What Did Texas Congressional Members Do In 2022?

TX01 – Louie Gohmert (R).

In less than a week, some village in East Texas is getting their idiot back. Finally, the biggest embarrassment in Texas will no longer be in DC representing us. Gohmert opted to run for Attorney General of Texas in the last election instead of his Congressional seat. He lost. Let’s hope he retires permanently and we don’t see his face in politics anymore.

Louie Gohmert was first elected in 2004, and during his 18 years in Congress, only one of his bills ever became law.

TX02 – Dan Crenshaw (R).

Congressman Crenshaw represents one of the most gerrymandered districts in America. Without the severely gerrymandered lines drawn the way they are, Crenshaw would not be in office.

Although Dan Crenshaw’s political ideology is abhorrent to most of us, he has held his positions with integrity, causing him to become one of the most hated Republicans in his own party.

The divide between Crenshaw and the rest of the GOP became clear at this year’s Republican Party of Texas Convention when he was violently attacked by a right-wing mob who accused him of being a globalist and a traitor.

Crenshaw had a difficult year dealing with members of his own party. In January, he went viral for snapping at a young girl after she questioned him on his previous comments about Jesus.

He publicly feuded with Margorie Taylor Green and criticized other Republicans for attending white nationalist events, but still won his primary after fellow Republicans labeled him a RINO.

Has Crenshaw gone rogue?

Last month, Crenshaw said that Republicans knew the 2020 election wasn’t rigged and denounced the GOP calls to defund the FBI.

While it may seem that he’s gone rogue because of his willingness to stand up to and criticize his own party, he’s still a far-right Republican who embraces the us vs. them mentality. He praised Republican governors who bussed migrants up north and criticized the raid at Mar-A-Lago.

TX03 – Van Taylor (R).

Van Taylor did something out of the ordinary for Republicans. After he was caught having an affair, he dropped his re-election bid and is retiring this week.

We should give him credit for stepping down after his integrity was proven to be flawed since, over the last few years, five Texas state legislators were caught stepping out on their spouses and still ran for re-election.

Van Taylor was elected in 2018 and never had a bill pass the House.

Replacing him on January 3 will be the newly elected Keith Self, a Yankee turned Texan and former Collin County Judge. While during his previous held seat, Self was often praised for being a centrist, he ran his campaign on hard-right positions.

Fallon was sworn into his first term in office in January 2021, and one of the first things he did was vote to overturn the election. He participated in seditious rhetoric leading up to the Capitol riot and then afterward took a ridiculous photo of himself holding a stick, attempting to portray himself as democracy’s defender.

However, it was just an act. Earlier this year, Fallon was photographed with a violent terrorist group in North Texas at one of their events.

Typical Texas Republican?

While the 117th Congressional Session was Fallon’s first session in DC, he faced a serious ethic probe over $21 million in unreported stock trades.

TX05 – Lance Gooden (R).

Lance Gooden is one of the worst congresspeople from Texas, second only to Ronny Jackson, in his persistent boot-licking on Donald Trump. Roughly 95% of Gooden’s social media posts are about how much he loves Trump. It’s weird and creepy.

I recently dug into Gooden’s activity in DC. I found that he only appeared at two committee hearings this year, only spoke on the House floor one time, and voted by proxy likely more than any other Texas congressperson.

TX06 – Jake Ellzey (R).

Congressman Ellzey was elected during a special election after Ron White died in 2021, thanks to my help. Don’t get that wrong, because I would never be for a Republican, but TX06 is my congressional district, and the special election went to a runoff between Ron Wright’s widow, Susan, and Ellzey.

One of Ron Wright’s final acts of office was to vote to overturn the election. That’s why when his widow ran on “continuing his legacy” and received a Trump endorsement, I knew that meant trouble. Ellzey promised me personally, along with other Democratic activists in the area, that if Democrats showed up for him in the runoff between he and Susan Wright, he would reach across the aisle and work with us.

TX07 – Lizzie Fletcher (D).

First elected in 2018, Lizzie Fletcher has gotten both praise and criticism from Democratic voters. Most recently, her bill, Autos for Veterans, passed and was sent to the President’s desk.

Fletcher led the way for legislation that expanded Medicaid and protected abortion rights. Unfortunately, none of those bills passed.

On the flip side, when leftists refer to “white liberals,” they often talk about the Liberals who vote as Fletcher has.

Texas progressives have been extremely critical of Congresswoman Fletcher’s position on oil.

TX08 – Kevin Brady (R).

Kevin Brady has been in Congress for 26 years, which may have contributed to his retiring this year.

It really doesn’t matter what he did during his two and half decade stint because history will always remember him as one of the seditious members from Texas who attempted to overthrow the government.

Brady was another Yankee who moved to Texas to transform the state into a Conservative mecca. While the GOP has won the last few battles, the war is far from over.

And we’ll all be left to wonder, after retirement, whether Brady had retired to his original home in South Dakota or decided to spend his golden years in Texas.

TX09 – Al Green (D).

Who doesn’t love Houston Congressman Al Green? Since being elected to congress in 2004, Green has been a champion for the people. Whether he’s standing up for the poor, communities of color, or LGBTQ individuals, Green has always been someone that Texans can count on.

That held true in 2022 as Green worked to hold Greg Abbott’s feet to the fire over the Uvalde massacre and pushed to get a DACA recipient returned home after a paperwork error. Throughout Congressman Green’s tenure, he has remained consistent and dedicated to the people in Houston.

Green turned 75 this year, but we hope to see him in continued good health and office as long as he is willing.

TX10 – Michael McCaul (R).

Michael McCaul was elected the same year as Al Green. Although the youngest of the two, 60-year-old McCaul has been in office for 26 years.

In March this year, McCaul pissed off Tucker Carlson when he called him an “organ of Russian disinformation.”

Although McCaul was not one of the congresspeople to participate in Trump’s seditious conspiracy, he did make headlines when he called the insurrection “legitimate political discourse.”

While McCaul is someone that mostly flies under the radar, he sponsored multiple bipartisan bills during the 117th Congress, which passed the House.

TX11 – August Pfluger (R).

August Pfluger was sworn into office for the first time on January 3, 2021. Then, on January 6, he voted to overturn the 2020 election.

Unfortunately, his district is gerrymandered so redly that even if he did have a Democratic opponent, he still would have won in a landslide. But, in 2022, he ran unopposed.

There are two things that Congressman Pfluger cares about. Those two things are immigration and oil. More specifically, Pfluger wants to stop immigration into America and wants to make sure Texas oilmen continue to get rich off of killing the earth.

Some of the bills he introduced include reimbursing Abbott’s political stunt, Operation Lone Star, protecting the Permian Basin, the Energy Freedom Act, and Midland over Moscow.

TX12 – Kay Granger (R).

Eighty-year-old Kay Granger was elected to Congress in 1996. Since then, she’s accrued a mass amount of wealth and escaped indictment of at least one criminal investigation.

In 2022, Kar Granger didn’t introduce or sponsor one bill. Not even one. So, what did she do this year?

She voted against supporting NATO and wrote a strongly worded letter to the Navy about their use of the USS Fort Worth. Aside from that, it’s unclear how much she showed up to work in 2022.

During the first half of 2022, she participated in committees and was seen on the House floor, but since the summer has been mostly absent.

TX13 – Ronny Jackson (R).

Leading up to the 2020 election, Ronny Jackson vigorously advocated overthrowing the American government. Jackson was on the frontline of Trump’s seditious conspiracy, and even though the January 6th Committee implicated Jackson in criminal acts, he has yet to be held accountable.

It’s baffling to most of us how Congressman Jackson can break his oath of office, be openly involved in a criminal conspiracy, and walk free of indictments from the Department of Justice.

Unfortunately, like most Republicans in Texas, Jackson was gerrymandered into his position and easily won re-election in 2022.

TX14 – Randy Weber (R).

Congressman Randy Weber participated in Trump’s criminal seditious plot. Yet, Republicans redrew the district maps to ensure Weber would stay in place while hundreds of thousands of people of color lost representation.

Two great Democrats ran against Weber in 2022, and neither won, but some interesting news came out regarding another opponent Weber had. Another Republican, by the name of Keith Casey, who has lost multiple primary elections to Weber, was arrested a few weeks ago for allegedly threatening to kill Weber.

I hear that Weber is not well-liked by either side of the aisle in that part of Texas.

TX15 – Vicente Gonzalez (D).

Because of redistricting, several congresspeople in South Texas played a game of musical chairs. In January, Monica De La Cruz (R) will take TX15, while Vicente Gonzalez will beat out Mayra Flores (R) for TX34. In the 118th Congress, Gonzalez will serve the 34th District.

This year Gonzalez did find himself in a bit of a scandal when he paid for advertising on a South Texas blog and said blog used racist language toward Mayra Flores.

TX16 – Veronica Escobar (D).

First elected in 2018, Congresswoman Escobar has been a pillar of progressive politics and is well-liked in Texas.

This year, Escobar has pushed bills relating to addressing climate change, updating the asylum process, prohibiting family separation at the border, and improving infrastructure for border communities.

When SCOTUS overturned Roe, Veronica Escobar was arrested for protesting in the street in front of the Supreme Court.

Escobar spent the year in El Paso fighting against hate, misinformation, lack of access to clean water, and reproductive rights.

TX17 – Pete Sessions (R).

This year, Pete Session spent most of his time reaffirming what we already knew, he’s a bigot who holds racist ideals.

Aside from participating in Trump’s seditious conspiracy and using racist tropes about white supremacy in committees, Sessions made headlines when he compared marijuana usage to slavery, refused to support veterans injured by burn pits, and violated a conflict-of-interest law regarding stock trading.

This year, Sessions was also accused of receiving donations from Russian oligarchs.

Pete Sessions won re-election because the GOP redrew the districts to keep Republicans safe, no matter how terrible their positions are.

TX18 – Sheila Jackson Lee (D).

Who doesn’t love Sheila Jackson Lee? First elected in 1994, Jackson Lee has more bills that have become law than almost any other Texas Congressional member.

This year, she pushed bills that would protect reproductive access, increase the penalty for hate crimes, address human trafficking, a Safe Storage Act for guns, prohibit gerrymandering, reauthorization the Violence Against Women Act, and the Justice for Veterans Act.

TX19 – Jodey Arrington (R).

I don’t know how it happened, but somehow I got on Congressman Arrington’s email list. Arrington holds frequent virtual town halls with his constituents, which I’ve been invited to via email.

These town halls are absurd because Arrington spends the entire time talking about how he will fight against the leftist agenda in DC but never once mentions what he will do to improve the lives of his constituents.

Arrington is one more of the seditious sixteen that attempted to overturn democracy, yet he’s still in office, and he ran unopposed.

This year, Arrington pushed bills to repeal the Clean Air Act, increase oil drilling in Texas, and ban the US from supporting the World Health Organization.

TX20 – Joaquin Castro (D).

Joaquin Castro and his brother Julian are some of the most popular Democrats in Texas. Activists and political insiders have been pushing for Castro to run for a statewide seat for several years. The rumor is that he’s considered it twice, and both times was talked out of it by the National Party. (Just one more way the National Democratic Party works against Texas Democrats.)

This year, Congressman Castro introduced a bill to crack down on illegal guns going from America to Mexico.

TX21 – Chip Roy (R).

Chip Roy accomplished something this year that he’s never done before. He went the entire year without crying on the House floor or in committee once. Congressman Roy has been known to shed a few tears, especially when defending capitalism or racism.

In March, Roy voted against the anti-lynching bill and called vaccines a crime against humanity.

In June, he equated gun control to the Holocaust.

TX22 – Troy Nehls (R).

The most disappointing thing regarding the January 6th investigation was how many loose ends we’re still left with regarding the Congresspeople who participated in the seditious coup.

Nehls was sworn into office on January 3, 2021, and then on January 6, voted to overturn democracy.

In February this year, Nehls claimed that Capitol Police were illegally investigating him. Capitol Police said that wasn’t true and they had checked his office because the door was left open.

Nehls was said to have been one of the Congressmen who protected the House floor, but he later defended Trump for his role in the insurrection.

TX23 – Tony Gonzales (R).

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably are aware of the fact that I get blocked by a lot of Republicans. Most of the time, I deserve it. This year, Congressman Gonzales blocked me on Twitter because I mentioned how it appeared that he didn’t give two shits about the murdered children in Uvalde. (I may not have worded it so nicely.)

Tony Gonzales was the Congressman who had Uvalde in their district when the massacre happened. His response has been as abhorrent as Abbott’s or Cruz’s response. He has repeatedly slapped the families of the dead children in the face.

While he did side with Democrats on some gun safety legislation, the bill was weak and didn’t do enough to fix the system.

TX24 – Beth Van Duyne (R).

In 2020 I labeled Beth Van Duyne the most racist congressperson from Texas. This year, I stand by that original claim because, unlike her racist counterparts, Van Duyne is the only one who has caused direct violence against a marginalized community in their own district.

Keller has been in the news recently, from inviting a rapist to give a school board prayer to allowing teachers to carry firearms on campus and banning LGBTQ-inclusive books.

That’s why it’s no surprise that Keller gave a key to the city to Van Duyne as part of their efforts to rebrand Keller as a family-friendly city.

TX25 – Roger Williams (R).

Is Roger Williams one of the Republicans who voted to overturn democracy?

Yes, he is.

First elected ten years ago, the only one of Congressman Williams’ bills to pass was renaming a post office.

In October, Williams told the Parker County GOP that he shared their views. This was interesting because, in 2021, the Parker County Republican Party voted in favor of racist resolutions and to leave America if the opportunity should come up.

Besides that, Williams spent his year much the same as other Texas Republicans, attacking Biden on immigration.

TX26 – Michael Burgess (R).

Dr. Burgess was first elected in 2002 and has been responsible for passing several new laws throughout the years. Burgess has often tried to appear nice and sensible in committee hearings and political speeches. But, unfortunately, much of his record tells us otherwise.

Burgess did vote to overthrow the government on January 6, and in 2021, he was videoed at a secessionist meeting with 3%ers.

In 2022, he violated the STOCK Act.

A few years ago, we met a young man named Dominique Beacher. He wasn’t old enough to run for Congress at the time, but he had a goal of running against Burgess when he was old enough in 2026. While it’s still some time from now, hopefully, Beacher will continue working toward his dream.

TX27 – Michael Cloud (R).

Congressman Michael Cloud is #14 of the seditious sixteen.

What kind of Republican is Michael Cloud? In August, Lauren Boebert stumped for him. That should tell you all you want to know. He was also a guest speaker at Trump’s rally in Texas in October.

Congressman Cloud has already served two congress sessions, and none of his bills have yet to pass.

Michael Cloud is so far to the right that he objected to electing Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker because “McCarthy was a RINO.”

Aside from holding extremist views, Congressman Cloud hasn’t held much influence among his peers or within the Republican Party. He’s only in DC because racial gerrymandering is legal in America.

TX28 – Henry Cuellar (D).

The primary election in TX28 was a complete shit show for about a million reasons. Henry Cuellar faced two other Democrats, Tannya Benavides and Jessica Cisneros.

Over the last year, I interviewed 70% of the new candidates running for congress or the state legislature. I had reached out to both Cisneros and Benavides campaigns for interviews. Benavides was amazing, Adrienne and I interviewed her multiple times, but the Cisneros campaign snubbed us.

This is not a big deal since we don’t have a huge following in South Texas. I just figured she was unfamiliar with us. We really liked Tannya Benavides and her positions, which is why we ultimately endorsed her.

Unfortunately, Benavides did not get many votes at all, but she got enough to send Cuellar and Cisneros to a runoff.

TX29 – Sylvia Garcia (D).

Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia is another Texas treasure. Whether fighting for worker’s rights or making it easier for veterans to get cancer treatment, Garcia has a record of standing up for and standing with Texans.

Sylvia Garcia is in the Progressive Caucus, the Equality Caucus, the Taskforce for Poverty and Opportunity, and the Gun Prevention Taskforce.

While she hasn’t had many bills passed yet, she introduced them in the 117th congressional session just by looking at the legislation. You can tell she is a champion of progressive values.

We couldn’t be more pleased to see the amazing Jasmine Crockett taking over this seat on January 3.

TX31 – John Carter (R).

John Carter hates America, so he participated in Trump’s seditious conspiracy and attempted to overthrow the government on January 6. Like most GOP traitors, Carter has been re-elected to office thanks to the GOP’s crafty redistricting measures.

Luckily for the rest of us, Congressman Carter is rarely seen doing his job in DC. When a bill came up to end voting by proxy, Carter voted against it…by proxy.

Born in 1941, Carter is perhaps the oldest of all Texas’ congressional delegations.

Aside from appearing at an occasional news conference about immigration, John Carter has been almost invisible in 2022.

TX32 – Colin Allred (D).

This year, Congressman Colin Allred led the charge to get Russia-imprisoned Brittney Griner returned to her home in Texas.

As mentioned under Jake Ellzey, Colin Allred also secured a $442 million upgrade to Dallas and El Paso veterans facilities.

Whether it’s expanding tax credits for students, protecting our elections from the seditious GOP, or aiming at corporate corruption, Congressman Allred has stood up for Texans with legislation and in his everyday activities.

Last month, Allred said he was considering a senate run against Ted Cruz in 2024. We think he has just as good a chance as anyone, and he should go for it.

TX33 – Marc Veasey (D).

This year, Marc Veasey wrote a nomination letter for Opal Lee to receive a Noble Peace Prize.

Congressman Veasey has stood up against the NRA, called for investigations of Fort Worth prisons, and championed voting rights. His actions in congress are what we expect all of our congresspeople to take.

Unfortunately, in our hyper-partisan era, we are so used to watching the GOP work against the people that it becomes a breath of fresh air when a congressperson actually works to represent the people.

TX34 – Mayra Flores (R).

The Mayra Flores situation will be funny from now until the end of time.

Mayra Flores is a Latina Conservative from South Texas and was likely the biggest contributor to the lie that Conservatives are winning the Hispanic vote in Texas.

When Filemon Vila resigned in June, Abbott called a special election for TX34, even though, because of redistricting, that seat was expected to go to Vicente Gonzalez in November.

Texans, we suck at showing up for special elections, especially Democrats.

TX35 – Lloyd Doggett (D).

Over the years, Lloyd Doggett has represented TX10, TX25, TX35, and TX35, and in the 118th Congressional Session, he will represent the newly drawn TX38. And it’s not like he moves around. He’s served so many districts because of redistricting in the state legislature.

Doggett has been in congress for almost 28 years and has always been a man of the people.

Congressman Doggett has spent his time in DC fighting for workers’ rights, access to healthcare, and equality for all.

When Lloyd Doggett heads up TX38 next year, progressive Greg Casar will take his place in TX35.

TX36 – Brian Babin (R).

Before George Santos, there was Brian Babin, the biggest liar in congress. Besides being another complicit Republican in Trump’s seditious conspiracy, Babin spends most of his time on Fox News and social media telling lies, spreading propaganda, and expressing hatred.

Living Blue in Texas has written about Babin multiple times and how he uses his position and platform to spread propaganda and racism.

Why does he do it?

Who knows, but one thing you can be certain of is that you will never get the truth about anything from Brian Babin.

This year he was implicated as having insider knowledge of Trump’s coup attempt.

Don’t take my word for it. Listen to how new House Leader Hakeen Jeffries completely dismantles the GOP and pokes fun at how much in shambles they are.

We shouldn’t expect to see too much come out of the 118th Congress. Aside from the GOP being in disarray, Democrats still have the majority in the Senate, which will block any of the GOP’s terrible bills.