6 Interesting Facts About Dan Crenshaw, The War Hero Speaking At The Republican Convention
The Congressman once had a beef with Pete Davidson.
The Republican National Convention is entering its second night and there are still a lot of conservative luminaries on the speaking line-up. One of the party's rising stars is the freshman Texas Representative Dan Crenshaw. Probably best known for sporting an eye patch due to an injury in Afghanistan, the military vet has been garnering attention as a staunch supporter of Donald Trump.
Who is Dan Crenshaw?
Crenshaw hasn't released the detail of his remarks so far but it's a pretty safe bet that he'll touch on the importance of his military service as well as praising the work Trump has done since taking office. He might also go after the more left-wing entertainment industry in particular referring back to a spat he had with Saturday Night Live back in 2018.
Dan Crenshaw is a Texan.
Crenshaw, who is 36 years old, wasn't actually born in Texas, though his family comes from there originally. His father was an oil industry executive working in Scotland when Crenshaw was born. The family moved around to other hot spots for petroleum such as Colombia and Ecuador. He eventually headed back to the United States to go to college, getting his undergrad degree from Tufts University and a masters from Harvard University.
Dan Crenshaw was a Navy SEAL.
Crenshaw didn't go straight from college to grad school, however. After finishing his bachelor's degree, he joined the Navy and served on SEAL Team 3. He spent a decade in active duty, retiring with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 2016. During his service, he deployed multiple times and earned two Bronze Star Medals, the Purple Heart, and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with valor.
How did Dan Crenshaw lose his eye?
The patch over Crenshaw's right eye is an unmissable part of his appearance. As you might assume, the injury to his eye was something that happened to him in the military. it happened in 2012 when he was hit by an IED explosion in Helmand Province in Afghanistan. The blast destroyed his right eye and he required surgery to save the vision in his remaining left eye. That didn't end his tenure in the Navy, however. He served for four more years before taking a medical discharge in 2016.
Crenshaw was inspired to run for office after Hurricane Harvey.
After earning his masters and working on Capitol Hill for Texas Republican Pete Sessions, Crenshaw decided to run for office himself. He was based in Houston at the time and saw first hand what happened when Hurricane Harvey swept a path of destruction through this community. After volunteering to help his friends and neighbors rebuild their lives, he decided to run for Congress so he could have a bigger impact on making policy to help people in their time of need. He ran for a seat being vacated by retiring Representative Ted Poe in 2018 and beat out his Democratic challenger WHO WAS THE CHALLENGER? by over 7 percentage points.
SNL's Pete Davidson took a low dig at Crenshaw.
Before Crenshaw was even sworn in he was elevated to pop culture icon. On a November 2018 episode of Saturday Night Live, Pete Davidson sat at the Weekend Update desk and said Crenshaw looked like “a hit man in a porno movie.” He followed up by saying, “I’m sorry. I know he lost his eye in war or whatever.” But the joke didn't go away. Crenshaw objected and Davidson was forced by SNL producers to eat crow on TV. They brought Crenshaw in the next week and let him make jokes about Davidson, including cracking about his relationship with Ariana Grande. A the time, it was seen as an example of show business doing the right thing by a war hero but Davidson later said he hadn't wanted to do the apology. He felt like his joke wasn't that bad and the whole situation only served to elevate Crenshaw's profile.
Crenshaw is a rising Republican star.
Now working on his bid for a second term, the young Congressman is seen as a rising Republican star. He is firmly in the pro-Trump camp and spoke out against the impeachment of the President back in January. He has also praised how Trump is handling the Covid-19 crisis, despite his home state being a hot spot for the disease. He is a regular on Fox News and he serves on the Homeland Security Committee where he gets a front-row seat for everything related to national security. He is active on social media and has a podcast which he uses to criticize Democrats saying things like, "I know it was popular for conservatives to make fun of the low viewership of the Democrat Convention, but let’s be honest: Republicans would win this election if every American watched every second of that convention."
Crenshaw is anti-liberalism.
Who is Dan Crenshaw's wife, Tara Blake?
He and his wife Tara Blake have been married since 2013 but they don't have any kids so far. He will be speaking at the Republican Convention on Wednesday, August 26.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. She is the creator of the blog FeminXer and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.