Leo Pacheco is an American educator and politician who served in the

Texas House of Representatives 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 in the United States, term limits. The ...

from January 8, 2019, to August 19, 2021, representing the 118th district.

Early life and education

Pacheco's family is descended from the settlers who founded the original San Antonio mission from the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

. He was raised on San Antonio's South Side. Pacheco graduated from Harlandale High School in 1976. Pacheco became the first member of his family to graduate from college; he earned an associate degree at

San Antonio College San Antonio College (SAC) is a public community college in San Antonio, Texas. It is part of the Alamo Colleges District and the oldest public two-year college in Texas. The college has an average semester enrollment of 22,028 credit students an ...

, a

Bachelor of Business Management Bachelor of Business Management (BBM), sometimes known as a fundamentals in marketing, is an undergraduate program of four years. The BBM degree is designed to teach students the skills necessary to perform leadership roles in the business and cor ...

Texas A&M University–San Antonio Texas A&M University–San Antonio is a public university in San Antonio, Texas, United States. It is part of the Texas A&M University System. The university was established on May 23, 2009, and held its first classes as a stand-alone university ...

, and a

Master of Public Administration A Master of Public Administration (MPA) is a specialized professional graduate degree in public administration that prepares students for leadership roles, similar or equivalent to a Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the ...

at the

University of Texas at San Antonio The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA or UT San Antonio) is a Public university, public research university in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Established in 1969,VIA Metropolitan Transit VIA Metropolitan Transit Authority (referred to as VIA Metro or simply VIA) is the mass transit agency serving San Antonio, Texas, United States, and its surrounding municipalities. It began operation in 1978 as a successor to the San Antonio Tr ...

Career

Pacheco was the chair of the

Bexar County Bexar County ( or ; ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,009,324, making it the state's fourth-most populous county. Bexar County ...

Democratic Party for four years in the 1990s. He worked as a human resource specialist for

Palo Alto College Palo Alto College is a public community college in San Antonio, Texas. It is one of five separately accredited colleges in the Alamo Colleges District. History Palo Alto College was first approved by ACCD Board of Trustees on February 21, 198 ...

and taught as an adjunct professor at UTSA and

Texas House of Representatives

In 2018, Pacheco ran for the

for the 118th district in the Democratic Party's primary election against

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

Tomas Uresti Tomas Uresti is a Democratic former member of the Texas House of Representatives who represented District 118. He won the November 2016 general election and was sworn into office on January 10, 2017. Uresti was defeated in the Democratic primary ...

. He defeated Uresti, and faced Republican

John Lujan John Lujan III (born June 7, 1962) is a former firefighter and Bexar County sheriff's deputy, who serves as a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 118 in San Antonio. 2016 special election for District 118 Lujan ...

in the general election. Pacheco defeated Lujan, with 58 percent of the vote to Lujan's 42 percent. Pacheco supported

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

in the

2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries Presidential primaries and caucuses were organized by the Democratic Party to select delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention to determine the party's nominee for president in the 2020 election. The primaries and caucuses took p ...

. Pacheco ran for reelection in 2020 and was not opposed in the Democratic Party primary election. He faced Republican Adam Salyer in the November 3, 2020, general election and won with 57% of the vote. In May 2021, Pacheco was one of seven Democrats to vote in favor of permitless carry in the state of Texas. In result,

Democratic Party censured him. In the beginning of August 2021, Pacheco announced that he planned to resign from the Texas House during the second session of the Eighty-seventh Texas Legislature. He said that he would resign in order to teach public administration at San Antonio College. Pacheco resigned from the Texas House on August 19, 2021.

Personal life

Pacheco and his wife, Melva, have two children.

References

External links

Campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pacheco, Leo 1957 births Living people Politicians from San Antonio Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Texas Texas A&M University System alumni University of Texas at San Antonio alumni University of Texas at San Antonio faculty 21st-century members of the Texas Legislature