Legislative career
Martinez Fischer was first elected to the seat of District 118 in the Texas House of Representatives in 2000. In 2011,he was the lead Democratic author on HB 3727,the Boeing Bill. As a result of this bill,Air Force One will be refitted and repaired in San Antonio. [4]
He was selected by then House Speaker Joe Straus to sit on the Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations, [5] and the Select Committee on Redistricting during the first called special session of the 83rd Legislature.
In 2014,State Senator Leticia Van de Putte resigned in order to run in the San Antonio Mayoral race. Martinez Fischer ran in the special election to serve out the remainder of her term for Senate District 26 . Martinez Fischer received a plurality of the votes,but came short of the majority needed to win the seat. [6] On February 17,2015,Martinez Fischer was defeated in the runoff by fellow Democratic House colleague Jose Menendez. [7]
Martinez Fischer challenged and lost again to Menendez for a full Senate term in the Democratic primary on March 1,2016. [8] Martinez Fischer had to resign his House seat to run for the Senate and Diana Arevalo,the secretary for the Bexar County Democratic Party,won the Democratic primary for the House seat and as she was unopposed in the general election,succeeded Martinez Fischer in January 2017. [8] [9] In 2018,he unseated Arevalo in the Democratic primary for his former state House seat. [10] He won the subsequent general election over the Republican Fernando Padron,32,375 votes (70.4 percent) to 13,612 (29.6 percent). Martinez Fischer returned to the House in January 2019. [11]
Heading into the 2023 legislative session,the House Democratic Caucus elected Martinez Fischer to lead the caucus as Minority Leader. [12] He only held the position for a single term and was succeeded by Gene Wu. [13]
He has frequently been acknowledged by Texas Monthly magazine and in 2011 was named "Bull of the Brazos". [14] In 2013 and 2015 he was recognized as one of the magazine's "10 Best Legislators" which described him as a "soldier prepared to do battle but ready to make peace". [15] [16] In 2023,the magazine called him one of the "10 Worst Legislators". [17]
On June 27,2014,while speaking at the Texas Democratic Convention,Martinez Fischer attacked the Republican Party,saying "GOP" should stand for "gringos y otros pendejos". His office had also been handing out six Lotería cards to delegates,one depicting Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott as "El Diablito". Martinez Fischer responded by saying that if he had known Abbott was in attendance,he would have "told him directly to his face." [18]
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