Steve Keough, a Democrat who is running to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate in 2024, will be the keynote speaker at the monthly meeting of the Brown County Democrats this week.
The event will be held at 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 24, at the Early Chamber of Commerce, 104 East Industrial Drive, in Early, TX.
The meeting is open to the public.
Keough, a retired Navy Captain who was born in Newton, Mass., is a patent attorney, and teaches at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio. He is a member of the Texas AFT. Keough graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1977, and also holds a master’s degree in congressional studies from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and a law degree from Boston College Law School.
Keough has served his country in many capacities and has also worked on behalf of the international pro-democracy movement in other countries.
When the Shah of Iran fell in 1979, Keough was on the ground that day with a Pan Am jet plane he had personally chartered. He was able to evacuate several senior-level American military personnel, their families, and local Iranians who had been working with the Americans. Among those rescued was the senior American commander of the airport.
Unfortunately, his own father was one of the dozens of Americans taken hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Iran later that year, and held for 444 days.
In more recent times, Keough served as a civilian seeking to promote pro-democracy changes in Russia and several former Soviet-controlled countries.
As a patent attorney, he currently works on intellectual property issues and has successfully defended U.S. inventors and companies against international firms trying to steal their technologies. Keough speaks Mandarin and has trained Chinese lawyers about the importance of international intellectual property rights. He also has worked with members of Congress on trade-related and intellectual properties issues.
President Bill Clinton appointed Keough to work as a civilian on the Threat Reduction Advisory Committee, which focused on assessing the nuclear threat to America. He was reappointed by President George W. Bush and was working on the committee on 9/11.
Keough is passionate about immigration and border issues, believing that the government has a responsibility to keep its citizens safe while at the same time a duty to treat immigrants and asylum-seekers with care. He has visited the countries of many people seeking to enter the U.S. and has also spent time in asylum camps in Mexico, listening to the tragic stories of refugees who fled their homelands.
As the father of four daughters, Keough is a strong supporter of women’s reproductive rights and body autonomy, saying the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade has “thrown women to the dogs – the rabid dogs of extremism.” He believes the relationship between a doctor and a patient is an inviolate one and that politicians should not inject themselves into decisions that are not theirs to make.
The issue of body autonomy “goes beyond reproductive rights,” Keough noted, saying that he is fighting for LGBTQIA rights as well. Transgender people and their families, for instance, “have had tremendous, excruciating pressure put on them” with laws aimed at removing their rights to healthcare, he said. Keough believes all U.S. citizens are entitled to healthcare and that body autonomy is a basic human right and IS healthcare.
As a veteran himself, Keough believes veterans’ rights are a moral imperative. “We must do better by our veterans,” he said.
He is a very progressive Democrat who, as a child, became a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association at a time when that organization was focused on gun safety. In his work as a professional military bodyguard to four-star admirals, and later as a Navy officer himself, he has spent his lifetime advocating for the proper use and handling of guns.
Keough welcomes the opportunity to discuss his views on issues discussed here as well as national security, foreign policy, climate change, infrastructure, education, and more. Additional information is available at his website, www.keoughforsenate.com, on Facebook@keoughforsenate, or at ballotpedia.com. To contact the campaign, email scheduler@keoughforsenate.com, or call Dr. Marisela Roeges at 832-443-8851.