https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2008-10-22/693782/

Real Mavericks on 'Nightline' Tonight

By Lee Nichols, October 22, 2008, 9:44pm, Newsdesk

Do you know the history of the word "maverick," which has been so ubiquitous on the tongue of John McCain and Sarah Palin? Samuel Maverick was a rancher and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence who refused to brand his cattle. Whenever an unbranded bovine was spotted, Texans would say "there goes another Maverick."

Years later, his descendants became very liberal politicians in San Antonio, most notably Maury Maverick (a New Deal congressman and then mayor of San Antonio) and his son Maury Jr. (a state representative, ACLU lawyer, and finally a newspaper columnist). The living Maverick descendants are none too happy about their family name becoming a campaign slogan for Republicans, and they'll air their complaints at 10:35pm tonight on ABC's Nightline (shown locally on KVUE, channel 24, cable channel 3).