Douglas Bryan Hughes (born July 21, 1969) is an American
attorney and
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
who is a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
member of the
Texas State Senate
The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per con ...
for
District 1 District 1 may refer to:
* I District, Turku, in Finland
* District 1, Düsseldorf, a district in Düsseldorf, Germany
* Sector 1 (Bucharest), also known as District 1, in Bucharest, Romania
* District I, Budapest in Budapest, Hungary
* Distric ...
. He was first elected to the
Texas Senate
The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per co ...
in November 2016. Previously, Hughes was a member of the
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...
from 2003 through January 2017 as
state representative for District 5, which includes
Camp
Camp may refer to:
Outdoor accommodation and recreation
* Campsite or campground, a recreational outdoor sleeping and eating site
* a temporary settlement for nomads
* Camp, a term used in New England, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick to descri ...
,
Harrison
Harrison may refer to:
People
* Harrison (name)
* Harrison family of Virginia, United States
Places
In Australia:
* Harrison, Australian Capital Territory, suburb in the Canberra district of Gungahlin
In Canada:
* Inukjuak, Quebec, or " ...
,
Upshur, and
Wood
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...
counties in northeastern Texas.
Background
Hughes was born in
Quitman and raised in nearby
Mineola. After graduating from
Mineola High School in 1987, he enrolled at
Tyler Junior College
Tyler Junior College (TJC) is a public community college in Tyler, Texas. It is one of the largest community colleges in Texas, with an enrollment of more than 12,500 credit students each year with an additional 20,000 continuing education enroll ...
. In 1992, he earned his undergraduate degree in
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...
from the
University of Texas at Tyler
The University of Texas at Tyler (UT Tyler) is a public research university in Tyler, Texas. Founded in 1971, it is a part of the University of Texas System.
UT Tyler consists of five professional colleges and one traditional college of arts and ...
.
In 1995, Hughes received his
Juris Doctor degree from
Baylor Law School
Baylor Law School is the oldest law school in Texas. Baylor Law School is affiliated with Baylor University and located in Waco, Texas. The school has been accredited by the American Bar Association since 1931 and has been a member of the Associat ...
. He clerked for the
U.S. District Judge for the
Eastern District of Texas
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (in case citations, E.D. Tex.) is a federal court in the Fifth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed t ...
,
William M. Steger of
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
.
In 2003, he joined the Lanier law firm.
Texas legislature
Texas House of Representatives
Hughes was elected to the
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...
in 2002 after running against incumbent
Democratic Representative
Bob D. Glaze of
Gilmer in
Upshur County. Hughes polled 20,286 votes (52.4 percent) to Glaze's 18,451 (47.6 percent). In the 2004
general election, Glaze ran against Hughes again but lost, garnering 23,029 votes (38 percent) to the Republican's 37,529 (62 percent). In 2006, no Democrat filed against Hughes and he went on to defeat the
Libertarian Timothy J. Carmichael, 26,286 (81.9 percent) to 5,795 (18.1 percent). Hughes was unopposed in the 2010 general election, when Republicans carried 101 of the 150 seats in the state House. In 2011, Hughes was on the House Agriculture and Livestock and
Human Services
Human services is an interdisciplinary field of study with the objective of meeting human needs through an applied knowledge base, focusing on prevention as well as remediation of problems, and maintaining a commitment to improving the overall qua ...
committees.
Hughes was renominated in the Republican primary held on May 29, 2012. He polled 13,015 votes (77.7 percent) to 3,744 (22.4 percent) for his opponent, Mary Lookadoo. No Democrat opposed him the November 6 general election. After his 2012 renomination, Hughes announced that he would attempt to unseat Speaker Straus in 2013. In December, after six months of attempting to line up the necessary commitments, Hughes decided to exit the contest. Representative
David Simpson of
Longview, who later opposed Hughes in his 2016 state senate race, then entered the contest for Speaker with Hughes' support. However, Simpson also withdrew before the balloting for Speaker began, and Straus was re-elected without opposition on January 8, 2013.
Joe Straus
Joseph Richard Straus III (born September 1, 1959) is an American politician who served as the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from 2009 to 2019. A Republican, he represented District 121, which comprises northeastern Bexar County ...
also retained the speakership in 2016 with significant support.
Texas Senate
When
Kevin Eltife announced his retirement from the state Senate, Hughes entered the Republican primary to succeed Eltife. Hughes carried the backing of
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, the presiding officer of the state senate. In the primary, Hughes won a plurality of the vote (48 percent), but fell short of a
majority in a multi-candidate field.
In the
runoff election on May 24, 2016, Hughes defeated fellow State Representative
David Simpson, 27,348 (69.3 percent) to 12,105 (30.7 percent). He faced no
Democratic opponent in the November 8
general election.
Voting Rights
In 2021, Hughes introduced legislation to limit
voting rights
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...
in Texas.
This was part of a broader
national effort by Republicans to restrict voting rights in the wake of the 2020 elections.
Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, but
Donald Trump refused to concede and he and his Republican allies made false claims of extensive election fraud.
Civil rights and voting rights groups have claimed that the proposed legislation is an attempt to
restrict the access to voting of voters of color. One provision would prohibit early voting on Sunday mornings, which was a traditional period of voting for Black churchgoers as part of 'Souls to the Polls' events.
Hughes defended his attempts to roll back voting by mail, arguing that it was prone to fraud; he offered no evidence for his claims and existing studies show fraud to be exceptionally rare.
Hughes has inaccurately claimed that Texas has 400 open voter fraud cases; the Texas Attorney General's office had 43 pending voter fraud cases, of which only one was in relation to the 2020 election.
Abortion
On March 11, 2021, Hughes introduced a fetal
heartbeat bill
A six-week abortion ban or early abortion ban, called a "heartbeat bill" or "fetal heartbeat bill" by proponents, is a form of abortion restriction legislation in the United States. These bans make abortion illegal as early as six weeks gestatio ...
entitled the
Texas Heartbeat Bill
The Texas Heartbeat Act, Senate Bill 8 (SB 8), is an act of the Texas Legislature that bans abortion after the detection of embryonic or fetal cardiac activity, which normally occurs after about six weeks of pregnancy. The law took effect ...
(SB8) into the Texas Senate and state representative
Shelby Slawson of
Stephenville, Texas introduced a companion bill (HB1515) into the state house.
[Najmabadi, Shannon]
Gov. Greg Abbott signs into law one of nation's strictest abortion measures, banning procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy
''Texas Tribune
''The Texas Tribune'' is a news website headquartered in Austin, Texas. It aims to promote civic engagement through original, explanatory journalism and public events.
Its website and content in various delivery platforms serve as an alternati ...
'', May 19, 2021. The bill allowed private citizens to sue abortion providers after a fetal heartbeat has been detected.
[ The SB8 version of the bill passed both chambers and was signed into law by Texas Governor ]Greg Abbott
Gregory Wayne Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving as the 48th governor of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 50th attorney general of Texas from 2002 ...
on May 19, 2021.[ It took effect on September 1, 2021.][
The bill does not make an exception for rape, incest, or life of the mother.
]
Education on civil rights movement
In 2021, Hughes authored legislation to prevent public schools from requiring that students read writings by prominent civil rights figures, such as Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony (born Susan Anthony; February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to s ...
, Cesar Chavez, and Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
, when covering women's suffrage and the civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...
in social studies classes.
References
External links
Official website
Bryan Hughes at the Texas Tribune
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Bryan
1969 births
Living people
Republican Party members of the Texas House of Representatives
Republican Party Texas state senators
People from Quitman, Texas
People from Marshall, Texas
University of Texas at Tyler alumni
Baylor Law School alumni
Texas lawyers
21st-century American politicians
People from Mineola, Texas