Tony Tinderholt

Tinderholt was born in Chippewa County, Minnesota, USA, to Dale Allen and Sandra Kae (Charter) Tinderholt.[1]

Tinderholt is a businessman and veteran. He enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1988 and was a Spanish language cryptologist and linguist who worked in counter-drug missions in Central and South America. He returned to active duty in January 2002 as a platoon leader and executive officer at the company level and then as detachment commander for the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. During his time in the Iraq War, Tinderholt and ten other American soldiers lived with and trained an Iraqi Special Forces Battalion. He then returned to Dallas as a battalion executive officer.

While serving in the Air Force, from 1991 to 1997, Tinderholt attended Excelsior College, obtaining his Bachelor of Science degree. During the Iraq War, from 2003 to 2005, Tinderholt finished his education, procuring his Masters of Education and Educational Leadership degrees from Trident University International, which was once an affiliate of Touro College. After his military service, Tinderholt was a professor of Spanish at Columbia College in Fort Worth.

Tinderholt won the 2014 Republican nomination over Diane Patrick, 7,489 votes (55.44 percent) to 6,018 (44.55 percent).[2]

In the November 4 general election, Tinderholt, with 23,034 votes (56.64 percent), defeated Democrat Cole Ballweg and Libertarian Robert Harris, who received 16,461 (40.47 percent) and 1,172 (2.88 percent), respectively.[3] The largely Republican district was once represented by Kent Grusendorf, whom Patrick had unseated in the 2006 primary.[4]

He was endorsed in his legislative campaign by Cathie Adams, a former state Republican Party chairman and president of the Texas Eagle Forum, neighboring legislators Giovanni Capriglione, Jonathan Stickland, Bill Zedler, and Matt Krause. Julie McCarty, the president of the Tea Party movement of Northeast Tarrant County, and Michael Quinn Sullivan, the conservative political figure who formed Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, also backed Tinderholt.[5]

On February 25, 2015, Tinderholt filed a complaint against a Texas probate judge who had issued a ruling allowing two women to marry in Travis County. Tinderholt filed a handwritten complaint with the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct against Judge David Wahlberg, rather than against Judge Guy Herman, the judge who had made the ruling about which Tinderbolt complained. He filed the complaint based on the judge allegedly missing to obey a 45-day notification period. However, as it turned out, Judge Herman had notified the state attorney general's office, which opted not to get involved in the case[6]

In January 2017, Tinderholt introduced House Bill 948, the "Abolition of Abortion in Texas Act." The bill seeks to criminalize abortions that take place after the "moment of fertilization."[7][8] The abortion ban would make it legal to charge both the woman and her doctor with murder. In an interview with the Texas Observer, Tinderholt explained why he introduced the bill:

"I don't think that there should be any exceptions to murder, no matter what. So, if this child was out of the womb and it was a child that was born out of rape or incest, no one would be OK with killing a child. I look at it like that child is a child in the womb, just like it's out. [...] Right now, it's real easy. Right now, they don't make it important to be personally responsible because they know that they have a backup of 'oh, I can just go get an abortion.' Now, we both know that consenting adults don't always think smartly sometimes. But consenting adults need to also consider the repercussions of the sexual relationship that they're gonna have, which is a child."[9]

The bill would also criminalize abortions resulting from rape and incest.[10]

On March 21, 2017, Representative Tinderholt criticized then Representative Byron Cook of Corsicana for Cook's refusal to hold a hearing before the House State Affairs Committee on Tinderholt's proposed ban on abortion in Texas. Cook said that the office of Attorney General Ken Paxton has called the measure "unconstitutional" and therefore no hearing will be set. Tinderholt accused Cook of "hiding behind the office of attorney general" so as to block a vote on the legislation.[11]

On April 10, 2017, Tinderholt challenged Joe Straus, the House Speaker from San Antonio, to permit Texas State Senate Bill 6, known as the bathroom bill, to come for a vote before the full House. Earlier, Straus said that he would not block a vote on the measure, but thus far the House has not considered the Senate-passed legislation, strongly pushed by Dan Patrick, the lieutenant governor and the presiding officer of the Senate. The bill would require persons to use the public rest rooms corresponding to their genitalia at birth and is strongly opposed by liberals, the transgender community, and many businesses and sports teams.[12]

In the general election held on November 6, 2018, Tinderholt won his third legislative term. With 32,448 votes (52.49 percent), he defeated Democrat Finnigan Jones, who received 27,145 votes (43.91 percent). Another 2,230 votes (3.61 percent) went to Libertarian candidate Jessica Pallett.[13]

Tinderholt has been married five times, twice to his first wife. His current wife, Bethany Tyler, is a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.[14] Tinderholt married Kimberly Ann Johnson in 1990, she divorced him in 1994, they remarried in 1995,[15] and she divorced him again in 1996.[16] After their first divorce, Johnson was granted a restraining order against Tinderholt for threatening Johnson, causing her bodily harm/injury, and destroying property shared by the couple.[17] Tinderholt married Tammy J. Land in 1996[18] who later filed for divorce. In 2002, Tinderholt married Tamara Dawn Levan.[19][20] He married Bethany Tyler in 2009.

Tinderholt has two children from a previous marriage and a daughter with Bethany Tyler.[21]