Sylvia Rodriguez Garcia (born September 6, 1950) is an American lawyer and politician who has been serving as the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the 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 Article One of th ...

for

Texas's 29th congressional district Texas's 29th congressional district of the United States House of Representatives covers the eastern portion of the Greater Houston area in the state of Texas. The current Representative from the 29th district is Democratic Party (US), Democra ...

since 2019. Her district covers much of eastern

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented the 6th 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 ...

Early life and education

Sylvia Rodriguez Garcia was born in San Diego, Texas, and raised in Palito Blanco in west central Jim Wells County, the daughter of Luis and Antonia Rodriguez Garcia. She is the eighth of ten children. Her family are

Mexican Americans Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United State ...

. After graduating from Ben Bolt-Palito Blanco High School, Garcia attended

Texas Woman's University Texas Woman's University (TWU) is a Public research university, public coeducational research university in Denton, Texas, with two health science center-focused campuses in Dallas and Houston. While TWU has been fully co-educational since 1994, ...

on a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

. She graduated with a degree in

social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

and began a career as a

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

. She later received her

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

Texas Southern University Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically Black university in Houston. The university is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund an ...

Thurgood Marshall School of Law and was licensed to practice law in Texas.

Early political career

City of Houston

In the early 1980s,

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Kathryn Whitmire appointed Garcia as presiding judge of the Houston Municipal System. She served for an unprecedented five terms under two mayors. In 1998, Garcia became Houston city controller.

Harris County

Garcia was elected to the Harris County Commissioner's Court in 2002. She was the first woman and first Latina elected to that post in her own right. Her precinct featured a major base of operations for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

, the nation's largest petrochemical complex, the Houston Ship Channel and the

Port of Houston The Port of Houston is one of the world's largest ports and serves the metropolitan area of Houston, Houston, Texas. The port is a complex of diversified public and private facilities located a few hours' sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico. Loc ...

, the sixth largest port in the world. In 2010, Garcia was defeated for reelection to the Harris County Commissioner's Court by Republican Jack Morman.

Texas Senate

In 2013, Garcia defeated State Representative Carol Alvarado in a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

runoff to replace the late

state Senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...

Mario Gallegos. Garcia took the oath of office for state senator on March 11, 2013. She served on the Criminal Justice, Intergovernmental Relations, Natural Resources and Economic Development, and Transportation committees. Garcia ran unopposed in the 2016 general election.

U. S. House of Representatives

Elections

1992

While still serving as a municipal judge, Garcia ran in the Democratic primary for the newly created 29th congressional seat in 1992. She finished third in the five-way primary behind City Councilman Ben Reyes and State Senator Gene Green. Green won the runoff and held the seat for 26 years.

2018

Green announced his retirement in November 2017, and Garcia—who by then held the state senate seat Green once held—entered a crowded seven-way Democratic primary. The district was still a Democratic stronghold, and it was taken for granted that whoever won the primary would be overwhelmingly favored in November. Garcia got a significant boost when Green endorsed her, saying, "she's a legislator, and that's what a member of Congress should be." She won the primary with 63% of the vote. Her Republican opponent, Phillip Aronoff, used sexual harassment and wrongful termination allegations against Garcia. Garcia handily won the November 6 general election. She and Veronica Escobar became the first Latina congresswomen from Texas, and Garcia is the first woman to represent the district. Garcia is also the first Hispanic to represent a significant portion of Houston in Congress.

2020

Garcia won reelection in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, defeating Republican Jaimy Blanco.

Tenure

On January 15, 2020, Garcia was selected as one of seven House impeachment managers who presented the impeachment case against President

Donald 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 ...

during his trial before 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 ...

Committee assignments

Committee on Financial Services The United States House Committee on Financial Services, also referred to as the House Banking Committee and previously known as the Committee on Banking and Currency, is the United States congressional committee, committee of the United States ...

** Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion ** Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations * Committee on the Judiciary ** Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties ** Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship

Caucus memberships

Congressional Hispanic Caucus The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) is an organization of 38 Democratic members of the United States Congress of Hispanic and Latino descent. The Caucus focuses on issues affecting Hispanics and Latinos in the United States. The CHC was fo ...

* Congressional Equality Caucus * Congressional Homelessness Caucus * Congressional Progressive Caucus * Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus * Congressional Mental Health Caucus * Congressional Social Work Caucus * Congressional Diabetes Caucus * Adoption Caucus * Congressional Bipartisan HBCU Caucus * Congressional Coalition on Adoption * Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment

Electoral history

Positions

Garcia voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, according to a ''

FiveThirtyEight ''FiveThirtyEight'', also rendered as ''538'', was an American website that focused on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging in the United States. The website, which took its name from the number of electors in the U ...

'' analysis.

LGBT rights

Garcia supports the Equality Act, a bill that would expand the federal

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

to ban

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

based on

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...

and

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...

. She voted for it in 2019.

Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023

Garcia was among the 46 Democrats who voted against final passage of the

Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 On January 19, 2023, the United States hit its United States debt ceiling, debt ceiling, leading to a debt-ceiling crisis, part of an ongoing political debate within United States Congress, Congress about United States federal budget, federal ...

in the House.

Disaster relief

In 2024, Garcia publicly asked CenterPoint Energy why more than 1 million Houston residents were without power following the impact of Hurricane Beryl.

Immigration

Garcia sponsored the American Dream and Promise Act.

Personal life

Garcia is

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

References

External links

Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia
official U.S. House website
Sylvia Garcia for Congress
campaign website * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Sylvia 1950 births 21st-century American women politicians Catholic politicians from Texas County commissioners in Texas Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas Female members of the United States House of Representatives Hispanic and Latino American members of the United States Congress Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Texas Hispanic and Latino American women in politics Living people People from Jim Wells County, Texas Politicians from Houston Texas Southern University alumni Democratic Party Texas state senators Texas Woman's University alumni Thurgood Marshall School of Law alumni Women state legislators in Texas American politicians of Mexican descent Hispanic and Latino American judges Municipal judges in the United States 21st-century members of the Texas Legislature 21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives