D. Michael Crenshaw

Daniel Reed Crenshaw, born in Scotland in 1984, is an American politician and former Navy SEAL officer. He spent his childhood in Texas, Ecuador, and Colombia, becoming proficient in Spanish. Crenshaw attended Tufts University, earning a degree in international relations with a physics minor, and later obtained a Master of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School.

His military career included service with SEAL Team Three in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he was wounded and lost an eye to an improvised explosive device. He served ten years and five tours, retiring as a lieutenant commander with multiple commendations, including two Bronze Star Medals and a Purple Heart. Following his military service, Crenshaw worked as a legislative assistant before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Texas's 2nd congressional district in 2018. He has since been reelected multiple times, though he lost renomination in 2026.

Daniel Reed Crenshaw was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on March 14, 1984, to American parents. He spent his formative years in Katy, Texas, and also lived in Ecuador and Colombia due to his father's work as a petroleum engineer. This international upbringing led him to become fluent in Spanish. He completed his secondary education at Colegio Nueva Granada in Bogotá, Colombia. Returning to the United States for higher education, Crenshaw attended Tufts University, graduating in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts in international relations and a minor in physics. After a decade dedicated to military service, he pursued further academic study in public administration at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, earning a Master of Public Administration in 2017.

Crenshaw's military career began during his time at Tufts University, where he joined the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps and was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy. He completed the rigorous Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training program and became a Naval Special Warfare Officer. Over ten years of service and five deployments, he achieved the rank of lieutenant commander. His combat experience included deployments to Fallujah, Iraq, and Afghanistan. During his third deployment in Afghanistan's Helmand Province in 2012, Crenshaw sustained a severe injury from an improvised explosive device that resulted in the loss of his right eye. Despite this injury, he continued his service for four more years, completing additional tours in Bahrain and South Korea. He was medically retired in 2016, having been awarded, among other honors, two Bronze Star Medals (one with a 'V' device for valor), the Purple Heart, and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with valor.

In 2018, Crenshaw successfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Texas's 2nd congressional district. He was reelected in 2020, 2022, and 2024. His tenure in Congress has seen him serve on committees such as Energy and Commerce and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where he chaired a subcommittee. Crenshaw has taken stances on various political issues, including opposition to abortion, citing that "life starts at conception." He also opposes gun control measures, advocating for state-level decisions on issues like red flag laws. His time in Congress has also been marked by public criticisms of groups like the Freedom Caucus and notable public exchanges with figures like Tucker Carlson. In 2026, Crenshaw lost his bid for renomination in the Republican primary to State Representative Steve Toth.

“The issue goes back to the states, back to the people.”

“What you're essentially trying to do with a red flag law is enforce the law before the law has been broken, and that's a really difficult thing to do”

“if there's such a threat that they're threatening somebody with a weapon already, then they've already broken the law, so why do you need this other law?”

“The Democrats created this narrative”

“performance artists”