Melissa Meisgeier Noriega is a former member of the

Houston City Council The Houston City Council is a city council for the city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas. Currently, there are sixteen members, 11 elected from council districts and five at-large. The members of the Council are elected every four years, w ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, having held At-Large Position 3. Noriega is an educator and civic leader in

and Harris County,

, as well as a former 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 currently is part of the leadership team at BakerRipley, a community development non-profit.

Educational work

Noriega was employed with the Houston Independent School District from 1981 to 2007 in various capacities.

Tenure in the Texas House of Representatives

Noriega served as State Representative for Texas House District 145 in 2005 while her husband, State Representative Richard J. "Rick" Noriega, served in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

as part of

Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used synonymously by the U.S. government for both the War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response to the September 11 at ...

. She was sworn in on January 11, 2005. She filed eleven bills and succeeded at passing three into law. At the end of the legislative session, the House Democratic Caucus voted her freshman of the year. She relinquished the seat when her husband's tour of duty ended on August 26, 2005.

Houston City Council

Noriega was elected to At-Large Position 3 on the

in a special election held on June 16, 2007. The seat had been vacated by

Shelley Sekula-Gibbs Shelley Sekula-Gibbs (born June 22, 1953) is an American physician and politician, who serves as a director of The Woodlands, Texas Township board of directors. She served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representin ...

when she won an earlier election to complete the term of Congressman

Tom DeLay Thomas Dale DeLay (; born April 8, 1947) is an American author and retired politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1985 until 2006. He was Republic ...

after he resigned from office. Noriega was subsequently elected to three two-year terms on the council, where she served as chair of the Public Safety Committee, vice-chair of the Development and Regulatory Affairs Committee, and on seven other council committees. In its endorsement of Noriega for a third term on the council, the

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

praised Noriega for her effectiveness in dealing with Houston's pension issues and her efforts "to put Houston's infrastructure improvements on a more stable, pay-as-you-go basis." Noriega was blocked by term limits from seeking a fourth full term.

Candidacy for Harris County Department of Education

In 2014, Noriega ran for At-Large Position 7 on the Harris County Department of Education, a body that supports Harris County's 26 independent school districts. Noriega, a Democrat, lost to Republican Don Sumners, a former Harris County Tax Assessor Collector.

Candidacy for Texas House

Following State Representative Carol Alvarado's elevation to the Texas Senate in a special election on December 11, 2018, Noriega became a candidate in an eight-way race for Texas House District 145, the district she represented for several months while her then-husband, Rick Noriega was deployed to Afghanistan. In the January 29, 2019 special election, Noriega finished second behind Houston Planning Commissioner and funeral-home CEO

Christina Morales Christina Morales (born April 13, 1968) is a Texas Democratic Party (U.S.), Democratic politician serving in the Texas House of Representatives for district 145. Personal life Morales' grandfather, Felix H. Morales, opened KLVL the first Spanish ...

, necessitating a runoff to pick the eventual winner.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Noriega, Melissa 1954 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives University of Houston alumni Politicians from Philadelphia Women state legislators in Texas Houston City Council members Women city councillors in Texas