page_title: Rodney Ellis
section_title: Served as governor, lieutenant governor
hierarchical_section_title: Rodney Ellis / Texas Senate record / Served as governor, lieutenant governor
caption_attribution_description: English: Senator Rodney Ellis and the Texas Legislative Internship Program, Class of 2013
context_page_description: Rodney Glenn Ellis is an American politician. He represented Texas' 13th state senate district in the Texas Senate from 1990 to 2017. The district contains portions of Harris County, including downtown Houston, and Fort Bend County. He is a member of the Democratic Party. On June 25, 2016, Ellis won the Democratic Party's nomination for Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 1. He was elected county commissioner on November 8, 2016 and sworn into office on January 1, 2017.
  Ellis was elected to the Texas Senate on February 13, 1990, and sworn into office on February 27, 1990. In his 26-year tenure, Ellis passed 700 pieces of legislation and earned praise for his leadership on increasing access to college for high-achieving Texas students, championing criminal justice reforms to protect the innocent and hold the guilty accountable, and fighting to provide quality, affordable health care to the most vulnerable Texans, amongst many other issues.
  Ellis sat on the Senate State Affairs, Transportation, and Business & Commerce Committees.
context_section_description: In 1999, Ellis was named President Pro Tempore of the Texas Senate.  Normally only a ceremonial position, Ellis served while Governor George W. Bush was running for President of the United States. When Bush traveled out of Texas, Lieutenant Governor Rick Perry was elevated to governor, and Ellis acted as Lieutenant Governor of Texas.  If the governor and lieutenant governor are both out of the state, the president pro tempore is acting governor in their absence.
  In 1999 and 2000, Ellis served as Acting Governor of Texas for a record fifty days and was the Lieutenant Governor of Texas for 7 days, 7 hours and 31 minutes.  Upon Bush's election as president, Ellis presided over the Texas Senate as it chose Bill Ratliff to serve as its presiding officer.
caption: Ellis and the TLIP class of 2013
exif: {"Image Copyright": "Texas Senate Media Services"}