 On Capitol Hill he's often called the "Hammer" for his unmatched skill at gaining political advantage. But it was a hammer of another sort that set Majority Whip Tom DeLay—the 2002 Distinguished Christian Statesman award winner—on a path that changed his life and led him to help transform the moral destiny of our nation.
It happened in 1985, shortly after freshman congressman DeLay had arrived in the nation’s capital. “Like many young, ambitious males, I had pushed God aside and pushed my family aside all in the name of career,” he told World magazine. Politics and alcohol were at the center of his life when a fellow member of Congress, Rep. Frank Wolf, gave him a Christian video about fatherhood. That’s when the Hammer got pounded.
“I started crying because I had missed my daughter’s whole childhood,” Rep. DeLay says. This shocking realization caused this rising political star to “rededicate my life to Christ” and begin attending a regular Bible study on Capitol Hill for members of Congress.
Now, Majority Whip DeLay is focusing his political and personal efforts on seeing our culture transformed. On Capitol Hill, DeLay is determined to use his position as the third-ranking Republican member to restore the “Judeo-Christian ethic” that he says has been undermined in recent years. He established the Values Action Team to help strengthen the coalition of pro-faith groups. He supports faith-based initiatives and has worked to fix the child welfare system. And he openly calls for more evidence of faith in public life.
This commitment to faith-based solutions goes deeper than Washington political ideals. DeLay and his wife of 35 years, Christine, are leaders in their local church and place their faith at the center of their lives. In fact, in recent years the DeLays opened their home to three foster children, and have since launched the DeLay Foundation for Kids to support foster parenting.
DeLay’s faith commitment has given him the perspective he has needed to chart his course in Washington. Born and raised in Texas, DeLay graduated from the University of Houston in 1970 and thereafter operated a small business. In 1978, he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives. Six years later he ran for Congress and won.
Today, DeLay is respected and even revered in D.C.’s political circles. The Washington Post calls him “the most dominant force in Congress” and few would disagree. As Majority Whip, DeLay’s job is to “grow the votes” by building the coalitions needed to pass the Republican agenda. He’s the best at his game. He’s the Hammer.
Still, this political powerhouse who meets weekly with an accountability group of Christian brothers has a higher purpose than the next vote. DeLay wants to see America’s moral purpose restored.
“We have had the worldview (that) man can build Utopia… so they have spent 40 to 50 years getting God out of our institutions,” he said from the House floor last year. “Now we want to bring (the culture) back… and part of rebuilding that culture is faith; faith in something bigger than yourself.” Sounds like Capitol Hill’s “Hammer” has been transformed on the anvil of God’s grace.
Majority Whip DeLay and his wife, Christine, have one daughter and reside in Sugar Land, Texas.
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