Laura Thompson is a former Independent 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 abou ...

. She represented District 120 after winning a special election on August 2, 2016, after former state representative

Ruth McClendon Ruth Elizabeth Jones McClendon (5 October 1943 – 19 December 2017) was an American politician. McClendon was born in Houston on 5 October 1943, and graduated from Phillis Wheatley High School before attending Texas Southern University as an unde ...

retired. In the November 2016 general election, she ran for election to a full term but was defeated by

Barbara Gervin-Hawkins Barbara Gervin Hawkins (born April 3, 1954) is an American politician. She is a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives, representing the 120th District. She defeated incumbent Laura Thompson, an independent, in the November 201 ...

. Thompson's brief tenure in the Texas House ended on January 9, 2017. Thompson was the first Independent to serve in the Texas Legislature in over fifty years. In October 2016,

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 ...

officials in

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 Bra ...

unsuccessfully sued to remove Thompson's name from the ballot in the November 2016 election, claiming that her nomination papers lacked enough valid signatures.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Laura Living people Members of the Texas House of Representatives Howard University alumni 21st-century American politicians Texas Independents Women state legislators in Texas 21st-century American women politicians Year of birth missing (living people)