Jose Menendez

Jose Antonio Menendez (born March 11, 1969) is a member of the Texas Senate for District 26.^[2] He is a former member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 124. He won a special election on February 17, 2015, for the state Senate, to replace Leticia Van de Putte. She resigned to run, unsuccessfully as it developed, against the short-term incumbent, Ivy Taylor, for mayor of San Antonio, Texas.^[3] Menendez handily defeated fellow Democrat State Representative Trey Martinez Fischer for the right to succeed Van de Putte. Even though Menendez and Fischer remain political opponents, their relationship appears to have been civil.

Menendez served in the Texas House from 2001 to 2015. Prior to his service in the State House, he was a member of the San Antonio City Council for District 6.^[1]

Background

Jose Menendez is a native of San Juan in Hidalgo County in south Texas. He graduated in 1987 from Central Catholic Marianist High School.^[1] Four years later, he graduated from Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas, where he received his Bachelor of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American Studies.^[1] He returned to San Antonio, where he took over his family business in 1991.

Political career

Menendez was appointed to the San Antonio Zoning Commission for District 6 in 1994. In 1997, after a heated campaign, he was elected to the District 6 seat on the city council.^[1]

In 1999, Menendez was re-elected to the council with more than 84 percent of the vote. He served on the Small Business, International, and Ethics committees. He also was the chairman of the City's Community Revitalization Action Group (CRAG).^[1] In 2000, term-limited on the council, he ran for the state House of Representatives and was sworn in to his first term in 2001.^[1]

Menendez won election to a full term in the Texas Senate in the Democratic primary on March 1, 2016. He defeated his former rival, Trey Martinez Fischer,^[4] who this time gave up the District 116 House seat to run for the Senate. A number of lobbyists and political action committees which had supported Martinez Fischer switched allegiance to the incumbent Menendez, whose campaign chairman was Colin Strother, who worked in numerous campaigns for U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar of Laredo in Texas' 28th congressional district. Menendez faces no Republican opposition in his heavily Democrat district.^[5]

In a debate before the American Association of Retired Persons in San Antonio, Menendez noted that Martinez Fischer would have become dean of the Bexar County state House delegation had he merely stayed in the House. Martinez Fischer did assume the Bexar County legislative dean's position on February 1, 2016, with the retirement of colleague Ruth McClendon. "Trey did a great job in the House killing many, many bills... We have differences of opinion, we debate. We're passionate about it, but we're also respectful about it," said Menendez.^[6]

With the power of incumbency for just a year, Menendez defeated Martinez Fischer, 31,046 votes (59.2 percent) to 21,383 (40.8 percent).^[4]

Menendez and his wife, Cehlia Newman-Menendez, have three children: Dominic, Victoria, and Austin.^[1] The Menendezes reside in San Antonio.^[1]

References

External links

• Official state website
• Express News article
• Bexar County election order
• Chron.com Texas legislature
• Yellowbot.com info
• Bexar County elected officials guide
• Sabor San Antonio
• Texas State Directory
• Capitol Annex.com