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The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a powerful arm of the Texas government not only because of its power of the purse to control and direct the activities of state government and the strong constitutional connections between it and the Lieutenant Governor of Texas,but also due to Texas's plural executive.
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no term limits. The House meets at the State Capitol in Austin.
The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature,with the Texas House of Representatives being the lower house. Together,they compose the state legislature of the state of Texas.
The lieutenant governor of Texas is the second-highest executive office in the government of Texas,a state in the U.S. It is the second most powerful post in Texas government because its occupant controls the work of the Texas Senate and controls the budgeting process as a leader of the Legislative Budget Board.
Robert Christopher Bell is an American politician,attorney,and former journalist. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and South Texas College of Law. Bell served five years on the Houston City Council from 1997 to 2001,followed by one term in the United States House of Representatives from Texas's 25th Congressional District in Houston from 2003 to 2005.
Florence Donald Shapiro is an American politician from Texas. Her political career lasted over 30 years and coincided with Plano's growth from a bedroom community of 17,000 to a city of almost 300,000 residents. After moving to Plano in 1972,she served on the Plano City Council from 1979 to 1990 and served as the city's first female and Jewish elected mayor from 1990 to 1992.
The 2003 Texas redistricting was a controversial intercensus state plan that defined new congressional districts. In the 2004 elections,this redistricting supported the Republicans taking a majority of Texas's federal House seats for the first time since Reconstruction. Democrats in both houses of the Texas Legislature staged walkouts,unsuccessfully trying to prevent the changes. Opponents challenged the plan in three suits,combined when the case went to the United States Supreme Court in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry (2006).
David Henry Dewhurst is an American politician,businessman,and attorney who served as the 41st Lieutenant Governor of Texas,serving from 2003 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party,he was the Texas Land Commissioner from 1999 to 2003. He was a candidate in 2012 for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the retiring Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison,but he lost his party's runoff election to former Solicitor General Ted Cruz,who went on to win the general election.
Michael Lawrence Williams is an American educator and attorney who is the former Education Commissioner of the U.S. state of Texas,in which capacity he was leader of the Texas Education Agency. Williams was appointed to the position on August 27,2012,by then Governor Rick Perry. On October 15,2015,Williams announced that he would step down as Education Commissioner at the end of the year to return to the private sector.
Kelton Gray Seliger,known as Kel Seliger,is a former Republican member of the Texas State Senate for District 31,which stretches from the Panhandle south to the Permian Basin.
James Michael Jackson,known as Mike Jackson is a Republican former member of the Texas Senate representing the 11th District. He was also the President pro tempore of the Texas Senate,before running the United States House of Representatives in 2012. In this capacity,he was an acting governor of Texas while Governor Rick Perry campaigned for U.S. President and Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst was on holiday or campaigned for Perry.
Leticia Rosa Magdalena Aguilar Van de Putte (née San Miguel;born December 6,1954) is an American politician from San Antonio,Texas. She represented the 26th District in the Texas Senate from 1999–2015. From 1991 to 1999,Van de Putte was a member of the Texas House of Representatives. In 2014,she was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor but lost the general election,58-39 percent,to her Republican senatorial colleague,Dan Patrick of Houston. Following that defeat,she then resigned from the Texas Senate to run for mayor of San Antonio,which she narrowly lost to Ivy Taylor,52-48 percent.
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The 2000 United States elections were held on November 7,2000. Republican governor George W. Bush of Texas defeated Democratic Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee in the presidential election. Republicans retained control of both houses of Congress,giving the party unified control of Congress and the presidency for the first time since the 1954 elections.
Paul Lindsey Sadler is an American attorney from Henderson,Texas,now residing in Bandera,Texas who served from 1991 to 2003 in the Texas House of Representatives. He was the Democratic nominee for the United States Senate in 2012. In the November 6 general election,he lost against the Republican Ted Cruz,who still holds the position.
Bennett Ratliff is an American civil engineer,businessman,and politician who served as a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives from district 115 in Dallas County and currently serves as a Planning and Zoning Commissioner in Plano,Texas.
Matthew McDade Phelan is an American real estate developer and politician. A member of the Republican Party,he serves in Texas House of Representatives representing District 21,which includes most of Jefferson and all of Orange and Jasper counties in the southeast corner of the state. He has been Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives since January 2021.
Matthew Daniel Rinaldi is an American attorney and politician who served as chairman of the Republican Party of Texas from 2021 to 2024. Rinaldi was a member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 115 in Dallas County from 2015 to 2019 when he was defeated by Democrat Julie Johnson.
Robert M. Ward was an American politician who served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1984 to 2007,and as the minority leader from 1995 to 2007,as a member of the Republican Party. He was the longest-serving caucus leader in the state legislature in Connecticut's history.
The 2002 Texas Senate elections took place as part of the biennial United States elections. Texas voters elected state senators in all 31 Senate districts. All of the seats up for this election,with half of the seats elected for two-year terms and the other half elected for four-year terms. The winners of this election served in the 78th Texas Legislature.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bill Ratliff Archived September 2, 2006, at the Wayback Machine , Texas State Politics, University of Texas
- 1 2 3 "April 2001 State Legislatures magazine: Bill Ratliff, A New Texas Star?". May 31, 2004. Archived from the original on May 31, 2004. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
- ↑ "Our Campaigns - TX State Senate 01 Race - Nov 08, 1988".
- 1 2 3 King, Michael (November 28, 2003). "Naked City". Austin Chronicle. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
- ↑ "Legislative Reference Library | Legislators and Leaders | Member profile".
- 1 2 3 4 Bill Ratliff, John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
- ↑ Prominent Texas Republican Senators and House Members Support Lt. Governor Bill Ratliff as He Announces Plans to Run, Business Wire, May 26, 2001
