Bryan Slaton

Bryan Lee Slaton (born February 2, 1978) is a former pastor and American politician. Slaton represented the 2nd district in the Texas House of Representatives from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, Slaton also works for his family business, Slaton Financial Services.

In May 2023 the Texas House Committee on General Investigating recommended Slaton be expelled after an investigation found that on March 31 or April 1, 2023, Slaton provided alcohol to, and had sex with, a 19-year old female legislative aide under his employ who was "unable to give effective consent."The committee also concluded that Slaton later showed a threatening email to the aide and told her not to discuss the incident, and asked another lawmaker not to discuss the incident.

On May 8, 2023, Slaton resigned his House membership. On May 9, 2023, the Texas House voted unanimously to expel him, as failing to do so would have allowed him to draw his salary and other benefits until a successor could be elected.

Slaton was born in Mineola, Texas. He attended Ouachita Baptist University, where he received a BA in youth ministry and speech communication. He then attended University of North Texas and earned a degree in accounting. Slaton later earned a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served in the ministry as a youth and family minister for 13 years, for three of those years at River Hills Baptist Church in Corpus Christi, Texas. Bryan works for his brother's small business, Slaton Financial Services.

In 2016, Slaton filed to run against incumbent state representative Dan Flynn. On March 1, 2016, Slaton narrowly lost to the incumbent in the Republican primary. Flynn polled 14,917 votes (51 percent) to Slaton's 14,336 (49 percent). In 2018, Slaton decided to take on the incumbent again. In the 2018 primary election, Flynn defeated Slaton again, 11,803 (51.7 percent) to 11,013 (48.3 percent).

However, on July 14, 2020, Slaton defeated Flynn by a 22-point margin in the Republican primary runoff, forcing the incumbent into a runoff election. Slaton ran to Flynn's right. Slaton criticized Flynn for unnecessary and superfluous spending. He sent out mail which pointed out Flynn's campaign-funded lifestyle expenses such as nearly $14,000 in spending on cookies and using his campaign fund to pay for a Netflix subscription. Slaton campaigned on abolishing property taxes, ending overly broad laws that give government excess power during emergencies, and pledging to oppose any tax increase.

In March 2021, Slaton introduced a bill that would abolish abortion and make it a criminal act, whereby women and physicians who received and performed abortions, respectively, could receive the death penalty. The bill made no exceptions for rape or incest; it did provide exemptions for ectopic pregnancies that threaten the life of the woman "when a reasonable alternative to save the lives of both the mother and the unborn child is unavailable."

In June 2022, Slaton said in a social media post that he planned to introduce legislation in the 2023 legislative session that would ban minors from drag shows in Texas. Slaton declared in an interview that year: "Children don't need to be focused on sex and sexualization, and we need to let them just grow up to be children and let them do that as they’re getting closer to being an adult".

Slaton supports a ban on Democrats being given committee chairmanships as long as the Republicans hold the majority of seats in the Texas House. On December 6, 2022, Slaton proposed a rule change to the Texas House Administration Committee that would end Democrats receiving committee chairmanships. On February 27, 2023, Slaton introduced HB 2889, which would allow a tax credit for married residents of Texas that would increase as the number of children increases, either by procreation or adoption.

On March 6, 2023, Slaton introduced HB 3596, the "Texas Independence Referendum Act" (TEXIT), which would allow for a referendum to investigate the secession of Texas from the U.S. The U.S. Supreme Court case Texas v. White ruled in 1869 that the Constitution did not permit states to unilaterally secede from the United States.

On May 10, 2023, Slaton was expelled by an unanimous vote, 147-0, based on an investigation that determined the Royse City Republican had sex with a 19-year-old aide after getting her drunk.

Slaton married his second and current wife in 2017; she filed for divorce in April 2022 then withdrew it in November 2022.

On April 10, 2023, a complaint surfaced alleging Slaton had an "inappropriate relationship" with an intern, the previous month. The next day, two fellow Republican members of the House and one Democrat called on him to resign.

The incident was investigated by the House Committee on General Investigating, which published a report in May 2023 unanimously recommending Slaton's expulsion from the House, and detailing that he had committed the crimes of providing alcohol to a minor, abuse of official capacity, and official oppression. The committee found that Slaton had invited a 19-year-old aide to his home at around 10 p.m. on March 30, 2023, stating that he "did not want to drink by himself." Her friends accompanied her as a "protective measure," with their presence surprising Slaton. At his home, Slaton provided alcohol to all of them. She testified that she drank a "lot of alcohol," felt "pretty rough" and "really dizzy." When the friends left Slaton's home and she attempted to get up to leave as well, Slaton told her that she "did not have to leave if she did not want to," and she stayed. She later testified that this was "an inappropriate situation ... because I had too much to drink." Another Texas House legislative aide testified that the aide told her she had unprotected sex with Slaton. The report further details that the aide bought the Plan B emergency contraceptive the next day.

The committee stated that according to testimony, Slaton had showed his aide an email that said, "I know you’re sleeping with a staffer. Can you really trust those 20-year-old girls? She owns you now." Slaton's aide testified that the email made her "really fearful that I would potentially lose my job," and that Slaton told her, "Everything would be fine. Everyone involved just has to stay quiet." Slaton's aide testified her belief that the email came from Slaton's financial services email account.

The committee said Slaton did not deny the allegation of having sex with the aide. Slaton and his attorney did not provide any evidence that contradicted the allegations. Slaton's attorney advocated that the complaints against Slaton should be rejected because the alleged behavior occurred in Slaton's home, not in his workplace. The committee detailed that another Texas House Representative had called Slaton to ask if he "invited a young staffer to your condo and you guys had sex," to which Slaton replied, "Yes, that's true." Later on, Slaton requested that the other Representative keep the details of the call "between us."

House resolution 1542 to expel him was scheduled for a vote on May 9, 2023. However, on May 8, 2023, Slaton resigned his seat.Nevertheless, based on a memo by the General Investigating Committee that notwithstanding his resignation, Texas law and court opinions still considered Slaton as a House Member entitled to benefits of the office "until his successor is duly qualified," and therefore expulsion was necessary. The House voted 147-0 to expel him.