Joan J. Huffman is a Republican member of the Texas Senate who represents District 17, which includes a portion of populous Harris County. At the time her service began, Huffman was the sixth then-serving female member of the chamber. On the last day of the 86th Legislature, she was chosen by her colleagues—Democrats and Republicans—to serve as president pro tempore.
Only one in five voters participated in the special election for the Texas Senate held on December 16, 2008. Huffman defeated her Democratic opponent, Chris Bell, a former one-term member of the United States House of Representatives, 24,431 to 19,104. Bell was his party's unsuccessful Democratic gubernatorialnominee in 2006, having lost in a five-candidate general election to Republican Governor Rick Perry, 39-30 percent. Bell had led in the initial balloting on November 4, when the first round of the special election was held in conjunction with the presidential and congressional elections. He obtained 38 percent of the vote to Huffman's 26 percent. Bell and a second Democratic contender, Stephanie Simmons, had a combined 52 percent in the first round. The runoff contest, however, allowed Huffman to consolidate supporters of three other Republican candidates, Austen H. Furse, Kenneth R. Sherman, and Grant P. Harpold, who trailed in the first balloting. Huffman's term extends to January 2011. She succeeds Senator Kyle Janek, a Republican physician who resigned earlier that year for business reasons. Huffman spent $750,000 of her own money in the first Senate campaign. Bob J. Perry of Perry Homes in Houston, no relation to Governor Perry, gave Huffman $125,000. Bell received a large sum from state trial lawyers, and the Texas Democratic Party sent activists to the district in order to conduct block-walking. In addition to Harris County, Senate District 17, said to resemble a crowbar, includes portions of Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, and Jefferson counties. From 1981 to 2002, the seat with a different configuration was held by the attorney J. E. "Buster" Brown, then of Lake Jackson, and later a lobbyist at the state capitol in Austin.
Political career
Huffman is the chairwoman of the Senate State Affairs Committee, Vice Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, and is also a member of the Senate Committee on Finance and the Legislative Budget Board. Huffman's has been acknowledged by numerous advocacy groups. She was named a "Champion for Free Enterprise" by the Texas Association of Business, a "Taxpayer Champion" by Texans for Fiscal Responsibility and a "Big Voice for Little Texans" by Court Appointed Special Advocates for her work to protect children. She was also named a "Patient Care Champion" by the Harris County Medical Society, earned the TEXPAC "Patient Protection Award" from the Texas Medical Association, both for back-to-back legislative sessions, and is the only repeat recipient of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association's "Law and Order Award" since its inception, for her efforts to improve victims' protections and the criminal justice system. However, she was also cited as being the worst Texas Senator by Texas Monthly magazine. 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." He 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 to 7,691. She then won the general election on November 4, 2014, beating Democratic candidate Rita Lucido 113,817 to 60,934. In March 2015, Huffman proposed greater protection against libel for journalists who report whistleblower 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. Despite a strong "blue wave" in Harris County, 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 to Lucido's 143,465. Lucido drew nearly 83,000 more votes in 2018 than she had in 2014. Another 5,380 ballots went to the 2018 Libertarian Party choice, Lauren LaCount.
