Joan J. Huffman (born August 17, 1956) is an American politician who has represented the 17th district in the

Texas Senate The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature, with the Texas House of Representatives functioning as the lower house. Together, they form the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the state of Texas. The Senate ...

since 2008. A member of the Republican Party, the district includes portions of Brazoria, Fort Bend, and Harris county. On the last day of the 86th Legislature, she was chosen by her colleagues—Democrats and Republicans—to serve as president pro tempore.

Background

A native of Houston, Huffman holds a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

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and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree from the South Texas College of Law in Houston. Prior to her Senate tenure, Huffman was judge of the 183rd Criminal District Court in Harris County. Prior to the judgeship she was chief felony prosecutor for the Harris County

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

's office.

Political career

In January 2022, Huffman was named by Texas' Lt. Gov. as chairwoman of the Senate Finance Committee. She was previously the chair of the State Affairs Committee, Vice Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, and a member of the Legislative Budget Board. She was characterized in 2013 as "the worst" Texas Senator by ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. Founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, ''Texas Monthly'' chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the Natura ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

. She was again included on the ''Texas Monthly'' list of worst Texas legislators in 2015, for, among other things, sponsoring an amendment to a bill that would "exclude from personal financial disclosure the holdings of legislators' spouses." Her husband, Keith Lawyer, a Houston nightclub owner, had loaned Huffman $500,000 for the 2008 campaign. Huffman won easy re-nomination to the state Senate in the Republican primary held on March 4, 2014. She defeated her only primary opponent, Derek A. Anthony, 32,962 (81.1 percent) to 7,691 (18.9 percent). She then won the general election on November 4, 2014, beating Democratic candidate Rita Lucido 113,817 (63.34%) to 60,934 (33.91%). In March 2015, Huffman proposed greater protection against

libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

for

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

s who report

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claims which turn out to have been false but which the reporters believed accurate at the time of media release. Huffman's plan died in her State Affairs Committee. Huffman won reelection on November 6, 2018, when she defeated her Democratic challenger, Rita Lucido, who had also been her 2014 opponent. Huffman polled 157,910 votes (51.5 percent) to Lucido's 143,465 (46.8 percent). Lucido drew nearly 83,000 more votes in 2018 than she had in 2014. Another 5,380 ballots (1.8 percent) went to the 2018 Libertarian Party choice, Lauren LaCount. In 2021, Huffman was credited by ''The Guardian'' with having created heavily pro-Republican gerrymandered redistricting maps. The maps vastly expanded the number of safe Republican districts, while failing to add districts where non-whites were a majority despite the fact that 90% of the population growth in Texas was non-white.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Huffman, Joan 1956 births 21st-century members of the Texas Legislature Living people Louisiana State University alumni Politicians from Houston Presidents pro tempore of the Texas Senate Republican Party Texas state senators South Texas College of Law alumni Texas lawyers Texas state court judges