Political Leaders in Texas

Introduction

The United States citizens are represented in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The representation depends on the place of residence of each citizen. I am from the 9^th Congressional District in Texas State and this paper will analyze my three political representatives and their achievements in their electoral positions.

Senate

John Cornyn III

John Cornyn is a 68 year old white male politician and attorney. He is married to Sandy Hansen and together they have two children. He has served the Texans in the senate position for 18 years now under the Republican Party. The senator has trained in journalism at the Trinity University and attained his Law Degree in 1977 from St. Mary’s University School of Law and his Masters of Law in 1995 (Virginia Law, 2006).

Before running for Senate, John Cornyn served in various capacities under his legal profession. He started by serving as a judge in the Texas 37^th District Court (Texas Centre for the Judiciary, 1984)). He then moved to holding the position of the associate justice in the Texas Supreme court and just before joining the senate, he was serving as the Attorney General of Texas.

While serving in the Senate, John Cornyn has held the position of Majority Whip for two congresses being the the 114^th and 115^th Congresses. For 4 years, he was the chair of the national Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC, 2008). John Cornyn contribution to the Senate is seen through his creation of the Texas Internet Bureau that investigates issues of illegal internet practices as well as investigating fraudulent and corruption claims in Medicare and Medicaid.

 Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz is a 50 year old Hispanic American politician and attorney born to Canadian parents who relocated to Texas. He serves in the Senate under the Republican Party and has held his current seat for 7 years. He is married to Heidi Nelson and they have two children. Ted Cruz has degrees in public policy from Princeton and a Law degree from Harvard Law School (Facts Matter, 2020).

Prior to serving as a senator, Ted Cruz worked across different governmental positions. He was also an Associate deputy Attorney General and the Department of Justice and in 2000 he was part of George Bush’s campaign where he acted as a Domestic Policy Advisor. Ted Cruz was the first and longest serving Hispanic American to occupy the seat of the Solicitor General in Texas. He has taught the U.S. Supreme Court Litigation at the University of Texas, School of Law.

Ted Cruz seats on various committees and is the chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil and Human Rights as well as the Subcommittee on Science and Space. Ted Cruz’s contribution to the Senate and to America at large is his introduction of the S. 2195 Bill that would enable any American President to deny visas to ambassadors and UN dignitaries found to be engaged in terrorists and espionage activities against the United States (Congress, 2014).  However, it is reported that Ted Crus has strained relationships with some members of his party often because of his use of harsh terms to term the Senators he does not agree with.

House of Representatives

Alexander N. Green (Al Green) is a 73 year old African American male politician and lawyer. He has served as the representative for the 9^th District for 15 years under the Democratic Party. Al Green trained at eh Texas Southern University where he gained his Juris Doctor degree (US House of Representatives, 2020).  He later own co-founded a law firm. Al Green held the position of justice of the peace for 26years until 2004 in Harris County.

Al Green’s agenda in the House of Representatives and within the 9^th District has been fair hiring practices and housing for minorities and the poor in the country. He is the chairman of the United States Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, in addition t sitting in various committees. Al Green is liberal on social issues as seen by his support for the pro-choice movement, support of gun control and budgetary bills that cut taxes and government spending (US House of Representatives, 2020). Al Green has also been vocal in the impeachment of current President Donald Trump.

Conclusion

It is interesting that the three representatives were all in the legal profession before joining policies. All leaders have worked towards the improvement of the Texas state in various capacities and seem to serve the community well as evidenced by their long stay as representatives of the people both in the House of Representatives and in Senate.

Bibliography

Congress. (2014). S.2195 . Retrieved September 26, 2020, from Congress: https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/2195

Judiciary, T. T. (1984). Judicial Section Chooses New Leaders. In Chambers. 11(3), 1-20.

Law, V. (2006). Alumni in the News, 2002. Retrieved September 26, 2020, from Virginia Law: https://web.archive.org/web/20060901221405/http://www.law.virginia.edu/home2002/html/alumni/alumninews_02.htm

Matter, F. (2020). Vote Smart: Facts Matter. Retrieved September 26, 2020, from Facts Matter: https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/biography/135705/ted-cruz

NRSC. (2008, November 18). Cornyn Elected To NRSC Chairmanship. Retrieved September 26, 2020, from NRSC.org: https://web.archive.org/web/20081120050852/http://www.nrsc.org/news/Read.aspx?ID=1792

Representatives, U. H. (2020). Congressman Al Green. Retrieved September 27, 2020, from US House of Representatives: https://algreen.house.gov/about-me/full-biography

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