Briscoe Cain

In the 2016 Republican runoff election, Cain defeated seven-term incumbent Wayne Smith by 23 votes. In the 2016 general election, Cain defeated Libertarian candidate Ken Lowder.[7][8][9] Cain ran unopposed in the Republican primary election held on March 6, 2018. On July 5, 2017, Terry Sain of Baytown, Texas announced that he would be running against Cain in the 2018 Republican primary.[10] However, just before the December 11, 2017, deadline to file for a place on the primary ballot, Sain announced that he was no longer going to challenge Cain. Citing the difficulties of running a campaign as a reason he dropped out of the race, Sain told The Baytown Sun that running in the campaign "wasn't quite as easy of a road as I thought it was going to be."[11]

In the November 6, 2018, general election Cain ran unopposed.[12]

On November 18, 2019, Robert Hoskins of Baytown, Texas announced he would be running against Cain in the 2020 Republican Primary.[13] Hoskins, considered a moderate Republican, is a member of the Baytown City Council and a former member of the Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District board of trustees.[14][15] The race between Cain and Hoskins was considered to be one of the more high-profile primary contests during the 2020 Texas Republican Primary.[16] On March 3, 2020, Cain defeated Hoskins in the Republican primary election, when Cain received 11,752 votes (79.32 percent) to Hoskins' 3,064 votes (20.68 percent).[17][18] Cain will be opposing Democrat Mary Williams in the 2020 general election for District 128 representative.[19]

Since being elected in 2016, Cain has consistently ranked as the most conservative member of the Texas House.[20][21][22][23][24][25][26]

In 2019, Cain was again ranked as the most conservative member of the Texas House by Rice University's right to left index.[27] Texas Right to Life scored him 100 percent.[28] The Texas chapter of Eagle Forum scored him a 95 percent (the highest score awarded).[29] The Texas division of the National Federation of Independent Business gave him a 100 percent rating.

In 2017, Mark Jones from Rice University in Houston released a study of votes in the 85th Texas legislature that indicated Cain was considered the "most conservative" legislator in the Texas House.[30] The interest group, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, founded by Michael Quinn Sullivan, scored him 100 percent and rated him as one of the top 10 "Best Legislators of 2017".[31][32] Texas Values, a Texas-based organization that advocates for "traditional family values," scored him 100 percent and named Cain a "Faith & Family Champion".[33] Young Conservatives of Texas rated him 100 percent.[34] The Texas division of the National Federation of Independent Business, an organization that lobbies for small businesses, gave him a 100 percent rating.[35][36] The Texas chapter of Eagle Forum scored him a 93 percent (the second highest score awarded).[37] Texas Right to Life scored him 100 percent.[38]

Cain was named one of "The Worst Legislators of 2017" by Texas Monthly, which wrote "We tried really hard to give Briscoe Cain a pass. But he left us little choice. When we asked Capitol insiders for Worst list suggestions, his name, almost universally, was the first one mentioned."[39]

• 86th Legislative Session[40][41]
  • Chairman, Select Committee on Driver's License Issuance & Renewal
  • Elections
  • International Relations & Economic Development
  • Resolutions Calendars
• 85th Legislative Session[42]
  • Defense & Veterans' Affairs
  • Juvenile Justice & Family Issues

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cain intentionally violated Governor Greg Abbott's closures of non-essential businesses to halt the spread of the coronavirus.[43]

Cain is an outspoken opponent of illegal immigration (particularly in relation to the U.S-Mexico border).[44][45] On the "Issues" page of his mixed-use personal and campaign website, briscoecain.com, Cain states, "I believe that increased border security is critical for increasing job opportunities for Americans and decreasing crime and taxes on Texas families".[46] Cain had also co-authored House Bill HB 4306, an unsuccessful proposal calling for the immediate commencement of several infastructure projects relating to border security, in addition to the establishment of a fund specific to said projects by the Texas State Treasury department.[47]

Briscoe, a non-denominational Christian, cited his faith as his biggest source of inspiration in life as part of a 2017 interview with UHD News.[48] Cain has additionally gone on record to state, "Yes I mix religion and politics.".[49] He has pledged as part of his 2020 campaign platform to protect the "guarantee of religious liberty", as well as "ensure that traditional Christian values are restored and strengthened".[50]

On October 10, 2017, protesters at Texas Southern University (TSU) prevented Cain from speaking at a Federalist Society event on campus.[51] Cain was invited by the president of TSU's Federalist Society student chapter to speak to students at the traditionally black university. He planned to talk about the Texas Legislature's most recent special session. During that session Cain proposed an amendment to a budget bill which would prevent the state of Texas from paying for sex reassignment surgery and hormone therapy for inmates in prison, and he voted in favor of a proposed "bathroom bill".[52] Protesters claimed that Cain "has ties to the Alt-Right and is anti-LGBT" and drowned out Cain's attempts to speak. They were removed; as Cain began to speak again the school's president ordered the protesters be brought back in and canceled the event, saying the Federalist Society chapter was an unregistered student group and the event was "unapproved".[51][53] Cain said in a statement that the talk had been scheduled for months, and that he was "brought into a room in which the administration had specifically requested the talk occur. Then Black Lives Matter came in and bullied the administration into ending the event."[51] James Douglas, the interim dean of TSU's Thurgood Marshall School of Law, said the event had been cleared with him and that he was investigating the incident. He said, "We have a process here in the law school, and they went through our process. The speaker had a First Amendment right to be heard by the students that invited him." A student who had helped organize the protest said that "[w]ith his First Amendment right to espouse hate comes our First Amendment right" to protest.[54][55][51] Cain, a partner at a law firm where he practices First Amendment law, said he intended to sue the school and its president for infringing upon his First Amendment rights.[55]

On March 14, 2018, Cain tweeted about the death of prominent physicist Stephen Hawking. In his tweet, he stated "Stephen Hawking now knows the truth about how the universe was actually made. My condolences to his family." The tweet was largely perceived to be insensitive and was criticized by legislators on both sides of the aisle.[56]

On June 22, 2018, Cain and three other men snuck into the Texas Democratic Party's state convention being held at the Fort Worth Convention Center in Forth Worth, Texas where Cain and three other men handed out 100 yard signs which read, "This home is a gun-free safe space" to convention attendees.[57][58] Eventually, convention goers recognized who Cain was, and he and the other pranksters were forced to leave.[59] When asked about the stunt, Cain said he distributed the signs as "irony" and stated, "It's amazing how many people took one and thanked us. They said they would put it in front of their house. I think it's funny. Nobody should put this in front of their house."[59][57]

Beto O'Rourke, former United States House of Representatives member and 2020 presidential candidate

In September 2019, Cain threatened Beto O'Rourke after O'Rourke called for gun control measures. Cain said, "My AR is ready for you Robert Francis [O'Rourke's first and middle name]."[60] O’Rourke labeled the tweet a "death threat", and replied to Cain with a tweet reading, "Clearly, you shouldn’t own an AR-15 — and neither should anyone else". Cain responded with a tweet, "You’re a child Robert Francis."[61]

Twitter gave Cain 12 hours to remove the post. After he did not, the company removed Cain's "My AR is ready for you" tweet, saying it was against the site's policy against violent threats.[60][61][62] Cain was suspended from Twitter for 141 days.

On January 31, 2020, the day the social media company lifted its suspension of Cain's Twitter account, Cain tweeted a screenshot of the interaction between him and O'Rourke writing, "But seriously @twitter, y’all banned me for this."[61] When asked if he regretted the tweet, Cain was unapologetic stating, "I don't regret it."[63]