Leo Pacheco is an American educator and politician who served in 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 January 8, 2019, to August 19, 2021, representing the 118th district.

Early life and education

Pacheco's family is descended from the settlers who founded the original San Antonio mission from the Canary Islands. He was raised on San Antonio's South Side. Pacheco graduated from

Harlandale High School Harlandale High School is a public high school located in the city of San Antonio, Texas ( USA) and classified as a 5A school by the UIL. This school is the flagship school for the Harlandale Independent School District located in south centra ...

in 1976. Pacheco became the first member of his family to graduate from college; he earned an associate's degree at

San Antonio College San Antonio College (SAC) is a public community college in San Antonio, Texas. It is part of the Alamo Colleges District and the oldest public two-year college in Texas. The college has an average semester enrollment of 22,028 credit students an ...

, a

Bachelor of Business Management Bachelor of Business Management (BBM), sometimes known as a Bachelor of Management Studies, is an undergraduate program of four years. The BBM degree is designed to teach students the skills necessary to perform leadership roles in the business and ...

Texas A&M University–San Antonio Texas A&M University–San Antonio is a public university in San Antonio, Texas. It is part of the Texas A&M University System. The university was established on May 23, 2009, and held its first classes as a stand-alone university on August 20, 20 ...

, and a Master of Public Administration at the

University of Texas at San Antonio The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) is a Public university, public research university in San Antonio, Texas. With over 34,000 students across its four campuses spanning 758 acres, UTSA is the Education in San Antonio, largest universi ...

(UTSA). He worked his way through school, including as a bus driver for

VIA Metropolitan Transit VIA Metropolitan Transit (or VIA) is the mass transit agency serving San Antonio, Texas, United States, and its surrounding municipalities. It began operation in 1978 as a successor to the San Antonio Transit System. In , the system had a riders ...

Career

Pacheco was the chair of the

Bexar County Bexar County ( or ; es, Béxar ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,009,324. Bexar County is included in the San Antonio–New Brau ...

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

for four years in the 1990s. He worked as a human resource specialist for

Palo Alto College Palo Alto College is a public community college on the South Side of San Antonio, Texas. It is one of five separately accredited colleges in the Alamo Colleges District The Alamo Colleges District (previously the Alamo Community College Dis ...

and taught as an adjunct professor at UTSA and

Texas House of Representatives

In 2018, Pacheco ran for the

for the 118th district in the Democratic Party's primary election against

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...

Tomas Uresti Tomas Uresti is a Democratic former member of the Texas House of Representatives who represented District 118. He won the November 2016 general election and was sworn into office on January 10, 2017. Uresti was defeated in the Democratic primary ...

. He defeated Uresti, and faced

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 ...

John Lujan John Lujan III (born June 7, 1962) is a firefighter and former Bexar County sheriff’s deputy, who serves as a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 118 in San Antonio. 2016 special election for District 118 He ...

in the general election. Pacheco defeated Lujan, with 58 percent of the vote to Lujan's 42 percent. Pacheco supported Michael Bloomberg in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries. Pacheco ran for reelection in 2020 and was not opposed in the Democratic Party primary election. He faced Republican Adam Salyer in the November 3, 2020, general election and won with 57% of the vote. In May 2021, Pacheco was one of seven Democrats to vote in favor of permitless carry in the state of Texas. In result,

Democratic Party censured him. In the beginning of August 2021, Pacheco announced that he planned to resign from the Texas House during the second session of the

Eighty-seventh Texas Legislature The Eighty-seventh Texas Legislature was a meeting of the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Texas, composed of the Texas Senate and the Texas House of Representatives. The Texas State Legislature met in Austin, Texas, from January 12, 202 ...

. He said that he would resign in order to teach public administration at San Antonio College. Pacheco resigned from the Texas House on August 19, 2021.

Personal life

Pacheco and his wife, Melva, have two children.

References

External links

Campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pacheco, Leo 1957 births Living people Politicians from San Antonio Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Texas Texas A&M University System alumni University of Texas at San Antonio alumni University of Texas at San Antonio faculty 21st-century American politicians