Kent Hance
Encyclopedia
Kent "The Hancellor" Ronald Hance (born November 14, 1942, in Dimmitt, Texas
) is a lobbyist and lawyer
who was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives
from West Texas, having served from 1979 to 1985. After his congressional service, he switched to the Republican Party.
Hance was chosen to succeed David Smith as the chancellor of the Texas Tech University System
in Lubbock. He is taking a leave of absence from his Austin
law firm Hance, Scarborough, Wright, Ginsberg and Brusilow but will continue to sit on profit and nonprofit boards and commissions while at the helm of Texas Tech. He assumed his duties on December 1, 2006. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
quoted Texas Tech board chairman Rick Francis:
degree from Texas Tech
in 1965 where he was also a member of Delta Tau Delta
. He later attended the University of Texas School of Law
. After law school, he was admitted to the Texas bar and in 1968 became a practicing attorney in Lubbock. During this period, he was also a law professor at Texas Tech from 1968 until 1973.
In 1972, Hance ran for the Texas Senate
and defeated incumbent H.J. "Doc" Blanchard in the 1972 primary. His campaign at the beginning seemed doomed to failure, but Hance quickly made connection with voters in the sprawling West Texas district.
He served in the House from 1973 to 1979, when he ran successfully as a Democrat for the Lubbock-based 19th Congressional District. The seat, which was based in Lubbock had been held for a generation by popular Democrat George H. Mahon
, long-time chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Hance's opponent in the general election
was a young Republican businessman from Midland
named George W. Bush
(the 19th included most of the Permian Basin at the time). Bush won the Republican nomination in a hard-fought but low-turnout runoff primary against the 1976 party nominee, Jim Reese, former mayor of Odessa
in Ector County.
The 19th had long been one of the more conservative areas of Texas (it hasn't supported a Democrat for president since 1964). Although the 19th had begun voting in landslides for Republicans at the national level, conservative Democrats continued to represent much of the region at the state level until 1994. Hance claimed Bush was "not a real Texan" because of his privileged upbringing and Yale
education. Hance won by seven points - the only time that the future 43rd President of the United States
was ever defeated in an election.
Hance was reelected two times. His voting record was very conservative even by Texas Democratic standards; he compiled a lifetime rating of 72 from the American Conservative Union
. He did not run for a fourth term in 1984, opting instead to seek the Democratic nomination for the Senate
seat being vacated by the retiring John Tower
. Hance announced within hours of Tower's withdrawal that he would run for the Senate. He was very narrowly defeated—by only 273 votes—by State Senator Lloyd Doggett
of Austin, who was later a long-term Democratic congressman. Hance had received a great deal of support from conservative Republicans who crossed party lines to vote for him in the race, since Hance had run on a conservative platform. Geography also played a role in Hance's loss to Doggett; no one from west of San Antonio has ever represented Texas in the Senate. Hance was succeeded in the U.S. House by a young Republican, Larry Combest
, a former aide to Tower.
nomination. Instead, the Republicans called former Governor Bill Clements
out of retirement for the right to challenge Democratic Governor Mark White
. In 1988, Hance was a Texas delegate to his first ever Republican National Convention
, which met in New Orleans.
In 1987, Clements appointed his former intraparty rival Hance to a vacancy on the Texas Railroad Commission. The next year Hance was elected as a Republican to the commission on the coattails of presidential nominee George H.W. Bush, father of the young man Hance had defeated for Congress ten years earlier. He left the Railroad Commission in 1990, once again to seek the GOP nomination for governor but was heavily defeated in the primary by another West Texan, controversial Midland businessman Clayton Williams
. In the primary against Williams, Hance finished second but with only 15 percent of the ballots.
In 2004, against the wishes of Governor Rick Perry
, Hance assisted Texas Supreme Court Justice Steven Wayne Smith
in the latter's unsuccessful bid for renomination in the Republican primary.
Dimmitt, Texas
Dimmitt is a city in Castro County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,375 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Castro County. It is located on the old Ozark Trail, a road system from St. Louis, Missouri, to El Paso, Texas...
) is a lobbyist and lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
who was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from West Texas, having served from 1979 to 1985. After his congressional service, he switched to the Republican Party.
Hance was chosen to succeed David Smith as the chancellor of the Texas Tech University System
Texas Tech University System
The Texas Tech University System consists of three universities, Texas Tech University, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, and Angelo State University. Texas Tech University and Texas Tech University HSC together operate thirteen campuses, eleven of which are located in Texas. The...
in Lubbock. He is taking a leave of absence from his Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
law firm Hance, Scarborough, Wright, Ginsberg and Brusilow but will continue to sit on profit and nonprofit boards and commissions while at the helm of Texas Tech. He assumed his duties on December 1, 2006. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal is a newspaper based in Lubbock, Texas, U.S. It is owned by the Morris Communications Company.-History:The Lubbock Avalanche was founded in 1900 by John James Dillard and Thad Tubbs. According to Dillard, the name "Avalanche" was chosen due to his desire that the...
quoted Texas Tech board chairman Rick Francis:
- The regents believed Hance could further the goals that we had for our chancellor, in terms of energizing our alumni, and those legislators in both Austin and Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and provide the vision that we need for the future.
Early years and election to Congress
Hance obtained his Bachelor of Business AdministrationBachelor of Business Administration
The Bachelor of Business Administration is a bachelor's degree in Commerce and business administration. In most universities, the degree is conferred upon a student after four years of full-time study in one or more areas of business concentrations; see below...
degree from Texas Tech
Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...
in 1965 where he was also a member of Delta Tau Delta
Delta Tau Delta
Delta Tau Delta is a U.S.-based international secret letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded in 1858 at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, . It currently has around 125 student chapters nationwide, as well as more than 25 regional alumni groups. Its national community service...
. He later attended the University of Texas School of Law
University of Texas School of Law
The University of Texas School of Law, also known as UT Law, is an ABA-certified American law school located on the University of Texas at Austin campus. The law school has been in operation since the founding of the University in 1883. It was one of only two schools at the University when it was...
. After law school, he was admitted to the Texas bar and in 1968 became a practicing attorney in Lubbock. During this period, he was also a law professor at Texas Tech from 1968 until 1973.
In 1972, Hance ran for the Texas Senate
Texas Senate
The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing 31 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 672,000 per constituency. There are no term limits, and each term is four years long. The Senate meets at the...
and defeated incumbent H.J. "Doc" Blanchard in the 1972 primary. His campaign at the beginning seemed doomed to failure, but Hance quickly made connection with voters in the sprawling West Texas district.
He served in the House from 1973 to 1979, when he ran successfully as a Democrat for the Lubbock-based 19th Congressional District. The seat, which was based in Lubbock had been held for a generation by popular Democrat George H. Mahon
George H. Mahon
George Herman Mahon was a Texas politician who served twenty-two consecutive terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives from the Lubbock-based 19th congressional district....
, long-time chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Hance's opponent in the general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
was a young Republican businessman from Midland
Midland, Texas
Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Texas, United States, on the Southern Plains of the state's western area. A small portion of the city extends into Martin County. As of 2010, the population of Midland was 111,147. It is the principal city of the Midland, Texas...
named George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
(the 19th included most of the Permian Basin at the time). Bush won the Republican nomination in a hard-fought but low-turnout runoff primary against the 1976 party nominee, Jim Reese, former mayor of Odessa
Odessa, Texas
Odessa is a city in and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, United States. It is located primarily in Ector County, although a small portion of the city extends into Midland County. Odessa's population was 99,940 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Odessa, Texas Metropolitan...
in Ector County.
The 19th had long been one of the more conservative areas of Texas (it hasn't supported a Democrat for president since 1964). Although the 19th had begun voting in landslides for Republicans at the national level, conservative Democrats continued to represent much of the region at the state level until 1994. Hance claimed Bush was "not a real Texan" because of his privileged upbringing and Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
education. Hance won by seven points - the only time that the future 43rd President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
was ever defeated in an election.
Hance was reelected two times. His voting record was very conservative even by Texas Democratic standards; he compiled a lifetime rating of 72 from the American Conservative Union
American Conservative Union
The American Conservative Union is an American political organization advocating conservative policies, and is the oldest such conservative lobbying organization in the country.-Organization:...
. He did not run for a fourth term in 1984, opting instead to seek the Democratic nomination for the Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
seat being vacated by the retiring John Tower
John Tower
John Goodwin Tower was the first Republican United States senator from Texas since Reconstruction. He served from 1961 until his retirement in January 1985, after which time he was the chairman of the Reagan-appointed Tower Commission that investigated the Iran-Contra Affair. He was George H. W...
. Hance announced within hours of Tower's withdrawal that he would run for the Senate. He was very narrowly defeated—by only 273 votes—by State Senator Lloyd Doggett
Lloyd Doggett
Lloyd Alton Doggett II is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2005. He previously represented from 1995 to 2005. He is a member of the Democratic Party...
of Austin, who was later a long-term Democratic congressman. Hance had received a great deal of support from conservative Republicans who crossed party lines to vote for him in the race, since Hance had run on a conservative platform. Geography also played a role in Hance's loss to Doggett; no one from west of San Antonio has ever represented Texas in the Senate. Hance was succeeded in the U.S. House by a young Republican, Larry Combest
Larry Combest
Larry Ed Combest is a retired Texas Republican U.S. politician who was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 to 2003.-Early life:...
, a former aide to Tower.
Hance switches parties
Hance switched parties from Democratic to Republican in 1985. In 1986, he unsuccessfully sought the Republican gubernatorialGovernor of Texas
The governor of Texas is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas Legislature, and to convene the legislature...
nomination. Instead, the Republicans called former Governor Bill Clements
Bill Clements
William Perry "Bill" Clements, Jr. was the 42nd and 44th Governor of Texas, serving from 1979 to 1983 and 1987 to 1991. Clements was the first Republican to have served as governor of the U.S. state of Texas since Reconstruction...
out of retirement for the right to challenge Democratic Governor Mark White
Mark White
Mark Wells White is an American lawyer, who served as the 43rd Governor of Texas from January 18,1983-January 20,1987.-Biography:...
. In 1988, Hance was a Texas delegate to his first ever Republican National Convention
Republican National Convention
The Republican National Convention is the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States. Convened by the Republican National Committee, the stated purpose of the convocation is to nominate an official candidate in an upcoming U.S...
, which met in New Orleans.
In 1987, Clements appointed his former intraparty rival Hance to a vacancy on the Texas Railroad Commission. The next year Hance was elected as a Republican to the commission on the coattails of presidential nominee George H.W. Bush, father of the young man Hance had defeated for Congress ten years earlier. He left the Railroad Commission in 1990, once again to seek the GOP nomination for governor but was heavily defeated in the primary by another West Texan, controversial Midland businessman Clayton Williams
Clayton Williams
Clayton Wheat "Claytie" Williams, Jr. , a businessman from Midland, Texas, was the unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1990 against the Democratic State Treasurer Ann Richards even though Williams initially led in opinion polls by twenty points.-Biographical information:An independent...
. In the primary against Williams, Hance finished second but with only 15 percent of the ballots.
In 2004, against the wishes of Governor Rick Perry
Rick Perry
James Richard "Rick" Perry is the 47th and current Governor of Texas. A Republican, Perry was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998 and assumed the governorship in December 2000 when then-governor George W. Bush resigned to become President of the United States. Perry was elected to full...
, Hance assisted Texas Supreme Court Justice Steven Wayne Smith
Steven Wayne Smith
Steven Wayne Smith , is a Republicanformer Texas Supreme Court associate justice, who was defeated for renomination in 2004 through the active opposition of Governor Rick Perry. He was unseated by Paul W. Green. Smith again lost – very narrowly – a bid for nomination to the court in the March 7,...
in the latter's unsuccessful bid for renomination in the Republican primary.
Trivia
- In the 2008 Oliver StoneOliver StoneWilliam Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
film W.W. (film)W. is a 2008 American film based on the life and presidency of George W. Bush. It was produced and directed by Oliver Stone, written by Stanley Weiser, and stars Josh Brolin as Bush, with a cast that includes Ellen Burstyn, Elizabeth Banks, James Cromwell, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Scott...
, Hance is portrayed by actor Paul RaePaul RaePaul Rae is an American film and television actor.Rae was born Paul Rae Stuart in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Jean Rushing and Norman Stuart, and was raised in Bogalusa, Washington Parish, Louisiana...
.
External links
- http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/101906/loc_101906028.shtml
- Papers, 1953-1984 and undated, in the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech University