Martin Frost Jonas Martin Frost III (born January 1, 1942) is an American politician, who was the Democratic representative to the U.S. House of Representatives for the Texas 24th Congressional District from 1979 to 2005. He is married to U.S. Army Major General (Retired) Kathryn Frost. Born in Glendale, California, Frost grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. He graduated from the University of Missouri in 1964 with bachelor's degrees in journalism and history, later receiving his Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1970.
Before going to law school, Frost worked as a newspaper reporter. Following his graduation, he worked as a law clerk for Federal Judge Sarah T. Hughes of the Northern District of Texas and began a private practice.
Frost ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the House in 1974. He tried again successfully in 1978, becoming the second Jewish U.S. congressman from Texas since David Spangler Kaufman.
Frost was reelected 12 times without serious opposition. However, he was one of the targets of a controversial redistricting engineered by then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. His district, which included portions of Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington was redrawn to be much more Republican. Moreover, his home in Arlington was shifted into the heavily Republican 6th District, represented by 10-term incumbent Joe Barton. Frost decided to seek re-election in the newly redrawn 32nd District, which included a considerable amount of territory that he had represented from 1979 until 1993. He lost by 10 points to Republican Pete Sessions.
He was the ranking member of the House Rules Committee during his last term in the House.
In 2005, Martin Frost was a candidate for Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He dropped out of the race on February 1. On February 15, Frost was hired by FoxNews as a political commentator.
