[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 118 (Friday, June 26, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E575]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                 HONORING LUKE MARCHANT'S 40TH BIRTHDAY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. KENNY MARCHANT

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 26, 2020

  Mr. MARCHANT. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a very special 
constituent of the 24th Congressional District, my son, Luke Beckett 
Marchant. Tomorrow, Luke celebrates his 40th birthday with his wife, 
Katie, and their two young children, Walker Ross and Carter Bailey.
  While working in Austin in an internship during college, he worked 
for Senator Ken Armbrister. After learning the ropes in the Texas 
Senate, he shifted gears to run and manage the race for Texas 
Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples.
  Luke graduated from Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, 
Oklahoma, in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in Political Science and 
promptly came up to Washington, D.C., in hopes of finding himself a job 
in public service. I offered to put Luke up at the Pentagon Days Inn in 
Arlington, VA, for two weeks while he hit the pavement on Capitol Hill 
in hopes of landing a job as a recent college graduate. After wearing 
out considerable shoe leather, Luke was hired to work in the mail room 
for Senator John Cornyn and later learned every street in the nation's 
capital while navigating the Senator around town as his driver. He 
quickly rose up through the ranks while never forgetting that he came 
to work each day to better serve the people of Texas to the best of his 
ability.
  Luke's passion for political life has taken him from Maine to 
Kentucky; Florida to our Lone Star State. He would go on to work for 
our colleagues Congressman Pete Olson and Senator Marco Rubio. I'm 
fiercely proud to note that he also worked for Texas Attorney General 
and now Governor Greg Abbott.
  Even though Luke has journeyed across our great country, it was deep 
in the heart of Texas, working on Pete Olson's first run for Congress, 
when Luke got luckiest. There he met his future wife, Katie, and it 
changed his life. I'm so proud of the man he has become and the family 
he and Katie have built. l look forward to spending more time with them 
and their children at our ranch.
  Since December 2016, Luke has served as Vice President for Hill and 
Knowlton Strategies in Dallas, Texas. I would like to say that I taught 
him everything that he knows, but that hasn't been true for a very long 
time. Nowadays he has been teaching his old man plenty.
  I wish Luke a wonderful last day of his 30s today, and ask all of my 
colleagues to join this proud father in wishing him a very happy 40th 
birthday tomorrow.

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