Brian Babin is the Republican incumbent for Texas's 36th District. A dentist from Woodville, he is an Air Force veteran who held local offices there, including mayor, before winning the seat in 2014 after a Republican primary runoff. He serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and has chaired the Science, Space, and Technology Committee since the start of the 119th Congress.[1][2]
Brian Babin was born in Port Arthur, Texas, in 1948 and grew up in Beaumont; his House biography calls him a lifelong resident of East Texas.[2][1] He earned a B.S. in biology from Lamar University in 1973 and a D.D.S. from the University of Texas Dental Branch in Houston in 1976. His House biography says he worked as a merchant seaman, janitor, musician, disc jockey, and letter carrier to pay for school, and served as an airborne artilleryman in the Texas Army National Guard.[2][1] After dental school, Babin served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force from 1975 to 1979, stationed in Ramstein, Germany.[2][1]
He returned to East Texas in 1979 and opened a dental practice in Woodville, which he ran for more than 30 years.[1] In Woodville, Babin held local office as an alderman or city councilman, mayor, and school board member, and served as a Tyler County Chamber of Commerce director and vice president and as Lions Club president.[2][1] He has served on the Lower Neches Valley Authority since 1999 and has been a member of the Texas Historical Commission, the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners, and the Deep East Texas Council of Governments.[1][2]
Babin won the 2014 Republican primary runoff against Ben Streusand on May 27, 2014, and the November 2014 general election. He was sworn in on January 5, 2015, succeeding Steve Stockman.[2][1] He serves on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and has chaired the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology since the start of the 119th Congress. He previously chaired its Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee in 2023-2024 and was its ranking member in 2021-2022.[1][2] According to his House biography, Babin has been married to Roxanne since 1972, and they have five children and 17 grandchildren; he has served as a deacon at First Baptist Church of Woodville.[1]
Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21.
