Philip Adam Cortez (born July 7, 1978) is a Democratic 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 ...

. He previously served as a State Representative for House District 117 during the 83rd Legislative Session. From 2007 to 2012, he was a member of the nominally

nonpartisan Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party. While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers sp ...

San Antonio City Council The San Antonio City Council is the legislative arm of the municipal government of the city of San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. It consists of 10 members elected from single-member districts. San Antonio has a council-manager form of gove ...

, on which he was a firm ally of then

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Julian Castro Julián Castro ( , ; born September 16, 1974) is an American lawyer and politician from San Antonio. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the youngest member of President Obama's cabinet, serving as the 16th United States Secretary of Hou ...

. Cortez is a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the

Air Force Reserve The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a MAJCOM, major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federal Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of ...

, having originally joined the Air Force as an

enlisted Enlisted may refer to: * Enlisted rank An enlisted rank (also known as an enlisted grade or enlisted rate) is, in some armed services, any rank below that of a commissioned officer. The term can be inclusive of non-commissioned officers or ...

airman An airman is a member of an air force or air arm of a nation's armed forces. In certain air forces, it can also refer to a specific enlisted rank. An airman can also be referred as a soldier in other definitions. In civilian aviation usage, t ...

. In the November 6, 2012

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, Cortez unseated the freshman

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 Garza John Vincent Garza (born March 13, 1955 in Herlong, California) is a Republican former one-term member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 117 in Bexar County, Texas. Garza has been employed in housing development and sales for m ...

. In his first term, Cortez was named the top Democratic freshman by Capitol Inside. In the November 4, 2014 general election, Cortez was narrowly unseated by the Republican

Rick Galindo Ricardo Galindo III is an American politician. He served as a Republican member for the 117th district of the Texas House of Representatives. Born in San Antonio, Texas, the son of Valerie and Oscar Hernandez Galindo, Galindo attended St. Mar ...

, who won his party primary on March 4 with 2,372 votes (64.6 percent). Galindo thwarted the primary comeback bid waged by former Representative

, who trailed with 1,300 votes (35.4 percent) of the ballots cast. In the November 4

, Galindo defeated Cortez, 12,835 votes (52.7 percent) to 11,521 (47.3 percent). Cortez returned in 2016 to unseat Galindo, who polled 27,783 votes (48.6 percent) in the general election to Cortez's 29,319 (51.3 percent). Cortez won again in the general election held on November 6, 2018, when he handily defeated the

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Republican candidate, Michael Berlanga, 32,779 (57.4 percent) to 24,352 (42.6 percent). Berlanga (born December 16, 1959) is a

certified public accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Sta ...

in San Antonio who formerly ran for Bexar County tax assessor-collector but lost to Democrat Albert Uresti. Prior to the Texas House of Representatives, Philip Cortez was San Antonio City Councilman for District 4. In 2007, he won with over 70% of the vote and was re-elected in 2009 with over 78% of the vote. Cortez's younger brother, Joseph Cortez (born 1983), was a candidate for the District 6 seat on the San Antonio City Council in the municipal election held on May 6, 2017. Joseph Cortez sought to succeed the term-limited Ray Lopez, for whom he was the policy and communications advisor during the preceding three years. On July 27, 2021, an arrest warrant was issued for Cortez for fleeing Texas to DC in an attempt to block quorum during special session.

References

External links

*
Legislative pageTwitter account
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cortez, Philip 1978 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives San Antonio City Council members Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Texas United States Air Force officers Politicians from San Antonio 21st-century American politicians University of Texas at San Antonio alumni Military personnel from Texas