Todd Ames Hunter
Todd Ames Hunter (born August 26, 1953) is an American politician and lawyer from Corpus Christi, Texas, serving as a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 32 in Nueces County. Early life and education. Hunter was born in Bartlesville in northeastern Oklahoma to Richard and Patricia London Hunter. In 1975, he graduated from the University of Kansas at Topeka, Kansas, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, Speech, and Human Relations. In 1978, he obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University. Career. Hunter  is an attorney. From 1993 to 1997, as a Democrat, Hunter also held the District 32 House seat. He did not seek reelection in 1996. From 1989 to 1993, he was the District 36 Democratic representative. In the 1992 election, he was switched after two terms to District 32 via redistricting. Hunter was a "pro-business conservative Democrat" during his first stint in the legislature, and later switched to the Republican Party. After a twelve-year absence from the Texas House, Hunter returned as a Republican to win his former but reconfigured seat in the 2008 general election. Hunter narrowly  unseated the incumbent Democrat Juan M. Garcia, III, 27,844 votes (50.1 percent) to 25,994 (46.8 percent). The remaining 1,705 votes (3.1 percent) were cast for the Libertarian Party nominee, Lenard Lee Nelson (born c. 1949), of Corpus Christi. Though District 32 now includes only a portion of Corpus Christi, the seat of government of Nueces County, when Hunter took the seat in 2009, it also included Aransas, Calhoun, and San Patricio counties. In 2011, Hunter co-sponsored legislation that required voters to show photo identification of voters casting a ballot; after a series of legal challenges, the measure finally took  effect in October 2013. Hunter won his seventh nonconsecutive term in the 83rd Texas Legislature in 2012 without primary or general election opposition. An opponent of abortion, Hunter in 2013 supported the ban on abortion after twenty weeks of gestation. In 2011, Hunter supported two other anti-abortion measures. One forbids state funding of agencies which perform abortions; the other requires a woman procuring an abortion to undergo first a sonogram. Role in post-2020 gerrymander. In 2021, Hunter rushed through a heavily pro-Republican gerrymandered redistricting map that he authored through his committee. He provided a minimum of 24 hours  advance notice for testimony and allowed for no amendments. The map vastly expanded the number of safe Republican seats, and diluted the power of non-white voters. The map increased the number of seats where white are in the majority and reduced the number of seats where Hispanics or blacks are in the majority, even though non-whites were behind 95% of the population growth in Texas. Personal life. He is married to the former Alexis Taylor, the eldest daughter of Marcella and Leroy Taylor. Alexis and Todd reared all three of their children—Todd A. Hunter, Jr. (born 1986 ), Michael Taylor Hunter (born 1987), and Christina Alyson Hunter (born 1991)--in Corpus Christi. Hunter is a member of All Saints Episcopal Church in Corpus Christi. He is a director and member of the advisory board of the Coastal Bend division of the Boy Scouts of America. He is affiliated with Rotary International and is a board member of Consumer Credit Counseling Service and the Texas Lyceum Association. External links. (unseated by Juan M. Garcia, III)