Zaffirini returns for new term in Dist. 21

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SENATOR HAS SERVED SOUTH TEXAS SINCE 1987

With 100 percent of votes counted and reported to the secretary of state, Senator Judith Zaffirini, Democrat of Laredo, has won an 11th re-election to represent Texas Senate District 21, which includes La Salle County.

The senator received 129,422 votes (61.53 percent) to her Republican opponent’s 75,643 (35.96 percent); and her Libertarian opponent’s 5,274 (2.51 percent). Vote tallies were reported in a prepared statement from the senator’s office after the general election.

Sen. Zaffirini was first elected to the Texas Senate in 1986 and took office on January 13, 1987. She has been re-elected to the position in every election since, and has carried more than two thirds of the electorate on several of those occasions.

“I am delighted to continue to represent the families of Senate District 21 in the Texas Senate,” Sen. Zaffirini said. “My staff and I embrace our mantra, ‘Serviam!’ (I shall serve) – a lesson learned from the Ursuline nuns. No issue is too big or too small for us. If it’s important to our constituents, it’s important to us, and we strive to represent everyone, including those who didn’t vote for me.”

Senate District 21, which was redrawn last year by the Texas Legislature, is home to 930,000 Texans and spans 16 counties stretching from the Rio Grande to the Colorado River, stretching northeast from Laredo and Rio Grande City in the south, skirting the eastern side of San Antonio and Bexar County, and reaching north to the edge of the Austin metropolitan area.

“Although my constituents are separated by many miles, we are connected by our shared priorities,” the senator said. “They include ensuring our families are healthy and safe, fostering economic growth and providing our children with an excellent education.”

Sen. Zaffirini prioritizes education in general, with a focus on early childhood and higher education; and health and human services in general, with a focus on the very young, the very old, the very poor, persons with disabilities and veterans.

Her agenda for the next legislative session, which convenes Jan. 10, focuses on fixing the state’s electric grid, expanding access to healthcare and education, fostering economic growth and job creation, ensuring affordable housing, and  protecting the environment and natural resources.

Sen. Zaffirini was the first Hispanic woman elected to the Texas Senate, is now the second highest-ranking senator and the highest-ranking woman and Hispanic senator. During the last regular legislative session she voted for passage of 106 bills through the Republican-dominated Legislature, which she describes as testament to her bipartisan effectiveness. The record also made her the highest bill-passer for the fourth consecutive session.

The senator is known for having passed more bills than any other legislator in Texas history. She carries a 100-percent voting record, having cast 67,923 consecutive votes, and maintains perfect attendance in the Texas Senate since 1987, except for breaking quorum deliberately to prevent an untimely re-redistricting in 2003 that the US Supreme Court later ruled violated the Voting Rights Act and disenfranchised voters.