Lamar Seeligson Smith is an American politician and lobbyist who served in the United States House of Representatives for Texas's 21st congressional district for 16 terms,a district including most of the wealthier sections of San Antonio and Austin,as well as some of the Texas Hill Country. He is a member of the Republican Party. He sponsored the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act (PCIP). He also co-sponsored the Leahy–Smith America Invents Act.
Joaquin Castro is an American lawyer and Democratic politician who has represented Texas's 20th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives since 2013. The district includes just over half of his native San Antonio. He currently serves on the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Guadalupe Valdez is an American law enforcement official who served as Sheriff of Dallas County,Texas,from 2005 to 2017,and was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Texas in the 2018 gubernatorial election losing to incumbent,Greg Abbott.
Judith Pappas Zaffirini is an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the Texas State Senate from the 21st District,which includes her home city of Laredo in south Texas. Zaffririni is the first female dean of the Texas Senate. Zaffirini has been named among the "Top 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States" by Hispanic Business magazine. Zaffirini is the first Mexican American woman elected to the Texas Senate.
Carlos "Charlie" Uresti is an American attorney and Democratic politician from San Antonio,Texas. From November 2006 until his resignation in June 2018,he served as a member of the Texas State Senate representing Senate District 19,one of the largest geographical senatorial districts in the Texas Senate,covering a third of the Texas-Mexico border. Prior to his election to the Texas State Senate,he represented the 118th district in the Texas House of Representatives from January 1997 until November 2006.
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.
Jose Antonio Menendez is an American politician who is a member of the Texas Senate for District 26. A member of the Democratic Party,he is a former member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 124. He won a special election on February 17,2015,for the state Senate,to replace Leticia Van de Putte. She resigned to run,unsuccessfully as it developed,against the short-term incumbent,Ivy Taylor,for mayor of San Antonio,Texas. Menendez handily defeated fellow Democratic State Representative Trey Martinez Fischer for the right to succeed Van de Putte. Even though Menendez and Fischer remain political opponents,their relationship appears to have been civil.
Susan Combs is an American politician,having served elected office in Texas and served as the Assistant Secretary of Policy,Management and Budget at the U.S. Department of the Interior as an appointed official under President Donald J. Trump.
Joseph Richard Straus III is an American politician who served as the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from 2009 to 2019. A Republican,he represented District 121,which comprises northeastern Bexar County,including parts of San Antonio and several surrounding communities,from his first election to the House in 2005 until his retirement in 2019. He chose not to seek re-election to the state House in 2018.
Elizabeth Ames Jones is a former member of the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Railroad Commission,the regulatory body over petroleum and natural gas.
Randolph Blake Farenthold is an American politician and lobbyist. A member of the Republican Party,Farenthold co-hosted a conservative talk-radio program before beginning a career in politics. Farenthold served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 27th congressional district from 2011 until his resignation in April 2018 in the wake of reports he used public funds to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit and had created an intensely hostile work environment for women in his congressional office. Upon resigning,Farenthold pledged to reimburse the US$84,000 in public money that he used to settle the lawsuit. He later reneged on his pledge to repay.
Donna Sue Campbell is an American politician and physician who is the 25th District member of the Texas Senate. On July 31,2012,she became the first person in Texas history to defeat an incumbent Republican senator,Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio,in a primary election.
Trey Martinez Fischer,legally Ferdinand Frank Fischer III,is a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives who represents the San Antonio-based 116th District,serving since 2019. He previously held this seat from 2000 through 2017. In January 2017,he was succeeded in the position by Diana Arevalo,the secretary for the Bexar County Democratic Party. In 2018,he unseated Arevalo in the Democratic primary for his former state House seat. He won the subsequent general election on November 6 over the Republican nominee Fernando Padron,32,375 votes to 13,612. Martinez Fischer returned to the House in January 2019.
Giovanni Capriglione is an American politician. He is Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives,having represented since 2013,District 98 in Tarrant County,Texas.
Christi Leigh Craddick is an American politician. She is one of three members of the Railroad Commission of Texas,the elected regulatory body over oil,natural gas,utilities,and surface mining first established in 1891. She is a Republican. The commission ended all controls over railroads in 2005 but is still known as the "Railroad Commission" for historical reasons.
Philip Adam Cortez is a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives. He previously served as a State Representative for House District 117 during the 83rd Legislative Session. From 2007 to 2012,he was a member of the nominally nonpartisan San Antonio City Council,on which he was a firm ally of then Mayor Julian Castro.
Maryann Garza Perez is a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives for House District 144 in Harris County,Texas. Perez previously served one term from 2013 to 2015. An insurance agent,she is a former member of the trustees of Houston Community College.
On May 9,2015,the city of San Antonio,Texas,held an election to choose the next Mayor of San Antonio. Interim mayor Ivy Taylor ran for election to a full term and narrowly defeated former state senator Leticia Van de Putte in the runoff election on June 13,2015,to become the first African American elected to the position. The election was officially nonpartisan.
The 2018 Texas gubernatorial election took place on November 6,2018,to elect the governor of Texas,concurrently with the election of Texas's Class I U.S. Senate seat,as well as other congressional,state and local elections throughout the United States and Texas. Incumbent Republican governor Greg Abbott won re-election to a second term in office defeating Democratic nominee Lupe Valdez,the former sheriff of Dallas County,and Libertarian nominee Mark Tippetts,a former member of the Lago Vista city council.
The 84th Texas Legislature began on January 13,2015. All members of the House and Senate were elected in the general election held on November 4,2014.
