Benny Frank Barnes (born April 17, 1938) is an American real estate magnate, politician, and crisis manager, who formerly served as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from 1965 to 1969 and the 36th Lieutenant Governor of Texas from January 21, 1969, to January 16, 1973, for two two-year terms.

[5] In 1957, at the age of 20, Barnes began studying at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was on the Dean's List for the Business School.

After discovering some financial irregularities that led to the indictment of the state health commissioner, Barnes became interested in politics.

In the lead up to 1965, Barnes began accumulating pledges of support from colleagues to succeed Byron Tunnell if the Speaker decided not to seek a third term in 1967.

The headlines tell the tale: “Ben Barnes—Man Going Places,” “Boy Wonder of Texas Politics,” “Big Crowd Hears LBJ Predict White House for Ben Barnes.”[9] During his speakership, Barnes placed a high priority on the state's colleges and universities, with financial support for these institutions rising by 300 percent.

Furthermore, Barnes won passage of a minimum wage standard for farm workers, played a key role in winning approval for clean air and water legislation, and successfully fought for a bill creating the Texas Rehabilitation Commission.

In his 1968 race for Lieutenant Governor, Barnes carried all 254 counties in both the primary and the general elections; in the latter he won more votes than any candidate had polled up to that time in the history of Texas.

While he was not brought to trial, the scandal contributed to an unsuccessful run for governor and Barnes' exit from public office.

According to the statement, Barnes had called the head of the Texas Air National Guard, Brigadier General James Rose, to recommend future U.S. president George W. Bush for a pilot spot at the request of Bush family friend Sidney Adger.

[17] In March 2023, motivated by news of Jimmy Carter's hospice care, Barnes corroborated the 1980 October Surprise theory by telling journalist Peter Baker of The New York Times that in the summer of 1980 he was unwittingly involved in relaying promises from Reagan campaign officials to ask Iranian officials to withhold release of the hostages they held until after the 1980 presidential elections.

According to Barnes, in the summer of 1980 he accompanied former Texas governor and a former candidate in the 1980 presidential election, John Connally, on a trip to several Middle Eastern countries which records indicate to have included Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel.

Barnes also claimed that shortly after returning to the United States, Connally reported on their trip to William J. Casey, who was chairman of Reagan's campaign, and later Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

In the late 1990s, Barnes began working with GTECH Corporation, a company that operated lotteries in 37 states including Texas.

Clients range from major Fortune 500 companies to small family-owned businesses, as from a variety of both international and domestic industries.

The Ben Barnes Group maintains offices in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Austin, Texas.

On September 14, 2019, Ben Barnes and Elizabeth Moore McDermott married at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Nantucket.