By: Alex Samuels

For female Republicans looking to become freshmen in the Texas Legislature, last year was the year of the woman — or, if you want to include both of them, women.

Candy Noble and Angela Paxton were the only freshman female Republicans elected to the Texas House and Senate, respectively, amid a surge of women running for office.

Noble and Paxton exemplify what’s widely viewed as a dearth of female GOP lawmakers in the Legislature. In the Senate, the number of Republican women serving is at an all-time high, but they make up less than a third of the chamber’s GOP-held seats. Across the rotunda, the gender gap is far more visible: Of the 83 Republicans serving, six are women. Democratic women, by comparison, hold 27 of the party’s seats.

As recently as 2012, 19 Republican women served in the House.

“When I first came in, we had a lot of Republican women and then [we had] more the next few election cycles,” said state Rep. Geanie Morrison, of Victoria, who was first elected in 1998 and whose tenure is tied for the longest for a Republican woman in the Texas House. “We need to reach out and particularly recruit the next generation of young Republican women to get involved.”

The lack of female GOP lawmakers isn’t confined to Texas. There has been a steady decline overall in the number of Republican women elected to serve in legislatures across the country and in Congress. What stands out in the current makeup of the Texas Legislature, lawmakers and political operatives say, is that after an election year in which voters likely saw more women on the ballot than usual, only one party saw major gains in female representation.

“As a body, we don’t go out and recruit actively,” said state Rep. Drew Springer, R-Muenster, who chairs the House Agriculture & Livestock Committee. “I think the Democrats have done a better job of looking for females to run in races, whereas Republicans just look at whoever comes through. We ought to maybe learn something from that playbook.”

Several political operatives and former and current lawmakers chalk up the partisan gender gap at the Capitol to a number of factors: a lack of influential conservative organizations to support would-be candidates, a greater emphasis in the Republican party on recruiting candidates based on experience over gender and intraparty politics that lead some Republicans to alienate people — especially women — with more moderate views.

“In my last session … I felt like I had to make votes based on my party affiliation and not what felt right in my heart of hearts,” said Patricia Harless, a Republican from Spring who stepped down from her House seat after the 2015 legislative session. “At that point, if I can’t be true to myself and do what I think is right, then I don’t need to be there.

“When I left office, I thought it would be easier to help recruit women, but getting a commitment to run for the state Legislature is literally like pulling teeth. Women don’t want to have to fight their party to do what’s best.”

Despite Republican women’s modest numbers, the party still holds a considerable majority in both chambers. But, as Austin-based Republican consultant Adryana Aldeen points out, “the party can grow” when it comes to getting more women, Hispanics and millennials to run for office.

“We have strong Republican women groups across the state, but yes, the party can improve,” Aldeen said. “Hopefully in the next election we can run behind and beside the women running. I’m not disappointed with our Republican women. I just want to see more elected.”

That’s not to say women aren’t trying. During last year’s primaries, Emily Kebodeaux Cook, a first-time political candidate, was one of many Republican women who challenged male incumbents or ran for open seats at the Legislature.

In Cook’s case, she ran against incumbent Rep. Ernest Bailes of Shepherd, who won the primary with 59 percent of the vote, compared with Cook’s 41 percent. Cook said she ran because she disagreed with Bailes’ voting record during the past legislative session. She added, however, that “the Republican Party will be stronger overall when it’s not just one side of the aisle that has elected officials who look like our daughters.”

But campaigning as a Republican woman comes with its own set of hurdles. Cook said when voters brought up her gender as she and her team went canvassing, those questions often came from other women — rather than men — which she found “astonishing.”

“While a man might ask me where I stood on policy matters,” Cook said, “the first question from another woman would be, ‘How can you balance raising a young family with serving in elected office?’”

The gender skew of politics extends far beyond the state Legislature. At the national level, news outlets are pouncing on the gender disparity in Congress. Earlier this year, West Virginia’s Carol Miller was the only Republican freshman woman to enter the 435-member House, joining an already small group of 12 female GOP lawmakers. In the U.S. Senate, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee was the only female freshman Republican to enter the 100-member body.

Anne Moses, the president and founder of Ignite, a group focused on getting more women to run for office, said that after the 2016 election, there were three Democratic women in Congress for every Republican woman.

After the 2018 election, the ratio jumped to 5-to-1, Moses said.

“Regardless of what political party you align with, that should be very disturbing,” she said. “If we think there’s a benefit to having women’s voices in Congress — or in any governing body — then we need it on both sides of the aisle.”

In the Texas Legislature, Republican men are more than aware of the need for more gender diversity in their ranks.

“We need female candidates in the Republican Party more than ever before,” House Speaker Dennis Bonnen said during a speech Wednesday to the Texas Young Republicans that largely emphasized the need for Republicans to increase its appeal to women voters.

But several current and former female lawmakers praised those in power for vaulting GOP women into chair positions. In the Senate, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick tapped each of the five returning female senators to lead committees. In the House, Bonnen appointed three of the five returning GOP women — Stephanie Klick of Fort Worth, Angie Chen Button of Richardson and Morrison — as committee chairs. State Rep. John Zerwas also named Sarah Davis of West University Place the chair of a House budget subcommittee.

“The Republican women of the Texas House are unequivocally instrumental to the success of our caucus and our chamber,” state Rep. Dustin Burrows, a Lubbock Republican who chairs the House GOP Caucus, said in a statement to The Texas Tribune. “Our Republican leadership has placed their full faith in the abilities of each of these women and remains confident they will utilize their platforms to inspire the next generation of Republican Texas women.”

Even the two freshmen will have sway inside the Capitol: Paxton earned a coveted spot as vice chair of the Senate’s property tax committee, which will shepherd this session’s priority legislation. Noble, meanwhile, was selected to serve on the policy committee for the the Texas House Republican Caucus. Neither returned requests for comment.

“Republican Texas women are out there,” Button said. “I want Republican Texas women, particularly racial minorities, to see that they, too, can run for office and hold leadership positions in our government.”

And looking ahead to what’s expected to be a blockbuster 2020 election, many Republicans see a prime opportunity to increase the clout of GOP women.

“We need to do a good job of recruiting for the 12 Republican seats we lost and find 12 good, strong ladies with conservative values to run in those seats,” Springer said.

The Texas Federation of Republican Women, a group that actively supports GOP candidates running for political office, said it’s already laying the foundation to help those considering political careers. Karen Newton, the group’s president, said it’s holding a “development class” in March to help prepare women thinking about running in 2020 — what she hopes will be the first step toward having a Legislature that’s “more balanced and more representative of the state.”

Morrison said she’s been working with the group to help recruit and mentor GOP women interested in running for office so “they know they have a support system in place.”

Republican men, too, are talking about the need to have more women serve in the Legislature.

“We just need to get [strong, conservative women] to run,” said state Rep. James White, R-Hillister, who chairs the House Corrections Committee. “Obviously, the more people you have at the table from diverse backgrounds, the most likely it is you will develop strategies and policies and solutions that can appeal to a broad majority.”

Even Democrats are hoping more women will be serving in the Capitol come 2020 — regardless of party.

“Frankly, I’d be happy to just have more women in the Legislature. Period,” said state Rep. Celia Israel, D-Austin. “I’m a chick who wants more chicks to work with and can see how awesome it is.”

Klick said that getting more conservative female voices in the room starts with Republicans simply asking well-known, respected community leaders to consider careers in politics.

The Fort Worth representative added that she would “like to see more women running and being successful but in our side of the aisle.” But she’s staying optimistic and said the low number of GOP women serving can be an opportunity for those in the Capitol to have their voices magnified.

“We’re still here and we still matter,” Klick said. “There’s just fewer of us.”

By: Cassandra Pollock

By the end of the Texas Legislature’s 2017 regular session, Democrats in the House were beleaguered.

Democrats had held few positions of power. They had watched GOP members pass conservative legislation they could do little about. And, in the waning days of the session, they had mustered what little political sway they had to fend off a controversial bill that would ban “sanctuary cities” — to no avail.

This session, things seem different. Democrats gained a dozen seats in the House, narrowing Republicans’ majority in the lower chamber. They were tapped to chair more committees that handle high-profile legislation. And, perhaps most notably, the newly elected Republican House speaker tapped a Democrat to serve as second-in-command — a gesture of bipartisanship.

That progress, the most Texas Democrats have made in years, has left some members grappling with a question: How can they capitalize on it?

“I think for Democrats to be successful in bringing some real wins this session, we need to stand firm together,” said freshman state Rep. Erin Zwiener, a Driftwood Democrat who flipped her House seat in November. “We need to make the case to some of our Republican colleagues that what we stand for is what their voters want as well.”

Zwiener and other Democratic freshmen who flipped longtime GOP-held seats are still excited about their long-shot victories on the campaign trail and want to translate that momentum into ambitious legislative wins at the Capitol. But more seasoned Democrats, familiar with how things work at the Capitol and emphasizing that their party is still in the minority, suggest that a more measured approach could land them the support needed to pass policy they’ve championed over the years.

“I think the early indications are encouraging,” said state Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, in a recent interview with The Texas Tribune. “But we have a long way to go.”

Turner was unanimously re-elected to chair the House Democratic Caucus last month. Despite his party’s gains and Democrats’ heightened optimism, members are aware of a few sobering realities: Republicans can still pass legislation without a single Democratic vote; Republicans chair the five most powerful committees in the lower chamber; and Republican House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, though he’s moved to cast himself as a leader who will give every member a fair shake, ranks more ideologically conservative than his predecessor.

“We can’t let our guard down,” Turner said. “We know there could be proposals that are offensive or detrimental to our constituents. And we’ll be prepared to fight those if and when they arise.”

House Republicans, to be clear, also recognize they still have the upper hand in the chamber — although GOP leaders so far have focused the 86th legislative session on reforming nuts-and-bolts policy issues that both parties agree need legislative fixes: school finance and property tax reform.

“The State of Texas remains a deeply red state; the House’s Republican majority and slate of Republican statewide leaders are a reflection of our state’s desire for a conservative approach to governance,” said state Rep. Dustin Burrows, a Lubbock Republican who chairs the House GOP Caucus, in a statement to the Tribune. “What makes this session unique is not the number of Democrats or Republicans, but the fact we’re all united behind the same priorities to reform Texas’ school finance system and provide meaningful property tax reform for Texans.”

The Democrats’ agenda

Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott officially declared school finance and property tax reform “emergency items,” along with school safety, disaster response, increasing teacher pay and mental health programs. And the week before that, Abbott, Bonnen, Burrows and Senate leaders unveiled a unified vision for slowing property tax bill increases. Democrats generally agree that those issues should take center stage this year, but they’re quick to emphasize that their No. 1 priority — addressing public education — has been at the top of their list for years.

In both the school finance reform and property tax debates, Democrats have already laid down a few markers. With the former, party leaders want reforms to include addressing rising health care costs for teachers and expanding pre-K for Texas children. With the latter, they’ve already written off the GOP’s proposal to require voter approval for local property tax increases over 2.5 percent as “a nonstarter.”House Democrats have yet to put forward their own proposals, but they’re expected to do so in the coming weeks.

“I can’t speak for every Democrat, but 2.5 percent just seems too low,” said state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, an Austin Democrat who serves on the committee that will handle property tax legislation this year. “If nothing passes — for many Democrats, that wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

Beyond that, Democrats are pushing for a slate of more partisan measures that aren’t expected to get much air time at the still GOP-dominated Legislature. Democrats want to curb “voter disenfranchisement,” an issue that’s surfaced in recent weeks after the Texas secretary of state’s office spearheaded a flawed voter citizenship check. They also want to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

“I think we need to be talking about Medicaid expansion every single day we are here,” said Zwiener, the freshman from Driftwood. Zwiener, a new mom, also mentioned Democrats are aiming to extend Medicaid’s postpartum coverage from two to 12 months.

“I had a baby seven months ago,” she said, “and I can tell you there are lingering health concerns that come up past that 60-day window.”

“We’re not going to agree on everything”

The confidence embodied by Democrats comes partially from the fact that Bonnen, the House speaker, appointed party members in January to chair several high-profile committees previously headed by Republicans. For example, Turner was tapped to chair the Higher Education Committee. Similar appointments happened on committees that oversee homeland security, public health and transportation, among others.

But the gains made by Democrats have also prompted some growing pains. A number of those dozen Democratic freshmen have privately raised questions over everything from caucus leadership to whether their 67-member voting bloc will hold when the lower chamber is faced with a key vote. As one freshman member put it, the caucus “has no plan,” suggesting it was perhaps “just a function of being out of power for so long.”

The “freshmen excitement” — or angst, as others may call it — is commonplace at the Capitol every two years as the biennial legislative session gets underway. For state Rep. Victoria Neave, a Democrat who flipped her Dallas-area seat in 2016, the feeling is all too familiar.

“We’re not going to agree on everything — I think folks will learn that,” she said. “I learned that as a freshman coming from a former swing district. I think we need to work together, but there are some things for which we’re going to take our earrings off.”

Some of the more senior Democrats have suggested that the freshmen class is still transitioning from campaign mode and will settle in around March or April when things heat up at the Legislature. They’re also quick to note that Turner, who just began his second term in that caucus role, deserves credit for taking on the arduous task of rebuilding his party’s ranks in the House.

Since Turner took the reins, he’s brought on full-time leadership staff, who spearhead a lot of the policy and communications between caucus members, among other things. Turner also doled out roughly $240,000 of his own campaign cash during the 2018 cycle for get-out-the-vote efforts and to help House incumbents and candidates locked in tight races, according to his office.

“I think there’s an intentional strategy by Turner to bring more people into the decision-making process,” said state Rep. Mary González, a Democrat from Clint who holds leadership positions in the Mexican American Legislative Caucus and the new LGBTQ Caucus. “I’m looking forward to seeing how we navigate as a caucus this session because he has already set us up for success.”

For now, most everyone is publicly optimistic about what lies ahead over the next roughly 100 days at the Capitol. And for Democrats, they’re acknowledging the more palatable tone that’s been set by state leaders.

“It certainly was a different speech than we heard two years ago,” Turner said last week in response to Abbott’s State of the State address. He added with a chuckle, “It seems as though election results have consequences.”

AUSTIN, TX – Today, Texas House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Bonnen named State Representative Dustin Burrows to Chair the House Committee on Ways and Means. This committee assignment is for the 86th Texas Legislative Session and the interim.

“This is going to be a critical session to address tax reform,” said Rep. Dustin Burrows. “Taxpayers are looking for solutions this legislative session and I share Speaker Bonnen’s optimism that we are going to be successful moving forward.”

Rep. Burrows continued, “I am looking forward to fighting for all Texans this legislative session. I believe this committee will give taxpayers a strong voice as we look to keep Texas the best state in the nation to raise a family. I want to thank Speaker Bonnen for trusting me with this important committee assignment.”