PERSON: Keith Self

U.S. House of Representatives

Member of Congress

Keith Alan Self (born March 20, 1953) is an American politician who has been the United States representative for Texas’s 3rd congressional district since 2023. He is a member of the Republican Party. From 2007 until 2018, he was the county judge for Collin County.

Self was born in 1953 at a military hospital in Philadelphia and graduated from Tascosa High School in Amarillo, Texas. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from the United States Military Academy in 1975. Self is a life member of the National Rifle Association of America.

Self served in the United States Army from 1975 to 1999. He was a member of the Army Special Forces and Army Rangers. He was deployed to Qatar, Egypt, Germany, Afghanistan, and Belgium. He was a candidate to replace retiring U.S. Representative Dick Armey in 2002, narrowly missing the runoff by 93 votes to future Representative Michael C. Burgess. He was recalled to active duty from 2002 to 2003, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. Self was then elected as the county judge for Collin County, Texas, serving three terms from 2007 to 2018. He was a candidate for Texas’s 3rd congressional district in the March 2022 Republican primary, finishing second to incumbent Van Taylor and advancing to a May runoff. After the primary, Taylor announced that he would end his congressional campaign amid accusations of marital infidelity, giving Self the nomination. Self won the November general election.

On January 3, 2023, at the beginning of the 118th Congress, Self voted for Jim Jordan and later for Byron Donalds to be the U.S. House Speaker, in rebuke of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. “I love the new [U.S. House] rules. I’m looking for somebody that will enforce them,” Self said. In the 12th round of voting, Self changed his vote to McCarthy, saying “we are making progress... This will change this House, let’s be very clear”. Self was one of 15 Republicans to change their votes. McCarthy finally won the speakership on the 15th vote, held early in the morning on Saturday, January 7, with Self voting in favor.

As a consequence of the delay in selecting a new speaker, Self was formally sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives in the early morning of January 7, 2023, despite the 118th Congress convening on January 3.

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