Don Hill (Texas)

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Don Hill

Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

March 3, 2020

Education

Graduate

University of North Texas, Denton, 1992

Law

University of Houston Law Center, 1998

Military

Years of service

1986 - 1993

Years of service

1984 - 1993

Personal

Birthplace

Granite City, Ill.

Religion

United Methodist

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Don Hill (Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas' 5th Congressional District. He lost in the Republican primary on March 3, 2020.

Hill completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Don Hill was born in Granite City, Illinois. He earned an undergraduate degree in December 1989 after attending Austin Peay State University - Ft. Campbell, Eastfield College - Mesquite, and the University of North Texas - Denton. Hill also earned an M.B.A. from the University of North Texas - Denton in 1992 and a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center in 1998. Hill founded Rowlett Hill Collins LLP in 2006. In addition to working as an attorney, Hill worked as a buyer/contract manager for FoxMeyer Drug Co. from 1992 to 1995 as well as for General Dynamics from 1989 to 1992. Hill served in the United States Army from 1984 to 1993, which included service with the National Guard from 1986 to 1993. Hill is a member of the Texas Bar Foundation, the NRA, the American Legion, and the University of North Texas Alumni Association.

Elections

2020

See also: Texas' 5th Congressional District election, 2020

Texas' 5th Congressional District election, 2020 (March 3 Republican primary)

Texas' 5th Congressional District election, 2020 (March 3 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Texas District 5

Incumbent Lance Gooden defeated Carolyn Salter and Kevin Hale in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 5 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Lance Gooden (R)	62.0	173,836
		Carolyn Salter (D)	35.9	100,743
		Kevin Hale (L)	2.1	5,834

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 280,413
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 5

Carolyn Salter advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 5 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Carolyn Salter	100.0	34,641

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 34,641
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 5

Incumbent Lance Gooden defeated Don Hill in the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 5 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Lance Gooden	83.4	57,253
		Don Hill	16.6	11,372

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 68,625
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for U.S. House Texas District 5

Kevin Hale advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. House Texas District 5 on March 21, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Kevin Hale (L)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Don Hill completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hill's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Don attended public schools and graduated from Westchester High School in Houston. Texas. At age 17, he enlisted in the US Army and volunteered for the Infantry, the most demanding job in the Army. He served 2 years of active duty in the 101st Airborne Division "Screaming Eagles" where he earned Distinguished Honor Graduate and Road March Champ honors at the Division's Air Assault School. After completing his enlistment, Don returned to Texas and volunteered for the Texas National Guard, serving nearly 7 years in an Airborne/Ranger Long Range Reconnaissance company. Don qualified as both a Parachutist and Jumpmaster, and served as the senior leader of a 6-Man Long Range Patrol, ending with the rank of Staff Sergeant. Don also earned Distinguished Honor Graduate and Outstanding Leadership Award winner at the Army Primary Leadership Development Course.

While serving in the National Guard, Don worked his way through undergraduate and graduate school, earning a BBA with honors in Finance and Banking and an MBA, both from the University of North Texas. Don worked full time while attending school at night to complete his MBA.

After nearly 6 years of professional work experience, Don attended the University of Houston Law Center and earned his law degree. He has served in private law practice for 21 years, and founded and leads a small 3-man law firm for the last 13 years.

Don is married and is the father of two children, ages 9 and 12.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I want the Federal government to focus on its key responsibilities like national defense and interstate/international trade and, to the greatest extent possible, get out of the way of private citizens and businesses.
• Support for our current military and veterans and for our law enforcement/first responders must be a key priority of our federal government.
• Voters must have a choice of candidates with significant private sector experience. Our government is full of career politicians who have little experience outside of running for office and who lack the connection to voters and the private sector to properly understand the impact of the policies they pursue in government.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Military: Our military is the best in the world and must be maintained in that status through proper funding, training, and equipment. We must also properly care for our veterans after they have served. I will prioritize these issues.

Law Enforcement: Our laws must be enforced and the officers who enforce them must be respected and provided the proper training, equipment and pay. There is a not-so-subtle "war on law enforcement" being pushed by activists and politicians that endangers our law enforcement officers' lives, erodes the morale of our officers and weakens public confidence in the rule of law. I will support our law enforcement officers and agencies.

Fiscal Responsibility: Our national debt is spiraling out of control and the dysfunctional spending legislation system in Congress is largely to blame. Instead of proposing and debating regular appropriations bills for individual functions/departments of the government, our Congress instead avoids any real debate on spending by waiting to the last minute to dump massive spending bills on its members and allowing no time to read, let alone debate and understand, the bills. I will push for a return to regular order appropriations legislation and debate on individual bills by function/department so the people can understand how and where their money is being spent.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I "look up" to the "ordinary" Americans who go about their day raising their families, working hard at their jobs, creating new businesses, and being kind to their friends AND to strangers. I would like to follow the example of Ronald Reagan who told the hard truths, made the tough and sometimes unpopular decisions, and always kept an air of humility about him.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

The most important principle of a member of the House of Representatives is to honor the oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States in all respects. Our federal government has inserted itself into far too many areas which it is not authorized to engage because our representatives have not honored that oath. The result is too much legislation and regulation that irritates the American people by intruding into our personal lives far too much and frustrates American industry's efforts to continue to build and grow our economy.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I am a Constitutional conservative who is completely committed to honoring the oath to the US Constitution I first took as a 17 year old Army Infantryman to see it faithfully executed and protected. There is no higher duty of a Congressional representative than this.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The Communist takeover of South Vietnam is the first key historical event I recall from my childhood. I would have been 8 years old at the time. The lessons from that event, after learning much more about the history of the war and the devastating impact on the people of South Vietnam, have stuck with me to this day.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first professional job was as a Buyer/Contract Administrator for General Dynamics, a defense contractor responsible for building F-16 Falcon fighter jets in Fort Worth, Texas. I started as an intern while I was still in college and was offered a full time job prior to graduation. I graduated on a Saturday, and started work on the following Monday morning after moving to Fort Worth over the weekend. I earned recognition there for my efforts to expand our Small/Disadvantaged Business outreach in contracting. I worked there for 3 years and left upon earning my MBA from the University of North Texas and taking a new position in a new industry.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Anything by Mark Twain. Mark Twain captured the American character and spirit in a humorous and unapologetic - but humble - way and was the first author to present that character and spirit to the world as uniquely American. While other authors attempted to explain America as an American version of English or European culture, Twain established the American language and character as something apart from the rest of the world and helped establish our true cultural independence.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

More importantly, far too many of our representatives are career politicians who have little or no experience OUTSIDE of government/politics. Our representatives in DC need to have broad and deep experience in the real world; military experience is important, business experience is critical, small business ownership experience is a huge plus. These experiences help the representative understand the impact back home on the law/policy being proposed/debated in DC. Without these experiences, a representative is flying blind and is more likely to be influcenced too heavily by lobbyists and wealthy donors looking for special treatment at the expense of the American people. While there may be some small benefit for representatives to have previous political experience, that benefit is nothing compared to the benefit of real world experience.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

America's greatest challenges over the next decade will be:

1. Return to spending/budget restraint and reduce the American debt in a managed way to avoid a shock to the economy;
2. Secure our border and resolve the status of those present in the US illegally;
3. Contain Russia and China as they seek to expand their military and economic influence;

4. Contain and reduce state sponsored and non-state sponsored terrorism.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

I support Sen. Ted Cruz's resolution to limit House members to 6 years (3 terms) and Senators to 12 years (2 terms) because our campaign system creates such inherent and overwhelming advantages for incumbents that the voters have little real, effective, choice in selecting a replacement.

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See also

2020 Elections

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Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

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External links

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Footnotes

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Texas' current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

John Cornyn (R)

Ted Cruz (R)

Representatives

District 1

Nathaniel Moran (R)

District 2

Daniel Crenshaw (R)

District 3

Keith Self (R)

District 4

Pat Fallon (R)

District 5

Lance Gooden (R)

District 6

Jake Ellzey (R)

District 7

Lizzie Fletcher (D)

District 8

Morgan Luttrell (R)

District 9

Al Green (D)

District 10

Michael McCaul (R)

District 11

August Pfluger (R)

District 12

Craig Goldman (R)

District 13

Ronny Jackson (R)

District 14

Randy Weber (R)

District 15

Monica De La Cruz (R)

District 16

Veronica Escobar (D)

District 17

Pete Sessions (R)

District 18

Vacant

District 19

Jodey Arrington (R)

District 20

Joaquin Castro (D)

District 21

Chip Roy (R)

District 22

Troy Nehls (R)

District 23

Tony Gonzales (R)

District 24

Beth Van Duyne (R)

District 25

Roger Williams (R)

District 26

Brandon Gill (R)

District 27

Michael Cloud (R)

District 28

Henry Cuellar (D)

District 29

Sylvia Garcia (D)

District 30

Jasmine Crockett (D)

District 31

John Carter (R)

District 32

Julie Johnson (D)

District 33

Marc Veasey (D)

District 34

Vicente Gonzalez (D)

District 35

Greg Casar (D)

District 36

Brian Babin (R)

District 37

Lloyd Doggett (D)

District 38

Wesley Hunt (R)

Republican Party (27)

Democratic Party (12)

Vacancies (1)