preventing lower cost health care options with more comprehensive coverage from being offered to the American people. It is well passed time Congress allowed for Associated Health Care plans where individuals and small businesses can band together in order to have the same purchasing power as corporations and labor unions to select plans that best fit their individual needs.

Additionally, we need to expand the use of health savings accounts, allow people to purchase insurance across state lines, and make healthcare plans portable so they follow the individual. The American people deserve more options, more freedom, and more choice in how they use their precious dollars to pay for their healthcare needs.

What specific criminal justice reforms would you champion?
President Trump is to be applauded for passing the First Step Act which has freed thousands of people from harsh federal sentences. It was also gratifying to see this important legislation passed on a broad, bi-partisan basis.

The need for criminal justice reform that I am hearing about as I talk with voters, especially in Dallas County, is how District Attorneys and prosecutors are systemically pleading down cases or refusing to prosecute cases because they simply do not want to put criminals in jail. By not prosecuting crimes of a violent nature or crimes against others, criminals are released back into our neighborhoods where they commit further crimes because the deterrent has been removed.

We especially need the prosecution of violent crimes in order for those convictions to be registered with the National Instant Criminal Background Check system (NICS) and thereby prevent violent offenders from being able to lawfully purchase firearms

Do you support President Trump’s imposition of tariffs on consumer goods American companies buy from China? If you disagree with these or other tariffs what will you do if elected to address it?
Yes.

What measures, if any, should Congress take to fix asylum laws?
For years, drug cartels and human traffickers have taken advantage of asylum loopholes in order to push masses of illegal immigrants to our Southern Border. These murderous criminal operations market travel to the US and prepare people from El Salvador, Honduras, and other countries with what to say in order to exploit the asylum loopholes.

Along the way, children are kidnapped, girls are sold into sex trafficking, and people are held hostage so the cartels can demand even more payments from the families. This year alone, hundreds of children were identified as being “recycled” as child slaves in order to help adults, to whom they had no familial relation, cross our border because they were a “family unit”. Rather than allow this utterly destructive criminal operation to continue, we should amend asylum laws to state that people seeking asylum must do so from the nearest safe country from where they are leaving.

The “Remain in Mexico” policy is already helping to stop the surges of illegal immigrants claiming asylum and crossing our borders. Additional adjustments are necessary to prevent the cartels from taking further advantage of people and our own broken system.

How should the next Congress address illegal immigration? Please be specific about the millions of people in this country illegally.
It is critical for the next Congress to take border control seriously and deal with the escalating damage drug cartels and human traffickers are causing in communities and to our families. We must stop these murderous organizations from pushing their poison on our children, enslaving countless numbers of young girls, and committing horrifying acts of violence on our sovereign soil. In addition to closing asylum loopholes the cartels exploit, we need to build walls where the border patrol says they are necessary in order to gain operational control and hire more border agents to not only deal with surges of illegal immigrants pushed by the cartels but also to interdict the drug trafficking. In order to secure the interior of the United States, we need to step up relationships with ICE and local law enforcement so more criminal aliens are being targeted, apprehended, and deported.

For those in our country who are not committing crimes or have been in the US since they were children, we should create a pathway to legal status (not citizenship) that would require them to pass a criminal background check and remain crime free, pay fines for breaking our immigration laws, and learn English. Those who honorably serve in our military could be allowed a path to citizenship provided they meet a certain number of years of service and are discharged with a clean service record.

Congress writes the budget for the United States. What is one area that Congress should invest much more heavily in, and why? What should we be spending much less on?
As Mayor of Irving, we passed a balanced budget every year and maintained a AAA bond rating, while maintaining city services and paying our public safety officials. We had to prioritize projects and control debt we took on to make sure we had the funds necessary to service the debt. This is the kind of mindset and experience I would take to Congress.

At a time of record tax receipts and a growing economy, Congress must show broad restraint on federal spending in order to bring down the federal deficit and eventually reduce debt. Additionally, we need to continue to reduce federal regulations which only serve to increase the size of government and make the cost of doing business higher.

What action, if any, should Congress take in response to mass killings involving firearms?
Everyone I have ever spoken with about gun-related crimes and especially events with mass casualties are horrified by those events, disgusted with the evil nature of the people who committed those crimes, and desirous of solutions to stop more violence from occurring. Our goal should be to decrease the number of murders committed by firearms by concentrating on criminals who commit those crimes rather than law-abiding citizens. We need more people like Jack Wilson (the hero who put an immediate end to the White Settlement Church shooting) who are trained, armed, and ready to act to protect our neighbors, families, and children.

There is no real secret to preventing more gun crimes: violent criminals need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law to put them in jail and prevent them from making a legal purchase; DAs need to get serious about putting violent offenders away; and all convictions of violent offense must be submitted to the NICS database to ensure these offenders cannot purchase firearms in the future.

Additionally, cities, counties, and states may need to fund additional officers to patrol high crime areas to stop the majority of killings in the United States. I would also support new measures that require felony and violent offenses by minors (aged 15-17) to be reported to NICS so those individuals would not be able to legally buy a firearm in the future.

The facts are: violent crime overall is down, the vast majority of gun crimes are committed in a very few counties in the United States, and within those counties gun crimes are more prevalent in certain areas. It is no coincidence that Governor Abbott recently ordered a surge of DPS officers into certain areas of Dallas County and the Mayor of Dallas has created his first task force to deal with gun violence predominating in specific areas.

What is the greatest threat to American security, and how should America respond? What specifically should Congress do to help?
There are two major threats to the United States. Number one is falling behind in advanced technology – whether that is weapons systems, artificial intelligence, Cyber warfare, or in new tactics to wage an asynchronous war against the United States. As such, the greatest threat to the US is posed by China who has expanded their Navy, illegally claimed more territory and jurisdiction over international waters, and continues to openly oppose freedom of speech, free and fair elections, all while operating slave labor camps where people routinely die from exposure.

Congress needs to ensure we are properly funded and focused on emerging technological advances, how those can be weaponized, how we can defend against them and not allow our nation to fall into a technology gap that has us losing a war because we have no concept of how it is being waged and how to counter what an adversary may be doing. For this generation, a technological arms race is occurring right now and our nation needs to be at the leading edge of this race.

The second greatest threat to American security comes from the drug cartels who control routes into the United States, have significant relationships with street gangs, are poisoning a generation of Americans, and damaging untold numbers of lives through human slavery and sex trafficking. We must treat the cartels like foreign terrorist operations and bring far more resources to bear on stopping them.

The House recently passed legislation to restore protections of the Voting Rights Act that were undone when the Supreme Court struck down federal oversight of elections in states with a history of discrimination against minority communities. Do you support this measure? Why or why not?
Since my first election to the Irving city council where I defeated an entrenched and well-funded incumbent, I have always encouraged every citizen to register to vote and exercise that right – their vote is their voice and that vote is a sacred right. I would not be in favor of any House bill that puts the Department of Justice and the bureaucracy of the federal government in charge of Texas elections. The election results of 2018 should be a very clear indicator that there is no systemic or intended voter suppression occurring in our state.

What is your view on the science of man-made climate change? What solutions, if any, do you support to address climate change?
The fact that our climate is changing is undeniable. Indeed it has been changing since the end of the last Ice Age and on a warming trend since the end of the little ice age hundreds of years ago. As a person who believes in conservation and as a former Mayor who had a principal responsibility to ensure the people of Irving had a reliable and sustainable supply of water, I want our country to continue making advances in technology that reduce emissions, have a smaller footprint for energy generation, and contribute to cleaner air, water, and soil.

Given the remarkable transformation in technology, especially here in Texas, that has allowed our country to become nearly energy independent and driven the development of more clean burning natural gas power plants, we are enjoying a period where emissions are reducing and air is cleaner. Certainly, we can do more by supporting the further development of more sources of baseload power. I am particularly interested in next generation nuclear reactors that are smaller, safer, can be sited virtually anywhere and create much less waste. They are emission free and provide the kind of reliable baseload power that wind and solar simply cannot do.

Continuing to move our nation toward strong, reliable energy production that produces less emissions would also help show countries like China and India that there are better ways forward for energy development than more coal plants.

What should be done to address the hundreds of thousands of students in deep student loan debt? Should the responsibility of offering federal student loans be removed from the U.S. Department of Education?

As one of many who paid their way through college with loans and part time jobs, I know how difficult it can be and the stress it can cause. I also know how much I valued it, having paid for it. Ten years after graduating magna cum laude from Cornell University, I was finally able to pay off the last of my student loans. I am incredibly sympathetic to today’s students and what they are facing to pay off the loans they have incurred.

The good news is, we are in one of the best job markets in a very long time for new graduates from high school or college. Which means those with a college degree, especially ones where the degree fits a high demand, will be able to earn higher salaries than students who are unfortunate enough to graduate during a recession or a stagnant growth period. Congress should look to leverage the tight labor market by making changes to tax law that would create Education 401K accounts and encourage employers to use those and match contributions from employees with the purpose of more quickly paying down student debt. Ideally, a tight labor market would then create competition among employers to offer the best Education 401K matching program so they could draw new graduates to their company.

While I am not a fan of the student loan guarantees from the federal government, at present they are necessary for us to continue developing and helping deserving students have access to higher education. However, I would like to see public universities, especially those with large endowments (the UT System has an endowment nearly $31 Billion), start programs where they are investing in their own students and serving as the primary lenders. This will ensure the University has “skin in the game” to not only help the student graduate but also be educated in a degree that will help the student financially.

Finally, at the high school level, we need to be encouraging classes in financial literacy so students make better financial choices. [41]

—Beth Van Duyne’s campaign website (2020)[42]


2014

Van Duyne's campaign website highlighted the following issues:

Stopping Increased Taxes and Spending

Since being elected Mayor, we have stopped the property tax rate increases.

  • Former Mayor Herb Gears increased property taxes on Irving citizens by 7% in order to pay for the vast increases in spending he promoted.

Over the past three years, we no longer spend more than our City receives from the hard work of our citizens. Instead of having budget shortfalls, we are now realizing budget surpluses which will hopefully allow us to make tax cuts or adjustments to lower the burden on Irving property owners.

  • Under Mayor Gears, spending was out-of-control, our debt rose to record levels, and credit rating agencies were lowering Irving's status because of the poor fiscal management.

Promoting Legitimate Economic Development
Good economic development starts with sound planning and succeeds because of competent management. In the last three years, Irving has attracted forty-three new corporate relocations that are helping to drive new construction and expand our tax base from $16.5 billion in 2011 to over $18 billion in 2013. This is the kind of growth and investment that creates real opportunities for Irving.

I am committed to help further economic growth by attracting more corporate relocations coupled with responsible development of Heritage Crossing in South Irving, the Diamond Interchange in Central Irving, and The Urban Center in North Irving. These combined projects are expected to help accelerate further mixed use development, single family home construction, and vibrant urban areas which attract younger residents. All of which is important to help attract new businesses, more long-term residents, and afford Irving citizens more opportunities to live, work, and play in a safe and welcoming environment.

The Wrong Kind of 'Economic Development'
During the years of Herb Gears, Irving taxpayers saw tens of millions of their hard-earned dollars wasted on fraudulent projects which never even broke ground: the Irving Entertainment Center and the McDougal Development were the worst examples of this vast waste.

As investigations by reporter Brett Shipp of Channel 8 later showed (http://www.wfaa.com/news/investigates/irving-108312179.html), instead of going to construction costs our tax dollars were being spent on exorbitant salaries for 'consultants', luxury hotels, expensive restaurants, first-class plane tickets, and even limousine drivers.

That lavish spending then flowed back to Herb Gears: It is no wonder that after showering these 'consultants' with tens of millions of Irving tax dollars, that they would then turn around and make enormous donations to Gears' re-election campaign – all told, over $1,000,000 was shoveled to Herb Gears to try and keep him in office so the gravy-train would not end.

Government Transparency
Citizens have the right to know how and why decisions are made, who are the interested and benefitting parties, how much of their tax dollars are being spent and on what information decisions are based. It is YOUR money, after all. This is a fact I not forgotten during my time as Mayor and six-year tenure on city council.

Under the previous Mayor, televised access to Citizen's Forum portion of City Council meetings was shut down. Backroom deals and a serious lack of transparency existed. This is one of the main reasons citizens of Irving chose to elect me in 2011.

Since my election, we have turned the cameras back on so Irving citizens can view, and judge for themselves, the actions of the city council. We have also moved the Citizen's Forum/public input section of our council meetings to the beginning of our meetings instead of at the end where they were previously relegated. Additionally, we have held regularly scheduled town hall meetings to directly answer questions and ensure we are being held accountable.[41]

—Beth Van Duyne's campaign website, (2014)[43]

Campaign finance summary


Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.


Beth Van Duyne campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024* U.S. House Texas District 24Won general$2,943,708 $2,109,541
2022U.S. House Texas District 24Won general$3,782,404 $2,751,028
2020U.S. House Texas District 24Won general$3,430,323 $3,361,913
Grand total$10,156,436 $8,222,483
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

Notable endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

This section displays endorsements this individual made in elections within Ballotpedia's coverage scope.

Notable candidate endorsements by Beth Van Duyne
EndorseeElectionStageOutcome
Donald Trump  source  (Conservative Party, R) President of the United States (2024) PrimaryWon General

Noteworthy events

Electoral vote certification on January 6-7, 2021

See also: Counting of electoral votes (January 6-7, 2021)

Congress convened a joint session on January 6-7, 2021, to count electoral votes by state and confirm the results of the 2020 presidential election. Van Duyne voted against certifying the electoral votes from Pennsylvania. The House rejected the objection by a vote of 138-282.

See also


External links

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Representative Beth Van Duyne, "About," accessed April 21, 2021
  2. City of Irving, "Mayor Beth Van Duyne," accessed May 9, 2017
  3. Congress.gov, "H.R.2670 - National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024," accessed February 23, 2024
  4. Congress.gov, "H.R.185 - To terminate the requirement imposed by the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for proof of COVID-19 vaccination for foreign travelers, and for other purposes." accessed February 23, 2024
  5. Congress.gov, "H.R.2811 - Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023," accessed February 23, 2024
  6. Congress.gov, "H.Con.Res.9 - Denouncing the horrors of socialism." accessed February 23, 2024
  7. Congress.gov, "H.R.1 - Lower Energy Costs Act," accessed February 23, 2024
  8. Congress.gov, "H.J.Res.30 - Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Labor relating to 'Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights'." accessed February 23, 2024
  9. Congress.gov, "H.J.Res.7 - Relating to a national emergency declared by the President on March 13, 2020." accessed February 23, 2024
  10. Congress.gov, "H.R.3746 - Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023," accessed February 23, 2024
  11. Congress.gov, "Roll Call 20," accessed February 23, 2024
  12. Congress.gov, "H.Res.757 - Declaring the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives to be vacant.," accessed February 23, 2024
  13. Congress.gov, "Roll Call 527," accessed February 23, 2024
  14. Congress.gov, "H.Res.757 - Declaring the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives to be vacant." accessed February 23, 2024
  15. Congress.gov, "H.Res.878 - Providing for the expulsion of Representative George Santos from the United States House of Representatives." accessed February 23, 2024
  16. Congress.gov, "H.R.3684 - Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act," accessed April 15, 2022
  17. Congress.gov, "H.R.1319 - American Rescue Plan Act of 2021," accessed April 15, 2022
  18. Congress.gov, "H.R.5376 - Inflation Reduction Act of 2022," accessed January 20, 2023
  19. Congress.gov, "H.R.3617 - Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act," accessed January 20, 2023
  20. Congress.gov, "H.R.1 - For the People Act of 2021," accessed April 15, 2022
  21. Congress.gov, "H.R.1808 - Assault Weapons Ban of 2022," accessed January 20, 2023
  22. Congress.gov, "S.1605 - National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022," accessed April 15, 2022
  23. Congress.gov, "H.R.7776 - James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023," accessed January 20, 2023
  24. Congress.gov, "H.R.6 - American Dream and Promise Act of 2021," accessed April 15, 2022
  25. Congress.gov, "S.3373 - Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022," accessed January 20, 2023
  26. Congress.gov, "H.R.4346 - Chips and Science Act," accessed January 20, 2023
  27. Congress.gov, "H.R.3755 - Women's Health Protection Act of 2021," accessed April 15, 2022
  28. Congress.gov, "H.R.1996 - SAFE Banking Act of 2021," accessed April 15, 2022
  29. Congress.gov, "H.R.2471 - Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022," accessed January 20, 2023
  30. Congress.gov, "H.R.5 - Equality Act," accessed April 15, 2022
  31. Congress.gov, "H.R.8404 - Respect for Marriage Act," accessed January 20, 2023
  32. Congress.gov, "H.R.6833 - Continuing Appropriations and Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023," accessed January 20, 2023
  33. Congress.gov, "H.R.7688 - Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act," accessed January 20, 2023
  34. Congress.gov, "H.R.8 - Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021," accessed January 20, 2023
  35. Congress.gov, "H.R.5746 - Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act," accessed January 20, 2023
  36. Congress.gov, "S.2938 - Bipartisan Safer Communities Act," accessed January 20, 2023
  37. Congress.gov, "H.Res.24 - Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.," accessed April 15, 2022
  38. Congress.gov, "H.R.2617 - Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023," accessed January 20, 2023
  39. Dallas News, "Irving votes: Gears out, Van Duyne in, Cannaday out in an upset," May 10, 2014
  40. City of Irving, "Official candidate list," accessed May 8, 2014
  41. 41.0 41.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  42. Beth Van Duyne’s campaign website, “Beth VanDuyne 2020 – DMN Primary Questionnaire – 1-10-20,” accessed October 1, 2020
  43. Beth for Irving, "Issues," accessed May 9, 2017

Political offices
Preceded by
Kenny Marchant (R)
U.S. House Texas District 24
2021-Present
Succeeded by
-
Preceded by
-
Mayor of Irving
2011-2017
Succeeded by
-
Preceded by
-
Irving City Council Place 2
2004-2010
Succeeded by
-


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