Bryan Hughes (politician)
Douglas Bryan Hughes (born July 21, 1969) is an American attorney and politician who is a Republican member of the Texas State Senate for District 1. He was first elected to the Texas Senate in November 2016. Previously, Hughes was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 2003 through January 2017. In 2002, Hughes was elected as state representative for District 5, which includes Camp, Harrison, Upshur, and Wood counties in the northeastern section of Texas. Background. Hughes was born in Quitman, and raised in nearby Mineola. He graduated in 1987 from Mineola High School  and thereafter enrolled at Tyler Junior College. In 1992, he earned his undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Texas at Tyler. In 1995, Hughes received his Juris Doctor degree from Baylor Law School. He clerked for the U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas William M. Steger of Texas. In 2003, he joined the Lanier law firm in Mineola. Texas legislature. Texas House of Representatives. Hughes was elected to the legislature in 2002, when defeated incumbent Democratic Representative Bob D. Glaze of Gilmer in Upshur County. Hughes polled 20,286 votes (52.4 percent) to Glaze's 18,451  (47.6 percent). In the 2004 general election, Glaze sought a rematch with Hughes but lost, 23,029 votes (38 percent) to the Republican's 37,529 (62 percent). In 2006, no Democrat filed against Hughes, as he defeated the Libertarian Timothy J. Carmichael, 26,286 (81.9 percent) to 5,795 (18.1 percent). Hughes was unopposed in the 2010 general election, when Republicans carried 101 of the 150 seats in the state House. In 2011, Hughes was on the House Agriculture and Livestock and the Human Services committees though his committee assignments have varied during his House tenure. Hughes initially pledged to support a second  term for Republican Joe Straus of San Antonio as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. However, after the 2010 elections, Hughes withdrew his support for Straus on the grounds that Straus had punished intraparty conservative opponents with redistricting. Straus nevertheless retained the speakership and won an easy re-nomination in 2016. Hughes was renominated in the Republican primary held on May 29, 2012. He polled 13,015 votes (77.7 percent) to 3,744 (22.4 percent) for his opponent, Mary Lookadoo. No Democrat opposed him the November 6 general election. After his 2012 renomination, Hughes announced that he would attempt to unseat  Speaker Straus in 2013. However, in December after six months of attempting to line up needed commitments from colleagues, Hughes exited the contest. His conservative colleague and state Senate opponent in 2016, Representative David Simpson of Longview, then entered the contest for Speaker, with Hughes's full support. However, Simpson withdrew before the balloting for Speaker began, and Straus was reelected without opposition on January 8, 2013. Texas Senate. When Kevin Eltife announced his retirement from the state Senate, Hughes entered the Republican primary to succeed Eltife. Hughes carried the backing of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, the presiding officer of  the state Senate. In the primary, Hughes won a plurality of the vote (48 percent), but fell short of a majority in a multi-candidate field. In the runoff election on May 24, 2016, Hughes defeated fellow State Representative David Simpson, 27,348 (69.3 percent) to 12,105 (30.7 percent). He faced no Democratic opponent in the November 8 general election. Voting Rights. In 2021, Hughes introduced legislation to limit voting rights in Texas. This was part of a broader national effort by Republicans to restrict voting rights in the wake of the 2020 elections. Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election  while Donald Trump refused to concede while he and his Republican allies made false claims of extensive fraud. There is no evidence of widespread fraud in Texas elections, contrary to Republican rhetoric on the issue. Civil rights and voting rights groups have overwhelmingly claimed the proposed legislation is an attempt to restrict the access to voting afforded to voters of color. Another provision would prohibited early voting on Sunday mornings, which was a traditional period of voting for Black churchgoers as part of 'Souls to the Polls' events. Hughes defended his attempts to roll back voting by mail, arguing that  it was prone to fraud; he offered no evidence for his claims and existing studies show fraud to be exceptionally rare. Hughes has inaccurately claimed that Texas has 400 open voter fraud cases; the Texas Attorney General office has 43 pending voter fraud cases, of which only one is in relation to the 2020 election. Abortion. On March 11, 2021, Hughes introduced a fetal heartbeat bill entitled the Texas Heartbeat Bill (SB8) into the Texas Senate and state representative Shelby Slawson of Stephenville, Texas introduced a companion bill (HB1515) into the state house. The bill allowed private citizens to sue  abortion providers after a fetal heartbeat has been detected. The SB8 version of the bill passed both chambers and was signed into law by Texas Governor Greg Abbott on May 19, 2021. It took effect on September 1, 2021. Education on civil rights movement. In 2021, Hughes authored legislation to prevent public schools from requiring that students read writings by prominent civil rights figures, such as Susan B. Anthony, Cesar Chavez, and Martin Luther King Jr., when covering women’s suffrage and the civil rights movement in social studies classes.