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Texas is one formal vote away from a Texas House speaker the state has never had.
State Representative Senfronia Thompson says she has the votes to lead the chamber.
Thompson announced on November 6 that 90 members support her bid for speaker.
The Texas House holds 150 seats, and a speaker needs 76 votes to win.
If her coalition holds, Thompson becomes the first woman and first Black speaker in Texas history.
Major Takeaways
Thompson counts 90 pledged supporters, including eight Republicans, well past the 76 votes required.
The formal speaker vote comes on January 12, the first day of the new session.
Thompson would succeed Republican Speaker Dustin Burrows of Lubbock.
Texas would then have women in all three of its most powerful state offices for the first time.
Thompson has served in the Texas House since 1973 and is its Dean.
A Coalition of 90 Members Backs Senfronia Thompson
Thompson launched her run around midnight on election night, as returns were still arriving.
By Friday, her only rival had stepped aside and backed her.
State Representative Eddie Morales Jr. of Eagle Pass ended his bid and endorsed Thompson.
About two hours after her Capitol news conference, Thompson released her list of supporters.
The list named 90 current and incoming members of the House.
Eight of those supporters are Republicans.
They include Drew Darby of San Angelo, Todd Hunter of Corpus Christi and Charlie Geren of Fort Worth.
Tom Craddick of Midland, the former Republican speaker, also appears on her list.
State Representative Rafael Anchia of Dallas called her majority overwhelming and still growing.
He said every Democratic member stood behind her, with Republican support rising.
Thompson put it plainly at the Capitol.
“The bottom line is, the majority of the House has pledged to me,” Thompson said.
She later said she was honored to hold the support of a growing bipartisan coalition of 90 members.
Pledges are promises, and promises can move before a formal vote.
Still, a public list this far past the winning number sends its own message.
Why the Texas House Speaker Holds Real Power
The speaker is no figurehead in Texas government.
The speaker appoints members to committees and names the chairs who lead them.
The speaker also controls which bills reach the House floor and when.
That control shapes what becomes law for more than 30 million Texans.
In Texas talk, the governor, the lieutenant governor and the speaker form the Big Three.
Together, the three offices set the priorities of state government.
Incoming Governor Gina Hinojosa is the first Latina elected governor of Texas.
Incoming Lieutenant Governor Vikki Goodwin is the first woman elected to her office.
Goodwin will preside over the state Senate, where Republicans hold the majority.
Add Thompson, and women would hold all three top offices at the same time.
That has never happened in Texas.
Democrats won their first House majority since 2003 in the November 3 midterms.
The party also swept every statewide seat on the ballot.
Ms. T Built This Moment Over Five Decades
Colleagues at the Capitol know Thompson by a shorter name. They call her Ms. T.
She was born in Booth, Texas and raised in Houston.
She represents District 141, covering Northeast Houston and Humble.
Voters first elected her in 1972, and she took office in 1973.
The coming session will be her 28th in the Texas House.
She is the Dean of the House, the honor given to its longest serving member.
She has served longer than any other woman or African American in Texas legislative history.
Her official biography calls her the conscience of the Texas House.
Thompson graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Houston.
She earned a biology degree from Texas Southern University.
She earned a master’s degree in education from Prairie View A&M University.
She then earned a law degree from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law.
She also holds a master of law in international law from the University of Houston.
Texas inducted her into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame in 2014.
She is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
Her record explains the respect she commands across the chamber.
She authored the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act.
She wrote the first alimony law in Texas history.
She carried laws banning racial profiling and the current state minimum wage law.
She helped create drug courts across the state.
She fought for funding fairness at Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern, both public Black universities.
Her guiding line is famous around the Capitol. Let the little dogs eat, she says.
A Speaker Who Promises No Dictatorship
Thompson says the House will not be a dictatorship under her watch.
She plans to appoint members of both parties to chair committees.
That restores a tradition the Burrows led House scrapped.
Under Burrows, members of the minority party were shut out of committee chairs.
“I am not here to punish anybody. I did that when I was a parent,” Thompson said.
She said the chamber needs the expertise of Republicans and Democrats working as a unit.
She promised a focus on education, property taxes and health care.
Darby, a rural Republican, said her words about working together encouraged him.
He said great needs face the state, and members must meet them together.
Not every Republican is ready to follow.
Tom Oliverson of Cypress chairs the House Republican Caucus.
He said most Republicans plan to decide together and serve as a united opposition.
That tension will test her coalition long before January arrives.
Barbara Gervin Hawkins of San Antonio leads the Texas Legislative Black Caucus.
She fought back tears at the Friday news conference.
She said watching support gather behind the first African American woman in this position overwhelmed her.
What a Thompson Speakership Means for Black Texas
For Black Texans, this story is about far more than a title.
The speaker decides which bills on voting, schools, health and housing ever get a vote.
A Black woman from Northeast Houston would hold that power.
She built her career fighting for people she calls the downtrodden and the marginalized.
Her district sits in a city where Black families still fight for fair school funding and fair maps.
Read the demand for voting rights action now facing the new Congress.
See also how Hakeem Jeffries is drawing his first lines as a Black leader in line to lead the United States House.
More coverage lives in the Urban City Podcast news section.
The formal vote comes January 12, opening day of the 90th session.
If 90 pledges hold anywhere near their number, history is not in doubt.
After 53 years in the chamber, Ms. T would finally hold the gavel.
