Trey Martinez Fischer (born June 6, 1970), legally Ferdinand Frank Fischer III, 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 abo ...

who represents the

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

-based 116th District, serving since 2019. He previously held this seat from 2000 through 2017. In January 2017, he was succeeded in the position by Diana Arevalo, the secretary for the Bexar County Democratic Party. In 2018, he unseated Arevalo in the Democratic primary for his former state House seat. He won the subsequent general election on November 6 over the

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 ...

nominee Fernando Padron, 32,375 votes (70.4 percent) to 13,612 (29.6 percent). Martinez Fischer returned to the House in January 2019. Martinez Fischer was born and raised in San Antonio. He graduated from

Oliver Wendell Holmes High School Oliver Wendell Holmes High School is a public high school that is part of the Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas (United States). It was established in 1964 and is known for its circular architecture, in which several bu ...

. He received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

from 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 ...

, and in 1994 was selected to study as a National Urban Fellow. He is a graduate of

Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the college operates unde ...

of Public Affairs in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, and the

University of Texas School of Law The University of Texas School of Law (Texas Law) is the law school of the University of Texas at Austin. Texas Law is consistently ranked as one of the top law schools in the United States and is highly selective—registering the 8th lowest ac ...

. He was named one of the "10 Best Legislators" by ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...

'' magazine in both 2013 and 2015, who described him as a "soldier prepared to do battle but ready to make peace". The ''

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'' and the ''

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'' named him one of the "20 Latino political rising stars of 2012", placing him among those under 55, "who just might change the face of American politics over the next two decades". Martinez Fischer is the chairman of the

Mexican American Legislative Caucus {{Hispanic and Latino Americans The Mexican American Legislative Caucus is a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization composed of members of the Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Tex ...

Legislative career

Martinez Fischer was first elected to District 118 seat in the

in 2000. In 2011, he was the lead Democratic author on HB 3727, the Boeing Bill. As a result of this bill, Air Force One will be refitted and repaired in San Antonio. He was selected by then House Speaker

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 ...

to sit on the Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations, and the Select Committee on Redistricting during the first called special session of the 83rd Legislature. On February 17, 2015, Martinez Fischer was defeated in a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

by fellow Democratic House colleague

Jose Menendez Jose Antonio Menendez (born March 11, 1969) is a member of the Texas Senate for District 26. A member of the Democratic Party, he is a former member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 124. He won a special election on February ...

for the

District 26 A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

seat in 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 ...

. The regular election was hotly contested, with Martinez Fischer earning a double-digit lead over his opponent. In a special runoff election marked by low turnout among Democratic voters and unprecedented participation by San Antonio Republicans, Menendez edged out Martinez Fischer. Martinez Fischer challenged and lost again to Menendez for a full Senate term in the Democratic primary on March 1, 2016. Diana Arevalo won the Democratic primary for the seat Martinez Fischer held through 2017, and as she was unopposed in the general election, succeeded Martinez Fischer in January 2017. Martinez Fischer returned to the Texas House of Representatives in 2019, having won both the primary and general elections in 2018.

Disparaging remarks

On June 27, 2014, while speaking at the Texas Democratic Convention, Martinez Fischer used an ethnic slur in Spanish to describe the Republican Party, saying "GOP" should stand for "gringos y otros pendejos." His office had also been handing out six Lotería cards to delegates, one depicting Republican gubernatorial candidate

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 ...

as "El Diablito." Martinez Fischer responded by saying that if he had known Abbott was in attendance, he would have "told him directly to his face."

Personal life

He and his wife, the former Elizabeth Provencio, an attorney and trustee of the San Antonio Water System, are the parents of two daughters.

References

External links

Texas House of Representatives - Trey Martinez FischerTexas Tribune profileCampaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fischer, Trey Martinez 1970 births 21st-century American politicians American politicians of Mexican descent Baruch College alumni Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Texas Living people Texas Democrats Texas lawyers University of Texas at San Antonio alumni University of Texas School of Law alumni