Mac Sweeney

Who is Mac Sweeney?

David McCann "Mac" Sweeney is a former Republican Member of the United States House of Representatives from Texas.

Born in Wharton, Texas, Sweeney earned his B.A. and J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. In his early political years Sweeney served on the staffs of Republican Senator John G. Tower from 1977–1978, and former Governor John B. Connally, Jr., from 1979 to 1980, when Connally was seeking the 1980 Republican presidential nomination.

Sweeney served as Director of administrative operations in the Ronald Reagan White House from 1981–1983. In this capacity he worked directly with John F.W. Rogers and began a long-term association with another well-known Texan, James A. Baker III, then the White House Chief of Staff. In 1984 he unseated Democratic U.S. Representative William Neff "Bill" Patman in one of the nation's closest congressional elections. In doing so, Sweeney became the first-ever Republican to represent District 14 and the only person in United States history before the age of 30 both to serve on the White House staff and to be elected to the United States Congress.

He was appointed to the House Armed Services Committee and became in 1985 one of six freshmen Republican congressmen from Texas infamously known as the Texas Six Pack, including future House Majority Leaders Dick Armey and Tom DeLay. Sweeney served two terms from 1985–1989, but was unseated in 1988 by Democrat Greg Laughlin. The prior, sprawling, 22-county District 14 has been divided, primarily by the 2003 Texas redistricting, into five different congressional districts today.