Ken Mercer

Kenneth Broderick "Ken" Mercer
Member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 117th district
In office January 14, 2003 – January 11, 2005
Preceded by	John Amos Longoria
Succeeded by	David McQuade Leibowitz
Member of the Texas State Board of Education for District 5 (Blanco, Caldwell, Comal, Gillespie, Guadalupe, Hays, Kendall, Kerr, Llano, Mason, San Saba, and portions of Bexar and Travis counties)
Incumbent
Assumed office 2007
Preceded by	Dan Montgomery
Personal details
Born	1955
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Rosalia Salas Mercer
Children	Sarah Mercer Rebekah Mercer
Parents	Daniel Hall and Mary Dalia Almaguer Mercer
Residence	San Antonio, Texas
Alma mater	University of Texas at Austin University of Texas at San Antonio St. Mary's University, Texas
Occupation	Technology project manager

Kenneth Broderick Mercer, known as Ken Mercer (born 1955), is a technology project manager and a Republican politician from his native San Antonio, Texas. For one term from 2003 to 2005, he was the District 117 member of the Texas House of Representatives. In 2004, he won the first of his currently three terms on the elected Texas State Board of Education as the representative for District 5, which includes all of eleven counties plus portions of populous Bexar and Travis counties.

Background

Mercer and his two sisters, Patricia (husband Phillip) Dapeer and Sharon (husband Bobby) Barnes, are the children of Daniel Hall Mercer (1919-2002). Daniel Mercer served in the United States Army Air Corps in World War II and the United States Air Force in the Korean War and was thereafter a career technical sergeant. In 1950, Daniel Mercer married the former Mary Dalia Almaguer (1929-2015). The couple is interred at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio.

Mercer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of Texas at Austin, a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio (2005 "Alumnus of the Year"), and a Master of Business Administration in finance and management from St. Mary's University, also in San Antonio. He is a member of the Delta Mu Delta Graduate Business Honor Society.

Political life

Mercer handily won his party's nomination for the state House in the primary election held on March 12, 2002, by defeating Janie Martinez Gonzalez, 1,304 (63 percent) to 765 (37 percent). On November 5, 2002, Mercer defeated the Democrat Raul Prado for the right to succeed the retiring five-term Democrat Representative John Amos Longoria. Mercer polled 12,703 (59 percent) to Prado's 8,138 (41 percent). In the House, Mercer served on the Higher Education, House Administration, and Transportation committees.

In 2003, Mercer was named "Legislator of the Year" by the San Antonio Police Officer's Association. He is a former member of the Texas Homeland Security Council and formerly served on the Texas State Republican Executive Committee.

On November 2, 2004, Mercer lost by 498 votes his bid for a second term in the House. He received 19,209 votes (49.4 percent) to 19,707 (50.6 percent) for the Democrat David McQuade Leibowitz.

In 2006, Mercer rebounded politically to unseat fellow Republican Dan Montgomery in the race for the Texas Board of Education. After an indecisive primary election, Mercer prevailed in a runoff contest, 13,359 votes (61.4 percent) to 7,776 (38.6 percent). In the general election, Mercer defeated the Libertarian Party candidate, Bill Oliver, 234,807 (71.1 percent) to 95,406 (28.9 percent). No Democrat filed for the seat that year.

In 2010, Mercer won his second term, this one for two years, on the state board of education by defeating the Democrat Rebecca Bell-Meterean, 262, 699 (59.3 percent) to 160,233 (36.2 percent). The Libertarian Mark Loewe held the remaining 20,052 ballots (4.5 percent). He won his third term to the board in 2012 by again defeating Rebecca Bell Metereau, 338,705 (51.3 percent) to 281,445 (42.6 percent). Libertarian Mark Loewe ran again and drew 28,407 votes (4.3 percent). The Green Party nominee, Irene Meyer Scharf, held the remaining 11,717 votes (1.77 percent).

Mercer sits on the state board's school finance committee which oversees the Permanent School Fund, the largest education endowment in the United States. He is a member of the state board's Committee on School Initiatives and the vice chairman of the committees on School Initiatives and Instruction.

Mercer has been known for his conservative views regarding the formulation of state standards in science and history. He is politically allied with Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and supported United States Senator Ted Cruz of Texas for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

Mercer is a candidate for re-nomination to a fourth term on the state board in the Republican primary election on March 1, 2016. Wayne Christian, a former state House member making a second bid for the Texas Railroad Commission on March 1 has called Mercer "a rock-solid conservative with the backbone to stand up to the Far Left!"

References

Texas House of Representatives
Preceded by John Amos Longoria	Texas State Representative for District 117 (Bexar County) Kenneth Broderick "Ken" Mercer 2003–2005	Succeeded by David McQuade Leibowitz
Preceded by Dan Montgomery	District 5 member of the Texas State Board of Education Kenneth Broderick "Ken" Mercer 2007–	Succeeded by Incumbent