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84th Texas Senate Score Card
Posted on June 4, 2015 at 1:10 pm

First Day of Session CroppedRankings of legislators are always tricky. It’s difficult to include all the little things that happen behind the scenes, the influence of members on each other, or the true motivations or beliefs of individual members. That said, it’s important to acknowledge the public actions of the people elected to represent us. In compiling this score card we considered public votes, authorship of pro- and anti-LGBT legislation, filing of resolutions acknowledging the LGBT community and committee votes on issues affecting the LGBT community. Behind the scenes work and advocacy was not included.

We’ve given each member of the Texas Senate a letter grade. The best lawmakers got an “A+,” the worst an “F-” (that’s how bad they are, we had to invent a grade).

There is certainly room for debate, particularly when something as complicated as this is reduced to a letter grade. We’d love to hear your opinion of the score card. How’d your Senator do? Did we score them too harshly? Too favorably? Share this list with your friends and let’s have a conversation about how the people elected to represent us did over the last five months.

Check out our list of the 5 best and 5 worst members of the Texas Senate on LGBT issues.

A+
Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston
Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen
José Menéndez, D-San Antonio
José Rodríguez, D-El Paso

 

A
Rodney Ellis, D-Houston
Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio
Kirk Watson, D-Austin
Royce West, D-Duncanville
John Whitmire, D-Houston
Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo

 

F
Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler
Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls
Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay
Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills
Joan Huffman, R-Houston
Lois W. Kolkhorst, R-Brenham
Eddie Lucio, II, D-San Benito
Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound
Charles Perry, R-Lubbock
Dr. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown
Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood

 

F-
Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston
Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury
Konni Burton, R-Colleyville
Dr. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels
Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe
Bob Hall, R-Edgewood
Don Huffines, R-Dallas
Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville
Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo
Van Taylor, R-Plano