Texas State Representative Trey Martinez Fischer is a prominent figure in Latino and Lone Star State politics and represents the new face of American leadership.
Currently serving his seventh term representing District 116 in San Antonio, he has built his career as a no-nonsense, down-to-business Democrat whose influence among his own caucus and respect among Republicans allows him to guide key bills to passage or defeat.
Texas Monthly recently named him one of the “10 Best” Texas legislators of 2013 – the only State House Democrat to be so named. The influential magazine described Rep. Martinez Fischer as a “soldier prepared to do battle but ready to make peace.” He won that distinction, in part, by playing a pivotal role in restoring $3.9 billion in funding to Texas schools that Republicans had cut in previous legislative sessions. For these efforts, the Texas Classroom Teachers Association awarded him the prestigious “Friend of Education” award.
Rep. Martinez Fischer is a frequent visitor to the White House. He is also an advisor to the U.S. Trade Representative and a speaker before legal, legislative and business groups. Rep. Martinez Fischer’s counsel is often sought by leading national figures fighting attacks on the Voting Rights Act and those seeking strategies for enrolling minorities in health insurance.
Rep. Martinez Fischer and the 40-member-strong Mexican American Legislative Caucus (MALC) that he chairs have been steadfast in their efforts to ensure that minorities are fairly represented in Texas legislative districts, and they were joined in 2013 by the U.S. Department of Justice as plaintiffs in federal court fighting to curtail discriminatory voting and redistricting laws in Texas. The oldest and largest Latino legislative caucus in the U.S., MALC has emerged as one of the nation’s leading Latino public policy organizations and “the group to watch” in the Texas legislature according to The Economist.
Each legislative session, Rep. Martinez Fischer serves on a broad array of committees with wide-ranging responsibilities. He was appointed to four standing and select committees, tackling natural resources, state spending and taxation, governmental accountability and redistricting in the most recent term. He is frequently recognized for his fearless mettle and gumption and refusal to be intimidated. In 2011, he won the Texas Monthly “Bull of the Brazos” award named in honor of legendary Texas Sen. Bill Moore and bestowed to the most effective legislator in Austin. Online magazine Capitol Inside placed Rep. Martinez Fischer as the sole House Democrat in its top-10 power index in its 2013 Legislative Session preview.
His legislative accomplishments include co-writing Texas’ shield law for journalists in 2009, which passed both houses unanimously. Later that year, he authored the bill that doubled San Antonio’s capacity to provide recycled water to businesses to meet the demands of expanding industries while conserving potable water for a fast-growing region. He also wrote the amendment requiring Texas’ Employee Retirement Systems to hire emerging fund managers, many of whom are minority and women-owned businesses.
As a result of his 2011 “Boeing Bill,” Air Force One and the 787 Dreamliner will be refitted and repaired in San Antonio, creating hundreds of jobs in the region. And in 2013, he succeeded in protecting some of the state’s most vulnerable by expanding unemployment benefits eligibility, ensuring that neither the victims nor their employers would be penalized if a victim or victim’s family member was forced to leave an employer following a sexual assault.
Rep. Martinez Fischer has appeared on several national broadcast outlets, including CNN, MSNBC, C-SPAN, NPR and Univision. He has been covered internationally and by top national publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, Bloomberg News and Reuters. Hearst Newspapers placed him among the 20 Latino political rising stars nationally “who just might change the face of American politics,” and the New York Times dubbed him a “heavy hitter.” In 2009, The Economist included him among those changing the national political demographic in an article titled, “The New Face of America.”
Texas also is a swiftly changing state. Demographers project that Hispanics will become the state’s largest population group sometime before 2020, and Rep. Martinez Fischer is a recognized leader in that transition to a “New Texas.”
Born and raised in San Antonio, Rep. Martinez Fischer is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law and has practiced before state and federal courts throughout Texas since 1998. He also holds a B.A. in political science from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a master’s in public administration from the Baruch College of Public Affairs in New York. In 1993 he was selected to be a National Urban Fellow.
Rep. Martinez Fischer and his wife, Elizabeth Provencio, an attorney and former San Antonio Water System trustee, are the proud parents of two daughters: Francesca, 5 and Camilla, who is 4.
You can learn more about Trey’s public service at his House of Representatives website and his Campaign Website.