José Manuel Lozano Gorena (born May 23, 1980), known as J. M. Lozano, is a 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. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

from the 43rd district, which consists of the counties of

Bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

, Jim Wells, Kleberg, and San Patricio. He serves as chairman of the House Committee on Redistricting and vice-chair of the Committee on International Trade. A

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspe ...

, Lozano lives in Kingsville in Kleberg County with his wife, Avelina, and their three children. First elected to office as a Democratic politician, he switched parties in 2012 and is now a Republican. He owns

Wingstop Wingstop Inc. is an American international chain of restaurants that primarily sells buffalo wings. Wingstop locations are decorated with a 1930s and 1940s pre-jet aviation theme. The restaurant chain was founded in 1994 in Garland, Texas, a ...

franchises in

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

, Calallen, Kingsville, and

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

Early life and education

Lozano is the son of a medical doctor and has five sisters. He graduated from Premont High School in

Premont, Texas Premont is a city in Jim Wells County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,455 at the 2020 census. Geography Premont is located at (27.358064, –98.125766). It is situated at along U.S. Highway 281 (Future Interstate 69C) in south ce ...

, in 1998 and later received a Bachelor of Arts in government from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

. He interned for Carlos F. Truan in the

Texas Senate The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature, with the Texas House of Representatives functioning as the lower house. Together, they form the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the state of Texas. The Senate ...

. He also received a Master of Arts in administration from the

University of the Incarnate Word The University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) is a private Roman Catholic university with its main campus in San Antonio and Alamo Heights, Texas. Founded in 1881 by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, the university's main campus is lo ...

Political life

He is a member of the Eagle Ford Shale Caucus, Tourism Caucus, Rural Caucus, and House Republican Policy Committee, and at various times he has been appointed to the positions of Deputy Floor Leader, chairman of the Committee on Redistricting, and vice-chairman of the Committee on International Trade and has been appointed to several other committees. In 2023, Lozano voted for the impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, but later expressed regret for his vote. In 2025, Lozano sponsored a bill to ban gender affirming care for

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

individuals of all ages.

References

External links

@texasreplozano
on

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@RepJMLozano
on

J.M. Lozano
at ''

The Texas Tribune ''The Texas Tribune'' is a nonprofit politics and public policy news website headquartered in Austin, Texas, United States. Its stated aim is to promote civic engagement through original, explanatory journalism and public events. ''The Texas T ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Lozano, José Manuel 1980 births Living people University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts alumni University of the Incarnate Word alumni Members of the Texas House of Representatives Texas Democrats Texas Republicans American politicians of Mexican descent Politicians from Guadalajara, Jalisco People from Jim Wells County, Texas People from McAllen, Texas People from Kingsville, Texas American restaurateurs Baptists from Texas Latino conservatism in the United States Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Texas 21st-century members of the Texas Legislature