Grier Raggio, a native Texan and longtime resident of the 32nd Congressional District, was born on his grandparents’ farm in the Texas Hill Country. It was there where he learned the value of hard work and resourcefulness at an early age. His family gathered rainwater from the roof to drink and his grandmother made clothes out of chicken feed sacks when times were hard. Grier's father spent over two years fighting in the Pacific during World War II and the family returned to Dallas after he came back from the war. It was back in Dallas that both of Grier's parents would go on to become icons of the Dallas legal community. As attorneys they fought against racial discrimination, inequality, and became a passionate advocates for civil liberties.
Influenced by his parents’ courageousness and passion for social justice, Grier chose to join the civil rights movements in his early 20's and spent time in Louisiana and Mississippi fighting to ensure that all Americans were being afforded their Constitutional right. He later attended law school and became a Legal Aid attorney, giving the poorest citizens access to legal representation.
In addition to being an attorney Grier is also an entrepreneur and small business owner who knows what it means to weather tough financial times. It was only with pragmatism and a strong sense of fiscal responsibility that he was able to grow his own businesses. Grier understands that fiscally responsible policies are the only way will be able to improve the North Texas economy and will take this message with him to Washington.
Grier believes our country has been taken over by special interests. As Americans, we have important work to do that will not be accomplished if we don’t work together. Congress is grid-locked because career politicians like Pete Sessions are too worried about scoring political points with special interests and have chosen to ignore their duty to serve the American people. Sessions has become the puppet of the special interests at the tragic expense of the families of North Texas. While Sessions jetsets around the world doing favors for his political cronies the interests of everyday North Texans are being ignored. Grier believes we deserve better and is ready to fight for the interests of our families, not those of the Washington elite.
Grier is married to Lorraine Raggio, who was elected as a Civil District Judge in Dallas County in 2004 and reelected in 2008. His mother, Louise "The Texas Tornado" Raggio recently celebrated her 91st birthday. Grier has three adult daughters and two beautiful grandchildren.
