John Wiley Bryant (born February 22, 1947) is an American politician who has represented the 114th district 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 ...

since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, Bryant previously represented Texas's 5th congressional district in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from 1983 to 1997 and the 33-L district in the

from 1974 to 1983.

Early life and education

Bryant was born in Lake Jackson, Brazoria County, Texas. Following a B.A. at

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, Texas in 1969 Bryant studied law at Southern Methodist University School of Law, where he graduated in 1972. He was also admitted to the Texas bar in 1972. Bryant served as

counsel A counsel or a counsellor at law is a person who gives advice and deals with various issues, particularly in legal matters. It is a title often used interchangeably with the title of ''lawyer''. The word ''counsel'' can also mean advice given ...

to a committee of the Texas senate in 1973.

Political career

Bryant was elected to Texas house of representatives in a special election in 1974 and was reelected from 1974 to 1982. He was elected as a Democrat to the 98th Congress in 1982 and to the six succeeding Congresses, serving from 1983 to 1997. While in the United States House of Representatives Bryant was one of the House impeachment managers who prosecuted the case in the

impeachment trial An impeachment trial is a trial that functions as a component of an impeachment. Several governments utilize impeachment trials as a part of their processes for impeachment. Differences exist between governments as to what stage trials take place ...

of Judge Alcee Hastings. Hastings was found guilty by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

and removed from his federal judgeship. In 1996, Bryant was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for the

. In October 1997,

President Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the att ...

appointed Bryant to head the United States' delegation to the 1997 World Radiocommunication Conference, organized by the

International Telecommunication Union The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)In the other common languages of the ITU: * * is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information ...

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, and accorded him the personal rank of Ambassador. In 2021, John Bryant filed to run for state representative in Texas's 114th district, after being out of politics for 24 years. Bryant declared, “I am so alarmed at the continued extremes to which the

Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

forces have gone in trying to take our country over and now this has arrived in Texas. I want to get off the sidelines and get back into the fight.” He won the primary in May 2022. He won the general election in November 2022.

Opposition to reforms to increase housing supply

In 2023, Bryant spearheaded opposition to a bill in the Texas legislature that would have permitted accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in areas with single-family zoning. The bill was intended to increase housing supply and alleviate the housing crisis in urban areas in Texas. Bryant said that allowing ADUs would "make a commercial, uncontrollable, really unforeseeable mess out of every neighborhood in the state." In 2024, Bryant expressed opposition to legislative proposals to permit greater residential density in single-family neighborhoods. Bryant argued, "we have plenty of land for ousingand plenty of places to put it. You don’t need to bust up single-family neighborhoods to get affordable housing." In 2025, Bryant voted against a bill that would remove the power of local

NIMBY NIMBY (, or nimby), an acronym for the phrase "Not In My Back Yard", is a characterization of opposition by residents to proposed real estate development and infrastructure developments in their local area, as well as support for strict land us ...

s to block new development, especially affordable and multifamily housing.

Personal life

In the mid-1990s he was one of the co-founders of the United Baseball League (UBL) which was a planned third major league. As of 2023, Bryant is a student at

Perkins School of Theology Perkins School of Theology is one of Southern Methodist University's three original schools and is located in Dallas, Texas. The theology school was renamed in 1945 to honor benefactors Joe J. and Lois Craddock Perkins of Wichita Falls, Texas. De ...

and taking a prayer and spirituality course as he pursues a degree in Spiritual Discipline.

References

External links

* 1947 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives Texas lawyers Southern Methodist University alumni People from Lake Jackson, Texas Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas 21st-century members of the Texas Legislature 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives {{Texas-politician-stub