Joan Huffman
Joan Huffman
Texas State Senate District 17
Tenure
2009 - Present
Term ends
2029
Years in position
16
Compensation
Elections and appointments
Education
Personal
Contact
Joan Huffman (Republican Party) is a member of the Texas State Senate, representing District 17. She assumed office in 2009. Her current term ends on January 9, 2029.
Huffman (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the Texas State Senate to represent District 17. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Huffman graduated with a B.A. from Louisiana State University and later graduated with a J.D. from the South Texas School of Law.
In addition to being a senator, Huffman is an attorney and has served as lead prosecutor in over 100 jury trials. Those trials include murders, sexual assaults and aggravated robberies.[1]
Committee assignments
2023-2024
Huffman was assigned to the following committees:
- Committee of the Whole Senate
- Criminal Justice Committee
- Finance Committee, Chair
- Special Committee on Redistricting, Chair
2021-2022
Huffman was assigned to the following committees:
- Administration Committee
- Criminal Justice Committee, Vice chair
- Finance Committee
- Jurisprudence Committee, Chair
2019-2020
Huffman was assigned to the following committees:
- Administration Committee
- Criminal Justice Committee, Vice-Chair
- Finance Committee
- Senate State Affairs Committee, Chair
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| Texas committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Criminal Justice, Vice chair |
| • Finance |
| • State Affairs, Chair |
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Huffman served on the following committees:
| Texas committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
| • Criminal Justice, Vice-Chair |
| • Finance |
| • State Affairs, Chair |
2013-2014
In the 2013-2014 legislative session, Huffman served on the following committees:
| Texas committee assignments, 2013 |
|---|
| • Finance |
| • Health & Human Services |
| • State Affairs |
2011-2012
In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Huffman served on the following Texas Senate committees:
| Texas committee assignments, 2011 |
|---|
| • Criminal Justice, Vice chair |
| • Health & Human Services |
| • Higher Education |
| • Jurisprudence |
| • State Affairs |
2009-2010
In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Huffman served on the following Texas Senate committees:
| Texas committee assignments, 2009 |
|---|
| • Government Organization |
| • Health & Human Services |
| • Transportation & Homeland Security |
| • Veteran Affairs & Military Installations |
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2024
General election
Democratic primary election
Republican primary election
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Huffman in this election.
2022
See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2022
General election
Democratic primary election
Republican primary election
Campaign finance
2018
- See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2018
General election
Democratic primary runoff election
Democratic primary election
Republican primary election
Overview of 2018 Republican primaries
The 2018 Texas state legislative Republican primaries featured conflict between two factions. One group was opposed to House Speaker Joe Straus (R) and his preferred policies on issues like education financing and property taxes. The anti-Straus wing included members of the Texas Freedom Caucus and organizations such as Empower Texans and Texas Right to Life. The other group was supportive of Straus and his policy priorities. The pro-Straus wing included incumbent legislators allied with Straus and organizations such as the Associated Republicans of Texas and the Texas Association of Business. To learn more about these factions and the conflict between them, visit our page on factional conflict among Texas Republicans.
The primaries occurred on March 6, 2018, with runoffs on May 22, 2018. There were 48 contested state legislative Republican primaries, outnumbering contested primaries in 2016 (43) and 2014 (44). To see our full coverage of the state legislative Republican primaries, including who key influencers were backing and what the primaries meant for the 2019 House speaker's race, visit our primary coverage page.
The charts below outline the March 6 primary races for the state Senate and the state House. They show how the factions performed on election night.
| Texas Senate Republicans | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Before March 6 primaries | After March 6 primaries | |
| Pro-Straus | 2 | 1 | |
| Anti-Straus | 1 | 3 | |
| Unknown | 3 | 3 | |
| Open seats | 1 | - | |
| Runoffs | - | - | |
| Too close to call | - | - | |
| Total | 7 | 7 |
| Texas House Republicans | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Before March 6 primaries | After March 6 primaries | |
| Pro-Straus | 20 | 20 | |
| Anti-Straus | 4 | 9 | |
| Unknown | 2 | 5 | |
| Open seats | 15 | - | |
| Runoffs | - | 7 | |
| Too close to call | - | - | |
| Total | 41 | 41 |
Primary we watched
This primary was one of 48 we tracked for the March 6 elections. Did the incumbent file to run for re-election?
What made this a race to watch?
Gov. Greg Abbott campaigned for Huffman on February 28. He said, "I worked with Sen. Huffman for multiple sessions now, including on public education. I know Sen. Huffman’s genuine commitment to improving public education, making it stronger. I know that she stands with me to ensure the funding that’s necessary that we take care of teachers’ pensions as well as health care. … And to pay teachers more."[3]
Endorsements for Huffman
- Gov. Greg Abbott (R)[4]
- Texas Medical Association
- Texas Association of Business
- Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick (R)[5]
- Texans for Lawsuit Reform
- Texas Association of Realtors
- National Federation of Independent Business[6]
- Houston Chronicle[7]
Support and endorsements for Tassin
- Texas Parent PAC
- According to the Texas Tribune, firefighters associations supported Tassin because Huffman supported a bill that would have ended unions' ability to deduct dues from paychecks.[8]
Campaign finance
2014
- See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2014
Elections for 15 of the 31 seats in the Texas State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on March 4, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in these elections was December 9, 2013. Rita Lucido was unopposed in the Democratic primary, while incumbent Joan Huffman defeated Derek Anthony in the Republican primary. George Hardy was running as a Libertarian candidate, and David Courtney was running as a Green Party candidate. Phil Kurtz filed but did not advance past the Libertarian convention. Huffman defeated Lucido, Hardy and Courtney in the 2014 general election.[9][10][11][12]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Joan Huffman Incumbent |
63.3% | 113,817 | |
| Democratic | Rita Lucido | 33.9% | 60,934 | |
| Libertarian | George Hardy | 2% | 3,642 | |
| Green | David Courtney | 0.7% | 1,303 | |
| Total Votes | 179,696 |
2012
- See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2012
Huffman won re-election in the 2012 election for Texas State Senate, District 17. Huffman ran unopposed in the May 29 primary election and won re-election in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.[13]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Joan Huffman Incumbent |
77.7% | 185,429 | |
| Libertarian | Austin Page | 13.4% | 32,026 | |
| Green | David Courtney | 8.9% | 21,252 | |
| Total Votes | 238,707 |
2010
- See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2010
Huffman won re-election to the 17th District Seat in 2010, defeating Libertarian candidate Phil Kurtz in the general election on November 6, 2012.[13]
| Texas State Senate, District 17 2010 General election results | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent |
| Joan Huffman (R)
|
112,595 | 83.15% |
| Phil Kurtz (L) | 22,802 | 16.84% |
2008
On Dec. 16, 2008, Huffman won a special election runoff for the 17th District Seat in the Texas State Senate, defeating opponent Chris Bell.[13]
| Texas State Senate, District 17 (2008) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent |
| Joan Huffman (R)
|
24,497 | 56.09% |
| Chris Bell | 19,176 | 43.90% |
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Joan Huffman did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Joan Huffman did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Texas scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Texas State Legislature was in session from January 10 to May 29.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Texas State Legislature was not in session. |
2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Texas State Legislature was in session from January 12 to May 31.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Texas State Legislature was not in session. |
2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Texas State Legislature was in its 86th legislative session from January 8 through May 27.
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2018
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
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In 2018, the Texas State Legislature did not hold a regular session. |
2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
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In 2017, the Texas State Legislature was in its 85th legislative session from January 10 through May 29. A special session was held from July 18 to August 15.
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2016
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
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In 2016, the Texas State Legislature did not hold a regular session. |
2015
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show]. |
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In 2015, the Texas State Legislature was in its 84th legislative session from January 13 through June 1.
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2014
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2014, click [show]. |
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In 2014, the Texas State Legislature did not hold a regular session. |
2013
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2013, click [show]. |
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In 2013, the Texas State Legislature was in its 83rd legislative session from January 8 through May 27. Thirty minutes after the regular session ended, Governor Rick Perry called legislators back for a special session starting that evening.[14] Two additional called sessions were held from July 1 through July 30 and July 30 through August 5.[15]
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2012
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2012, click [show]. |
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In 2012, the Texas State Legislature did not hold a regular session. |
2011
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2011, click [show]. |
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In 2011, the Texas State Legislature was in its 82nd legislative session from January 11 through May 30. A special session was called for May 31 through June 29.[15]
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See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ The Senate of Texas, "Texas Senator," accessed May 24, 2014
- ↑ Texas Tribune, "Fort Bend school board president challenging state Sen. Joan Huffman," September 28, 2017
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBlastf28 - ↑ San Antonio Express News, "Abbott endorsement likely to deepen GOP divide," January 4, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedPatrickpolls - ↑ NFIB, "NFIB/Texas Supports 33 Legislators with Primary Challengers," February 15, 2018
- ↑ Houston Chronicle, "For Senate District 17: Joan Huffman and Rita Lucido," February 16, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBlastj23 - ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "1992 - Current ELECTION HISTORY," accessed December 2, 2014
- ↑ Green Party of Texas, "Greens Release Candidate List," accessed July 26, 2014
- ↑ The Libertarian Party of Texas, "2014 Texas Senate Candidates List," accessed July 26, 2014
- ↑ Texas Tribune, "Election Brackets," accessed May 5, 2014
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Texas Secretary of State, "1992 - Current Election History," accessed February 17, 2014
- ↑ kten.com, "Texas Lawmakers To Tackle Redistricting In Special Session," May 29, 2013
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Legislative reference Library of Texas, "Texas Legislative Sessions and Years," accessed June 13, 2014
Leadership
Senators
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Democratic Party (11)
