David Farabee

David Lee Farabee (born February 5, 1964) is a Democratic former member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 69 (Wichita and Archer counties). His father, Ray Farabee, was an attorney in Austin, Texas, and a Democratic former state senator for the Wichita Falls and West Texas area, having served from 1975 to 1988.

Personal life

Farabee is an Eagle Scout, an accomplishment which eluded his father. He graduated from Wichita Falls High School and then obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Midwestern State University there. He and his wife, the former Terri Nan Salmon, have three children, Worth, Nancy, and Russell R. Farabee. He is active in the United Methodist Church. He is a former president of the Wichita Falls Optimist Club.^[1]

His late mother, Helen J. Farabee, is the namesake of the state mental health facility in Wichita Falls, Graham, and Quanah, Texas. The senior Farabee left the state Senate after thirteen years to become general counsel for the University of Texas System.^[2] Farabee's father-in-law, Bill Presson, is a Republican commissioner in Wichita County.^[3] When Democratic state legislators fled to Ardmore, Oklahoma in 2003 to prevent a House quorum regarding congressional redistricting, many of Farabee's constituents were said to have been particularly aware for perhaps the first time that he is a Democrat.^[3]

Legislative career

In 1998, Farabee won his seat, then considered one of the most Republican-leaning districts in the Texas House that was represented at this time by a Democrat.^[2] Wichita Falls Mayor Lanham Lyne defeated a Democrat named Michael L. Smith, 74-26 percent, to win Farabee's seat in the November 2 general election.^[4] Farabee himself had estimated that a Democrat expecting to hold the seat would need to raise at least $250,000.^[2]

In 1998, Farabee was unopposed for the Democratic nomination in District 69 when the Democratic incumbent, John Hirschi, did not seek reelection. He defeated the Republican Ronald S. Buffum (born 1945), then of Wichita Falls, 14,207 (56.1 percent) to 11,130 (43.9 percent).^[5]

Republicans left Farabee unopposed in 2008, and the Democrat garnered more than 58 percent of the vote in 2006 against a Libertarian and a Republican, Shirley Craft, who had also lost to Farabee in 2004.^[6] State Representative Mark Strama, an Austin Democrat, said that his party can win District 69. He recalled that in 2006 the Democrats held the West Texas state House seat vacated by former Speaker Pete Laney. Joe Heflin, the county judge in Crosbyton, narrowly defeated a young Republican insurance agent from Plainview named Jim Landtroop, who had considerable support from the state's GOP leaders.^[2] Landtroop rebounded in 2010 to deny Heflin a third term in the legislature.

Farabee is a member of the Energy Resources and State Affairs committees in the Texas House. In 2005, he supported the position of National Abortion Rights Action League on abortion 55 percent of the time; in 2007, NARAL rated him 0 percent.^[1] In 2008, he was voted "A+" by the National Rifle Association. In 2001, he was rated 100 percent by the NAACP. In 2009, he was rated 17 percent by conservative Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, but the same organization rated him 68 percent in 2007. The interest group Texans for Fiscal Responsibility rated Farabee 38 percent in 2009.^[1]

Prior to his legislative service, Farabee was an at-large member of the Wichita Falls City Council from 1989-1993. He is a partner of Boley-Featherston Insurance Agency in Wichita Falls.^[1]

References