Linda Koop

Koop graduated from Hillcrest High School in Dallas. She obtained a master's degree from the School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas. She married Myron Lee Koop in 1973 and the couple has two sons.[3][4]

Koop is an outspoken defender of free enterprise. Her grandfather in 1929 established National Shoes in Dallas, the oldest family-owned business in the city. Four generations of her family worked there prior to its closure in the 1990s.[4] She was formerly employed by the North Central Texas Council of Governments, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, and the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce.

In the March 4, 2014 Republican primary for House District 102, Koop led the incumbent Stefani Carter, an African American, by 163 votes. She received 3,646 votes (34.7 percent) to Carter's 3,483 (33.2 percent). Two other candidates held another critical 32 percent of the ballots cast.[5]

One of the two eliminated candidates, Samuel Brown, endorsed Koop over Carter, who had first announced her candidacy for the Texas Railroad Commission but then decided to run for a third term in the House. Brown claimed that Carter told him her primary interest in running again was to collect a state pension which she could receive after two more terms in the state House, a contention Carter dismissed out of hand. In her runoff election campaign, Koop challenged Carter on the "trust" issue.[6]

Carter was originally seen as more conservative than Koop, whom she tried to cast as a Moderate Republican, who as a city council member until she was term-limited in 2013 had voted to place numerous bond issues on the ballot. Carter claimed that Koop had supported on the council $500 million in increased taxes.[6] Koop nevertheless sought with considerable success to depict herself as more conservative politically than Carter. She stressed her support for border security and opposition to illegal immigration.[4]

On May 27, Koop unseated Carter, 5,072 (59.8 percent) to 3,405 (40.2 percent).[7]

In addition to border security, Koop outlined her key campaign issues as minimizing the impact upon Texas of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law in 2010 by U.S. President Barack H. Obama, protecting the water supply of the greater Dallas area, and strengthening local schools. Koop vowed as a legislator to "fight every program and tax that hurts small businesses so we can grow our economy and create jobs."[4]

Koop carried the endorsement of the Dallas Morning News,[1] former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley, Richardson Mayor Laura Maczka, and the Richardson Firefighters Association.[8]

In the general election held on November 4, 2014, Koop claimed the House seat by defeating the Republican-turned-Democrat, George M. Clayton (born 1949), a retired school teacher and administrator,[1] 20,394 (62.5 percent) to 12,243 (37.5 percent).[9]

In 2015, Linda Koop voted for Joe Straus as speaker of the house. She voted in favor of HB 80, which placed a ban on texting and driving.[10] Koop regularly has voted in favor of bills relating to occupational licensing such as HB 2267 (which would require an anesthesiologist assistant to obtain a license before practicing)[11] and HB 1260 (which would require an occupational license for shrimp loading and off loading).[12] Additionally, Koop voted in favor of HB 486 which would allow school districts to raise taxes without voter approval.[13] Koop also voted in favor of the Garen Amendment of SB 19, which sought to grant special privileges to legislators and legislative staff members by categorizing their communications as confidential, reducing government transparency.[14]

Koop lost her bid for a third term in the state House in the general election held on November 6, 2018, when Democrats ran strongly in Dallas County. With 26,648 votes (47.2 percent), she was unseated by Democrat Ana-Maria Ramos, who led with 29,829 (52.8 percent).[15]