John T. Smithee

John True Smithee
Texas State Representative for District 86 (Dallam, Hartley, Oldham, Deaf Smith, Potter, and Randall counties)
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 1985
Preceded by	Robert Dwight "Bob" Simpson
Born	September 7, 1951 Amarillo, Texas
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Becky Lynn Smithee
Alma mater	West Texas A&M University (Canyon) Texas Tech University
Occupation	Attorney
Religion	Southern Baptist

John True Smithee (born September 7, 1951) is an attorney from Amarillo, Texas, who has been the Republican state representative for District 86 in the Texas Panhandle since January 1985.

Although Smithee succeeded a Democrat, Robert Dwight "Bob" Simpson (born 1943), who had served for a decade, District 86 is perhaps the most Republican House jurisdiction in the entire state. Voters there cast more than 83 percent of their ballots for Mitt Romney in his failed 2012 race against U.S. President Barack H. Obama.

District 86 includes rural Dallam, Hartley, Oldham, and Deaf Smith counties. Smithee represents the Randall County portion of Amarillo, some 40 percent of the population, located to the south of the central city. The remainder of Amarillo, the seat of Potter County, is represented by Smithee's Republican colleague, Four Price, also an Amarillo lawyer.

Smithee is the former chairman of the House Insurance Committee and serves on the State Affairs and Higher Education committees.

Smithee was first elected to the Texas House in 1984, when he was thirty-three. He was re-elected to his twelfth two-year term in 2006 with 86.5 percent of the vote over a Libertarian opponent. He holds a Juris Doctorate from Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He is married to Becky Lynn Smithee (born January 7, 1956).

2009 bid for House Speaker

On December 29, 2008, Smithee announced, via the online political newsletter, Quorum Report, that he had received "more than twenty calls" from fellow Texas House members and that he would announce within forty-eight hours whether or not he would seek unseat incumbent Republican Speaker Tom Craddick of Midland. Smithee did not enter the race, won instead by Moderate Republican Joe Straus of San Antonio, who unseated Craddick with reliance on Democratic legislators.

Opposition to state lottery

Smithee, a Southern Baptist, is a long-term opponent of the Texas Lottery Commission; he voted against the lottery when it was submitted to voters for approval in 1991. In 2013, he offered an amendment that would have abolished the commission by 2017. The amendment received ninety-five votes, five short of the two thirds required. Smithee said his bill was a compromise because of the degree of opposition that had emerged against the lottery, which funds about $1.2 billion annually to the state. The House, however, renewed the lottery for twelve years, but the issue could arise in future sessions. According to Smithee, there is "some discontent on how the lottery has operated, that there are too many persons that have profited from the lottery and not the children of Texas … only about 25 cents of each dollar go to the schoolchildren."

Another bid for Speaker?

In 2013, speculation mounted that Smithee would in January 2015 challenge the reelection of Speaker Joe Straus, who sought a fourth term as the presiding House officer. Smithee came to Tyler to headline a fundraiser for colleague Matt Schaefer. Joining Smithee were Rick Miller of Sugar Land in suburban Houston, Drew Springer, Jr., of Muenster, David Simpson of Longview, and two members who ran against each other for the Texas State Senate, Steve Toth and Brandon Creighton, both of Montgomery County, also in suburban Houston. Most of the lawmakers in attendance were associated with the Tea Party movement.