Joe Straus
Joseph R. "Joe" Straus III (born September 1, 1959) is the current Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. He represents District 121, which comprises northeastern Bexar County, including part of San Antonio, Texas, and several surrounding communities. Straus joined the House after defeating fellow Republican Glenn Scott Starnes, later the city manager in Eagle Pass, Texas, in a special election held in February 2005. Straus was first elected Speaker on January 13, 2009. He was reelected to a second two-year term as Speaker on January 11, 2011.
In January 2013, the moderate Republican Straus faced intraparty conservative opposition for a third term as Speaker from Representative David Simpson of Longview. Simpson entered the race for Speaker in December 2012, after Straus's previous opponent, conservative Bryan Hughes of Mineola, withdrew from the contest after nearly six months of seeking commitments from colleagues. However, Simpson withdrew before the balloting for Speaker began, and Straus was reelected without opposition on January 8, 2013.
Read more about Joe Straus: Business and Community Experience, Political Experience, Challenge Against Tom Craddick, Antisemitism Controversy As Speaker, Mr. South Texas, Election of 2012
Famous quotes containing the word joe:
“This might be the end of the world. If Joe lost we were back in slavery and beyond help. It would all be true, the accusations that we were lower types of human beings. Only a little higher than apes. True that we were stupid and ugly and lazy and dirty and, unlucky and worst of all, that God Himself hated us and ordained us to be hewers of wood and drawers of water, forever and ever, world without end.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)