Ron Simmons (politician)

Ronald Ellis Simmons, known as Ron Simmons (born September 21, 1960)^[1] is an investment advisor from Carrollton, Texas, who is a former member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 65 in suburban southeastern Denton County.^[2]

First elected as a Republican in 2012, Simmons won a third two-year term in the general election of 2016, where he defeated for the second time Democrat Alex Mendoza of Lewisville, Texas.^[3] Mendoza ran unsuccessfully against Simmons in the 2012 general election as the nominee that year of the Green Party.^[4]

Simmons lost his bid for a fourth term in the general election held on November 6, 2018. He polled 28,567 votes (48.9 percent) to 29,894 (51.1 percent) for his Democratic opponent, political newcomer and local business owner Michelle Beckley.^[5]

Background[]

The son of public school teachers, Simmons was raised in southern Arkansas. He studied at Southern Arkansas University. Simmons is married to the former Lisa Dickson. After several years of marriage, the couple left Arkansas in 1985 and settled in Dallas, where he completed his Bachelor of Business Administration degree at Dallas Baptist University. In 1991, Simmons co-founded Retirement Advisors of America from which he recently retired as its Chairman of the Board.^[6]

Retirement Advisors of America manages nearly $3.0 billion in assets for families across the country and was acquired in 2020 by Allworth Financial out of Sacramento, CA In 2010, Simmons was named by D Magazine as one of the top financial advisors in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The trade publication Investment News has named Retirement Advisors of America among the top thirty financial advisors in the United States.^[6] Currently Simmons is the Senior Distinguished Fellow for Right on Work at Texas Public Policy Foundation, a bi partisan conservative think tank in Austin, Texas. Simmons also serves as Chairman of the Board for Texas Mutual Insurance Company.

Simmons and his wife have three children.^[7][6]

Simmons and his wife are active members at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. He is a former deacon at First Baptist Church of Dallas. He is a supporter of the Liberty Institute, which seeks to protect the sanctity of human life, religious liberty, and traditional marriage. He served as the Vice Chairman of the national board of directors for the Autism Society of America and a life member of the National Rifle Association.^[6]

Political life[]

When long-term Republican Representative Burt Solomons of North Carrollton declined to seek a tenth term in 2012, Simmons, who had no previous political experience, entered the primary election to nominate a successor candidate. With 4,844 votes (61.6 percent), he handily defeated two intraparty rivals, David Edmund Loerwald (born c. 1956) of Carrollton, with 1,754 votes (22.3 percent), and Michael Hugh "Mike" Hennefer (born c. 1952) of Carrollton, a California native and an active figure in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,^[8] with 1,260 votes (16 percent).^[9] In the higher-turnout general election on November 6, 2012, Simmons won with 31,386 votes (59.1 percent) to 20,481 votes (38.6 percent) for the Democrat Gary E. Brown and Alex Mendoza's 1,224 votes (2.3 percent).^[4]

Simmons served on the House committees of (1) Appropriations, (2) Transportation, and (3) Local and Consent Calendars.^[7]

In 2017, Simmons obtained House passage, 88-57, of his bill to abolish "one-punch" straight-ticket voting in Texas, a procedure no longer allowed in 42 other states. With a straight ticket, a voter pulls one lever or touches one computer square to vote for all nominees of the same party. Most of the opponents of the legislation are Democratic, though straight-ticket Republican voters have constituted the majority statewide since at least 1996. Instead the Democrats claim the legislation would disenfranchise some elderly, disabled, or minority group voters. Simmons said that his intent is to encourage voters to make selections down ballot, including proposition and tax measures, instead of concentrating on a few offices at the top of the ticket.^[10]

Simmons won his third term in the state House in the November 8, 2016, general election. He defeated the Democrat Alex Mendoza, 34,418 votes (56.3 percent) to 26,759 (43.7 percent). He ran in the 2018 primary against Kevin Simmons, but was then defeated by Democratic candidate Michelle Beckley in the 2018 midterms general election in November.^[11]

Legislative positions[]

A pro-life legislator, Simmons co-sponsored in 2013 the ban on abortion after twenty weeks of gestation; the measure passed the House, 96-49. He also co-sponsored companion legislation to increase medical and licensing requirements of abortion providers,^[12] a measure which opponents claim could lead to the closure of certain abortion clinics in Texas. These issues brought forth an unsuccessful filibuster in the Texas State Senate by Wendy R. Davis of Fort Worth, who in 2014 was the Democratic nominee for governor.^[13] The Texas Right to Life Committee rated Simmons as high as 90 percent in 2017 and as low as 67 percent in 2018. In 2018, NARAL Pro-Choice Texas gave Simmons a 0 rating.^[14]

Simmons served on the Appropriations Committee in 2017 and on the Transportation Committee in 2015 and 2017. He was the Chairman of the Sub Committee on Long Term Transportation Funding in 2015. Also in 2015 Simmons authored and passed HB20 - a law which transformed the way the Texas Department of Transportation selects road construction projects. The legislation requires TxDOT to "score' each project on an objective scoring system and select those projects which score the highest and are therefore of greatest need to Texas. Simmons also joint authored legislation with Chairman Joe Pickett to increase funding for transportation.

Simmons, a long time advocate for individuals with disabilities, passed legislation to require health plans in Texas to cover testing for Autism at an early age and continue coverage for Applied Behavioral Therapy and other treatments for Autism. Simmons inserted an amendment in a bill by Representative Chris Paddie R- Marshall governing ride sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft, that require ride sharing companies to begin pilot programs for providing rides to the disabled in the same manner and time frame as non disabled riders.

Simmons opposed the bill to establish a taxpayer-funded breakfast program for public schools; the measure passed the House, 73-58. He co-sponsored legislation to provide marshals for school security as a separate law-enforcement entity. He co-sponsored the successful bill to extend the franchise tax exemption to certain businesses. Simmons voted in favor the bill to prohibit texting while driving passed the House, 97-45. He voted to require testing for narcotics of those individuals receiving unemployment compensation.

Simmons co-sponsored the measure to forbid the state from engaging in the enforcement of federal regulations of firearms. He co-sponsored legislation to allow college and university officials to carry concealed weapons in the name of campus security. He voted to reduce the time required for one to obtain a concealed-carry permit. He backed the redistricting bills for the state House, the Texas Senate, and the United States House of Representatives. Simmons voted against term limits for certain state officials.^[12]

Interest group ratings[]

In 2017, the Young Conservatives of Texas scored him 82 percent. The Texas League of Conservation Voters rated him 50 percent in 2013 and 43 percent in 2015. The interest group Texans for Fiscal Responsibility rated him 86 percent in 2013, 72 percent in 2015, and 69 percent in 2017. The National Rifle Association scored him 92 percent. NARAL Pro-Choice Texas and Equality Texas each rated Simmons 0 percent.^[14]

References[]