State Rep. Eric Johnson of Dallas has filed to run for Speaker of the House for the 86th Legislature.
UPDATE: As promised in the initial press release announcing his run for Speaker, shortly before 11 a.m. Johnson issued a full statement. In that statement, the District 100 representative, who has been an ally of the LGBT community throughout his tenure in the House, specifically mentioned the need to stop hyper-partisan legislation like last session’s anti-transgender bathroom bills as one reason he decided to run. Read his full statement at the bottom of this post.
State Rep. Eric Johnson, the Democrat representing District 100 in Dallas and Mesquite, announced today (Wednesday, May 2), that he has filed paperwork to run for Speaker of the Texas House for the 86th Texas Legislature.
First elected to the Texas House in 2010, Johnson will begin his sixth term when the 86th Legislature convenes next January. He currently serves on the House committees on Ways and Means, Investments and Financial Services, and Redistricting.
Johnson was born and raised in District 100. After graduating cum laude from Harvard University in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, he went on to earn a master’s degree in Public Affairs in International Relations from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a juris doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, both in 2003. Johnson currently serves on the Democratic National Committee and is the chair of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee’s Finance Council.
Johnson is Of Counsel to the international law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. He lives in Dallas with his wife, Nikki, and their two sons, William, age 4, and George, age 8 months.
If he were to be elected Speaker of the House, Johnson would be the first Speaker under the age of 45 since Price Daniel Jr. in 1973 and the first Speaker from Dallas since W.O. Reed in 1947.
Johnson, who is black, would also be the first person of color ever to serve as Speaker of the House in Texas.
Shortly before 11 a.m., Johnson issued the following statement about his decision to run for Speaker:
Last year, when Texas House Speaker Joe Straus declared that he would not be seeking another term as Speaker, I announced that I would consider running to succeed him.
I soon began talking with family, my closest friends, and my constituents about running. My wife and I considered what running for Speaker would entail for our family, with two sons under the age of 5: the days and nights away from home visiting with House members in their districts, the late-night strategy sessions, the myriad public appearances.
But we also discussed what it would mean for Texas if I were to win, and this led me to become an official candidate for Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
When I look back over my eight years as a member of the Texas House, I am deeply troubled by the far rightward shift in our state government and the excessive partisanship and the poor legislation this shift has spawned. Texas has become a one-party state, and this has been to Texas’s detriment.
Bipartisanship is no longer valued in Austin; in fact, many perceive it as a political liability. We spend more time in Austin debating wedge political issues aimed at weeding out moderates in a particular political party than we do addressing the real problems facing our state — like school finance, access to health care and our aging infrastructure.
This hyper-partisanship must end if Texas is going to succeed in a future marked by increased competition, both nationally and internationally, for human capital and investment.
The quality of the legislation we debate and pass in Austin must also drastically improve: a bathroom bill might be a good political wedge issue, but it won’t lower anyone’s property taxes, help any Texas student graduate from high school or prepare a single Texas city for the next Hurricane Harvey.
What Texas needs is a strong, pro-growth, progressive leader presiding over the Texas House to act as a counterbalance to a far-right governor and lieutenant governor. I am running for Speaker to help restore normalcy to Texas state politics. Whether the issue is increased funding for Pre-K or removing Confederate monuments from the Texas Capitol, I have never backed down from a legislative fight — not even when my chief opponents have been the governor and lieutenant governor of Texas.
Right now, this is exactly the kind of leadership we need in Austin, and this kind of leadership has always come naturally to me.
In the coming months, I will share more about me and my family, and I will also describe in more detail my vision for Texas and what I will do if I am elected Speaker to help bring about this vision. I appreciate your support and your prayers as my family and I embark upon this incredible journey. May God bless you and the great state of Texas.
