Mac Sweeney

Mac Sweeney

David McCann "Mac" Sweeney (born September 15, 1955) 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. Approximately one-third of the original District 14 is now represented by Ron Paul, a physician and two time candidate for the United States presidency (1988 Libertarian Party nominee and 2008 Republican Party candidate.

After his final unsuccessful campaign, Sweeney entered the private practice of law on Wall Street with the international firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle before later heading two businesses in New Jersey and Texas involved in successful restructurings or turnarounds. In 1997 he began what became a seven-year commitment to humanitarian and missionary work, based out of Cairo but also working in over five different Arab countries. A large number of the 400-plus Christians, Muslims and Coptics trained and funded by the Sweeney family continue to work today in Syria, Tunisia, Bahrain, Lebanon and Sudan primarily with schools, clinics, job training, micro-business and tent making enterprises.

In 2004 Sweeney was considered for top positions at the Peace Corps and in helping to organize the first democratic Afghan presidential election, 2004 and the Afghan parliamentary election, 2005; but could not come to terms with the Bush Administration. As of 2011 he operates the Washington-based Paraclete Group which funds large infrastructure projects in developing nations that are typically paired with select in-country charities or international NGO groups. He serves on four non-profit or business boards, and he and his wife split time between Bethesda, Maryland and Houston. He has four children