Matt Krause

Krause was narrowly reelected to his fourth legislative term in 2018. With 30,819 votes (53.9 percent), Krause defeated Democrat Nancy Bean, who polled 26,359 (46.1 percent).

In 2017, Krause introduced legislation in the state House to end the practice of permitting divorces based on the concept of insupportability, meaning that a couple can no longer bear to remain married to each other. Krause also proposes that couples live apart for three years before obtaining a divorce or one year separated if one accuses the other of abandonment.

In March 2015, Krause introduced legislation known as the Unborn Child Due Process Act, which would clarify a legal provision in the Texas Advance Directives Act that forbids anyone from withholding or withdrawing treatment from a pregnant patient. The bill would permit the state to appoint an attorney ad litem to represent the interest of the unborn child in situations where life-sustaining treatment of a pregnant patient is in jeopardy.

A pro-life legislator, Krause supported in 2013 the ban on abortion after twenty weeks of gestation; the measure passed the House, 96-49. He co-sponsored companion legislation to increase medical and licensing requirements of abortion providers, a law that the opponents claim could shut down many abortion clinics. 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 was handily defeated by Republican Greg Abbott. The Texas Right to Life Committee rated Krause 87 percent favorable.

Krause voted against the legislation to establish a taxpayer-funded breakfast program for public schools; the measure nevertheless passed the House, 73-58. He co-sponsored legislation to provide marshals for school security as a separate law-enforcement entity. He voted for the extension of the franchise tax exemption to certain businesses, which passed the House 117-24. He voted against the adoption of the biennial 2013 state budget. He voted to require testing for narcotics of those individuals receiving unemployment compensation. Krause voted against a bill relating to unlawful employment practices regarding discrimination in payment of compensation, which nevertheless passed the House, 78-61.

In 2013, Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, managed in Texas by Cathie Adams, a former state chairman of the Texas Republican Party, rated Krause 100 percent favorable; the Young Conservatives of Texas, 95 percent. The Texas League of Conservation Voters rated him 50 percent; a similar group Environment Texas rated him 37 percent. The interest group, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, founded by Michael Quinn Sullivan, rated him 100 percent. The Texas Association of Business scored Krause 73 percent. The National Rifle Association scored Krause 92 percent, based on candidate statements in 2012. Equality Texas gave Krause a 0 percent rating.

Considered one of the most conservative Texas legislators, Krause was first elected in 2012 and ran unopposed for a second two-year term in the November 2014 general election.

In the May 29, 2012 Republican primary, Krause ran in his current District 93 against the one-term incumbent Barbara Parrish Nash, a former school board and city council member in Arlington and a third candidate, Patricia "Pat" Carlson. Krause won the nomination without need for a runoff with 3,098 votes (50.7 percent). In 2010, Nash had unseated Democrat Paula Pierson, by 431 votes, 49.3 percent to 47.6 percent. In the November 6, 2012 general election, Krause defeated Democrat Shane Hardin and Libertarian Bruce Beckman. Krause polled 29,527 votes (58.9 percent) to Hardin's 18,797 (37.5 percent), and Beckman's 1,768 (3.5 percent).

Krause first ran for the state House in District 99 in the 2010 Republican primary, when he was defeated by the long-term incumbent and still-serving Charlie Geren, 8,037 (57.6 percent) to 5,915 (42.4 percent).

The Krauses are members of the Glenview Baptist Church in Fort Worth. They have five children, Jeremiah (born 2007), Hannah Sue (born 2008), James Reagan, Gracie and Ruthie Krause.

Born in Tyler in Smith County in East Texas, Krause is the son of a Baptist pastor and a schoolteacher mother. As a child, he lived in Ranger and Whitehouse before his parents moved the family to San Antonio. He graduated from the Castle Hills First Baptist School (now The Christian School at Castle Hills) in 1998, where his mother was a faculty member. In his senior year, Krause was named the "Greater San Antonio Male Athlete of the Year" by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Matthew Haston Krause, known as Matt Krause (born August 19, 1980), is an American attorney and politician serving as a member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 93, which includes a portion of Tarrant County in suburban Fort Worth.