Mark Keough

Education

He also attended the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Career

Keough received a bachelor"s degree from Cedarville University, a private institution in Cedarville, Ohio. He obtained master"s degrees from Dallas Theological Seminary and Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Indiana. Foreign more than two decades, Keough was engaged in automobile sales, including fourteen years as the general sales manager of Northside Lexus in north Harris County.

He left the automobile business to establish Mark Keough Ministries, which includes the Pathfinders Fellowship of The Woodlands.

In addition to his continuing work as a pastor and radio host, he has been the headmaster of a private Christian school. Keough describes his political philosophy, accordingly:

There’s a real need for legislators in Austin who are there to serve the people, and not themselves.

Too often, we fall into the habit of spending money like Washington, threatening the prosperity we have in Texas. This campaign will focus on the fiscally conservative, pro-life, low-tax policies that have made Texas a great place to live.

In 2015, Keough plans to introduce legislation to establish statewide victim-offender mediation for punishments with the goal of reducing recidivism in prisons.

He would allow licensed gun owners to carry weapons in such zones. Keough favors the repeal of margins taxes on small businesses. He favors upgrading the penalties for the possession of child pornography from a third-degree to a second-degree felony.

He proposes the abolition of sanctuary cities, those in which municipalities forbid the use of any local funds to enforce national immigration laws.

Achievements

• On March 4, 2014, Keough won the Republican nomination to replace one-term Representative Steve Toth, another businessman and clergyman, who instead ran unsuccessfully against neighboring State Representative Brandon Creighton for the Texas State Senate.

Politics

Keough polled 57.4 percent of the vote against his intraparty opponent, Bruce Tough, the chairman of The Woodlands township board of directors.Keough was then unopposed in the heavily Republican district in the November 4, 2014, general election.

Membership

A member of the National Rifle Association, Keough plans to oppose gun-free zones in schools and churches.