Texas Politics - Race and Ethnicity in the Texas Legislature

19371941194519491953195719611965196919731977198119851989199319972001200520092013Start of Legislative Session

0255075100Percentage

Race and ethnicity in the Texas Legislature, 1937-2013

Hispanic
African American
White
Asian

Mouse over the graph to see individual data points

Year	Hispanic	African American	White	Asian
2013	21.1%	11.1%	66.1%	1.7%

Key Years

1936: Arnold Vale (D-Rio Grand City) is first Hispanic elected to the Legislature (House) in the 20th century.
1966: First African Americans elected since 1896: Barbara Jordan (D-Houston), Reps. Curtis Graves (D-Houston), and Joe Lockridge (D-Dallas).
1970: La Raza Unida Party founded to elect Mexican-American candidates.
1973: Mexican-American Legislative Caucus and Texas Black Caucus are founded.

Source: Handbook of Texas; Houston Institute for Culture; Haag, et al.; Texas Legislative Reference Library.

Mouse-over for full source, footnote.

1937-1969: African Americans: See "African Americans and Politics" in the Handbook of Texas Online, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/AA/wmafr.html. For information on 19th century African American legislators see J. Mason Brewer. Negro Legislators of Texas. Available online as part of the African American Biographical Database, http://aabd.chadwyck.com/toc/htxview?template=basic.htx&content=title041.htx. Accessed 19 May 2004.
Hispanics: See Schmal, John P. "The Tejano Struggle for Representation," a special online feature from the Houston Institute for Culture (http://www.houstonculture.org/hispanic/tejano1.html). Accessed 19 May 2004.

1971-1999: Haag, Stefan D., Gary A. Keith, and Rex C. Peebles. 2001. Texas Politics and Government: Ideas, Institutions, and Policies. 2nd ed. New York: Addison, Wesley, Longman. Table 8.5, p. 236.

2001-2003: Texas Legislative Reference Library, http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/legis/profile77.html and http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/legis/profile78.html. Accessed 17 May 2004.

2007: NCSL, http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legismgt/about/Latino2007.htm;

2009: NCSL, http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=14776

2011: Texas Tribune Election 2010 page http://www.texastribune.org/election-2010/tx-house/ as well as assorted candidate webpages.

Asian Americans : For 80th legislature Asian American representation, see: http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=17825
Currently (81st session), Hubert Vo (D-Houston) and Angie Chen Button (R-Richardson) are the only Asian Americans serving in the Texas legislature. Vo was elected in 2004 and Button was first elected in 2008. In addition, Martha Wong (R-Houston) served in the Texas legislature from 2003-2007. Before her, Thomas Jefferson Lee is believed to have been the only other Asian American member of the legislature, having represented San Antonio in the House of Representatives from 1965-1967. (See: Delaney Hall, "Rep. Calls For Better History Preservation." Daily Texan Online. June 9, 2003.) Accessed July 1, 2008.

The Texas Politics Project

Race and ethnicity in the Texas Legislature, 1937-2013

Key Years