335N III

Trent Lott

Served as a member of the U.S. House and as Senate majority leader. A former United States Senator from Mississippi, Lott served in numerous leadership positions in both the United States House of Representatives and the Senate. He entered Congress as one of the first of a wave of Republicans winning seats in Southern states that had been solidly Democratic. He became Senate Majority Leader, then stepped down from power after praising Strom Thurmond's 1948 segregationist Dixiecrat presidential bid. After Republicans took the majority in the Senate, Lott became Senate Majority Whip in 1995 and then Senate Majority Leader in 1996, upon the resignation of presidential nominee Bob Dole of Kansas. On December 20, 2002, after significant controversy following comments regarding Strom Thurmond's presidential candidacy, Lott resigned as Senate Minority Leader.

Tom Craddick

TX Speaker during redistricting imbroglio and is member of the Texas House of Representatives representing the 82nd district. Craddick was Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from January 2003 to January 2009. He was the first Republican to have served as Speaker since Reconstruction. Craddick resides in Midland, the largest city in his district. Craddick was first elected in 1968 at the age of twenty-five. By 2012, he was already the longest-serving member of the Texas state legislature and the second-longest-serving representative in the history of the state.

TRMPAC

Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee (Spearheaded by US House Republican Majority leader, Tom DeLay) is a general-purpose political action committee registered with the Texas Ethics Commission. It was founded in 2001 by former Republican Texas U.S. Rep. and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. TRMPAC was founded on September 5, 2001, with the goal of naming a Republican Speaker in Texas and promoting the Republican party's agenda within the state.

Phil Gramm

- congressman from TX in 70s, in the 80s he changed parties while in office from D to R. Ran for senate, won, and retained position for 17 years. - In Congress, Gramm sponsored major acts of financial deregulation. He won election to the United States House of Representatives in 1978, becoming one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress. After being thrown off the House Budget Committee, Gramm resigned from Congress, joined the Republican Party, and won a special election to fill the vacancy caused by his resignation. He won election to the United States Senate in 1984. He cosponsored the 1985 Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget Act, which sought to reduce the U.S. federal budget deficit.

John Warner

-One of the peripheral south republicans to win a second term (along with Tower, Baker, Helms, Gramm, Mack) -From Virginia - is an American attorney and former politician who served as the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and a five-term Republican U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1979 to 2009. Despite his less conservative policy stances, Warner managed to be the second longest-serving senator in Virginia's history and by far the longest-serving Republican Senator from the state. Warner was quite moderate, especially in comparison to most Republican Senators from the South. He was among the minority of Republicans to support gun control laws. Warner supported the Roe v. Wade decision establishing abortion rights and supported embryonic stem cell research, although he received high ratings from pro-life groups because he voted in favor of many abortion restrictions

Connie Mack

-Republican from Florida -won 2nd term (along with Tower, Baker, Helms, Warner, Gramm) - is an American Republican former politician. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Florida from 1983 to 1989 and then as a Senator from 1989 to 2001. He also served as chairman of the Senate Republican Conference from 1997 to 2001. He was considered for the GOP vice presidential nomination by Bob Dole in 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000. Jack Kemp and Dick Cheney, respectively, were chosen instead.

Sheila Jackson Lee

-Texas 18th District D -Homeland Security -the Budget -the Judiciary - is an American politician. She is currently the U.S. Representative for Texas's 18th congressional district, serving since 1995. The district includes most of central Houston. She is a member of the Democratic Party.

Texas Ethics Commission

A state agency that enforces state standards for lobbyists and public officials, including registration of lobbyists and reporting of political campaign contributions. was established in 1991 to "provide guidance on various public ethics laws" within the state of Texas. It was created by a state constitutional amendment voted on by the voters on November 5, 1991, Article III, Section 24a, and assumed the duties of the Texas Ethics Advisory Commission. The legislature has also given the commission various other duties, including the filing of financial disclosure statements for government officials and the filing of campaign finance regulatory statements by candidates and citizens who engage in political speech related to campaigns and elections. The Texas Ethics Commission is currently chaired by Chase Untermeyer, a Republican appointed to the Commission by Texas House Speaker Joe Straus.

Eddie Bernice Johnson

African American representative from Texas' 30th district, used her position of lawmaker to create a forum for fighting discrimination. Johnson advocated for legislation meant to curb housing discrimination and investigations into unfair government contracts. is a politician from the state of Texas, currently representing Texas's 30th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. Serving as a representative since 1993, when she was the first registered nurse elected to Congress. She formerly served in the Texas state house, where she was elected in 1972 in a landslide, the first black woman to win electoral office from Dallas, Texas. She also served for three terms in the Texas senate before being elected to Congress. Johnson had a career in nursing before entering politics. She served for 16 years as the first African-American Chief Psychiatric Nurse at the Dallas Veterans Administration Hospital.

Barry Goldwater

Republican candidate for President in 1964, and initial leader of the conservative movement. A majority of white southerners voted for Goldwater in 1964. Goldwater was a vocal opponent of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as he believed it to be an overreach by the federal government. Goldwater rejected the legacy of the New Deal and fought with the conservative coalition against the New Deal coalition. He also had a substantial impact on the libertarian movement. A significant accomplishment in his career was the passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986. In 1964, Goldwater mobilized a large conservative constituency to win the hard-fought Republican presidential primaries. Although raised as an Episcopalian, Goldwater was the first candidate of ethnically Jewish heritage to be nominated for President by a major American party (his father was Jewish). Goldwater's platform ultimately failed to gain the support of the electorate and he lost the 1964 presidential election to incumbent Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson. Goldwater returned to the Senate in 1969 and specialized in defense policy. As an elder statesman of the party, Goldwater successfully urged President Richard Nixon to resign in 1974 when evidence of a cover-up in the Watergate scandal became overwhelming and impeachment was imminent.

Henry Bonilla

Senate redistricting plan drew district to try to help him keep his seat (it worked initially). former congressman who represented Texas's 23rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He was defeated in his bid for re-election by Ciro Davis Rodriguez, a former Democratic member of Congress, in a special election runoff held on December 12, 2006.

Bill Frist

is an American physician, businessman, and politician. He began his career as a heart and lung transplant surgeon. He later served two terms as a Republican United States Senator representing Tennessee. He was the Senate Majority Leader from 2003 to 2007. Frist helped pass several parts of President George W. Bush's domestic agenda, including the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 and PEPFAR. He was also a strong proponent of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and a prominent advocate of tort reform. Frist left the Senate in 2007, honoring his commitment to serve no more than two terms. Since leaving Congress, he has remained active in public life and has taught at several universities.

Thad Cochran

is an American politician and attorney who served as a United States Senator from Mississippi from 1978 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973 to 1978. he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1972. He served three terms in the House representing Jackson and portions of southwest Mississippi. Cochran won a three-way race for U.S. Senate in 1978, becoming the first Republican to represent Mississippi in the Senate since Reconstruction.[1] He was subsequently reelected to six additional terms by wide margins. He was Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee from 2005 to 2007 and again from 2015 to 2018. He also chaired the Senate Agriculture Committee from 2003 to 2005. With over 45 years of combined House and Senate service, Cochran was the second longest-served member of Congress ever from Mississippi, only after former Democratic Congressman Jamie L. Whitten.

Leticia Van de Putte

is an American politician from San Antonio, Texas. She represented the 26th District in the Texas Senate from 1999-2015. From 1991 to 1999, Van de Putte was a member of the Texas House of Representatives. In 2014, she was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor but lost the general election, 58-38 percent, to her Republican senatorial colleague, Dan Patrick of Houston.[3] Following that defeat, she then resigned from the Texas Senate to run for mayor of San Antonio, which she narrowly lost to Ivy Taylor, 52-48 percent.

Nick Lampson

is an American politician from the state of Texas and used to be a Congressman representing the 22nd Congressional District and the 9th Congressional District of Texas. Lampson was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 9th congressional district from 1997 to 2005. After an extremely controversial mid-decade redistricting, he lost his congressional seat in 2004. In 2006, he was elected to Congress to represent the 22nd district, which had recently been a strongly Republican district, represented by Tom DeLay, the former Republican Majority Leader, who had resigned because of a scandal. Lampson was defeated in 2008 in his re-election bid by the Republican Pete Olson.[1] In 2012, Lampson was defeated by the Republican Randy Weber in his unsuccessful attempt to return to Congress in Ron Paul's old congressional district.

Richard Shelby

is an American politician serving as the senior United States Senator from Alabama. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, he is the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, succeeding Thad Cochran. He previously served as Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. He won a seat in the Alabama Senate in 1970. In 1978, he was elected from the 7th District to the United States House of Representatives, where he was among a group of Conservative Democrats known as the boll weevils. In 1986, Shelby won a tight race as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate. In 1994, the day after the Republican Revolution in which the GOP gained the majority in Congress midway through President Bill Clinton's first term, Shelby switched party affiliations and became a Republican. Shelby was re-elected by a large margin in 1998 and has faced no significant electoral opposition since. He is currently the dean of the Alabama delegation

Rick Perry

is an American politician who is the 14th and current United States Secretary of Energy, serving in the Cabinet of Donald Trump. Prior to his cabinet position, Perry served as the 47th Governor of Texas from December 2000 to January 2015. A Republican, he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998 and assumed the governorship in December 2000 when Governor George W. Bush resigned to become president. Perry was the longest-serving Governor in Texas history. With a tenure in office of 14 years, 30 days, Perry was, at the time he left office, the second longest-serving current governor

Gene Green

is an American politician who is the U.S. Representative for Texas's 29th congressional district, serving since 1993. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district includes most of eastern Houston, along with large portions of Houston's eastern suburbs. Green is the only non-Hispanic white Democrat representing a significant portion of Houston. Since 1996, Green has been a member of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. Since being elected to the House of Representatives, Green has been working on education, labor, energy, domestic manufacturing, health issues, NASA's Johnson Space Center, and Social Security and veterans benefits. He has worked to improve access to quality health care, support initiatives to improve our economy and increased job training, and maintain financial aid for students.

Chet Edwards

is an American politician who was a United States Representative from Texas, representing a district based in Waco, from 1991 to 2011. Previously, he served in the Texas Senate from 1983 to 1990. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Edwards was on Barack Obama's vice presidential shortlist in 2008.

John Tower

the first Texas Republican elected United States senator since Reconstruction Days. He also led the Tower Commission, which investigated the Iran-Contra Affair. He switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in the early 1950s and worked on the 1956 presidential campaign of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Tower lost Texas's 1960 Senate election to Democratic Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, but performed relatively well compared to his Republican predecessors. With the Democratic victory in the 1960 presidential election, Johnson vacated his Senate seat to become Vice President of the United States. In the 1961 special election to fill the vacancy caused by Johnson's resignation, Tower narrowly defeated Democrat William A. Blakley. He won re-election in 1966, 1972, and 1978. Tower staunchly opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Starting in 1976, Tower began to alienate many conservatives. He supported Gerald Ford rather than Ronald Reagan in the 1976 Republican primaries, supported legalized abortion, and opposed President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative.

Kenneth Armbrister

was a Democratic member of the Texas Senate representing the 18th District from 1987 to 2007. During his tenure in the legislature, Armbrister served as President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and as acting Governor. He chose not to run for re-election in 2006. After serving 8 years as Texas Governor Rick Perry's Director of Legislative Affairs, Armbrister joined the Texas Star Alliance lobby group.

Howard Baker

was an American politician and diplomat who served as a Republican US Senator from Tennessee, Senate Minority Leader, and then Senate Majority Leader. Known in Washington, D.C., as the "Great Conciliator," Baker was often regarded as one of the most successful senators in terms of brokering compromises, enacting legislation, and maintaining civility. For example, he had a lead role in the fashioning and passing of the Clean Air Act of 1970 with Democratic senator Edmund Muskie[1]. A moderate conservative, he was also respected by his Democratic colleagues.[2] Baker sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1980 but dropped out after the first set of primaries. From 1987 to 1988, he served as White House Chief of Staff for President Ronald Reagan. From 2001 to 2005, he was the United States Ambassador to Japan

Fred Thompson

was an American politician, attorney, lobbyist, columnist, actor and radio personality. Thompson, a Republican, served in the United States Senate representing Tennessee from 1994 to 2003, and was a GOP presidential candidate in 2008. Thompson served as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board at the United States Department of State, was a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and was a Visiting Fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, specializing in national security and intelligence. Thompson earned about $1 million in total from his lobbying efforts. Except for the year 1981, his lobbying never amounted to more than one-third of his income.

Frank Madla

was for thirty-three years a Democratic member of both the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas State Senate from the south side of San Antonio. Madla died in a house fire in the early morning hours on the Friday after Thanksgiving Day in 2006.

Jim Turner

is an American lawyer and politician who was the Democratic U.S. Representative for Texas's 2nd congressional district from 1997 until 2005.

Ralph Hall

A conservative D, he represented the 4th CD east of Dallas, he switched parties in 04 and served as a R from 4th CD until he was defeated by John Ratcliffe in the 2014 Rep primary. is an American politician who served as the United States Representative for Texas's 4th congressional district from 1981 to 2015. He was first elected in 1980, and was the chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology from 2011 to 2013. He was also a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. In 2004, he switched to the Republican Party after having been a member of the Democratic Party for more than 50 years. At 91, he was the oldest serving member of Congress at the end of his last term in office, the oldest person to ever serve in the House of Representatives, the oldest person ever elected to a House term and the oldest House member ever to cast a vote, and the last member of Congress from the G.I. Generation.

Strom Thurmond

Democratic governor of South Carolina who headed the State's Rights Party (Dixiecrats); he ran for president in 1948 against Truman and his mild civil rights proposals and eventually joined the Republican Party. A magnet for controversy during his nearly half-century Senate career, Thurmond switched parties because of his support for the conservatism of the Republican presidential candidate Senator Barry Goldwater. In the months before switching, he had "been critical of the Democratic Administration for ... enactment of the Civil Rights Law" while Goldwater "boasted of his opposition to the Civil Rights Act, and made it part of his platform." Thurmond left office as the only member of either chamber of Congress to reach the age of 100 while still in office, and as the oldest-serving and longest-serving senator in U.S. history. Thurmond holds the record as the longest-serving member of Congress to serve exclusively in the Senate. He is also the longest-serving Republican member of Congress in U.S. history. At 14 years, he was also the longest-serving Dean of the United States Senate in U.S. history. In opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957, he conducted the longest speaking filibuster ever by a lone senator, at 24 hours and 18 minutes in length, nonstop. In the 1960s, he opposed the civil rights legislation of 1964 and 1965 to end segregation and enforce the constitutional rights of African-American citizens, including basic suffrage. Despite being a pro-segregation Dixiecrat, he insisted he was not a racist, but was opposed to excessive federal authority, which he attributed to Communist agitators. Starting in the 1970s, he moderated his position on race, but continued to defend his early segregationist campaigns on the basis of states' rights in the context of Southern society at the time. He never fully renounced his earlier positions.

Jesse Helms

N.C. Ultraconservative Republican senator who appealed to white conservative constituency. Did more than any other to shape national images and impressions of the southern Republican party. Against civil rights. Helms helped organize and fund the conservative resurgence in the 1970s, focusing on Ronald Reagan's quest for the White House as well as helping many local and regional candidates. Helms was the longest-serving popularly elected Senator in North Carolina's history. He was widely credited with shifting the one-party state into a competitive two-party state. He successfully advocated the movement of conservatives from the Democratic Party - which they deemed too liberal - to the Republican Party. Helms was the most stridently conservative politician of the post-1960s era, especially in opposition to federal intervention into what he considered state affairs (including legislating integration via the Civil Rights Act and enforcing suffrage through the Voting Rights Act). Helms was credited by even his most critical opponents with providing excellent constituent services through his Senate office. As long-time chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he demanded a staunchly anti-communist foreign policy that would reward America's friends abroad, and punish its enemies. n domestic affairs, Helms promoted industrial development in the South, seeking low taxes and few labor unions so as to attract northern and international corporations to relocate to North Carolina. On social issues, Helms was conservative. He was a master obstructionist who relished his nickname, "Senator No". He combined cultural, social and economic conservatism, which often helped his legislation win wide public support. He fought what he considered to be liberalism whenever it was on the agenda, opposing civil rights at first, disability rights, feminism, gay rights, affirmative action, access to abortions, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), and the National Endowment for the Arts. Helms brought an "aggressiveness" to his conservatism, as in his rhetoric against homosexuality. He used racially charged language in his campaigns and editorials.

1964 Civil Rights Act

This act prohibited Discrimination because of race, color, sex, religion, or national origin by employers or labor unions. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requirements, racial segregation in schools, employment, and public accommodations. Powers given to enforce the act were initially weak, but were supplemented during later years. Congress asserted its authority to legislate under several different parts of the United States Constitution, principally its power to regulate interstate commerce under Article One (section 8), its duty to guarantee all citizens equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment, and its duty to protect voting rights under the Fifteenth Amendment. The legislation had been proposed by U.S. President John F. Kennedy in June 1963, but opposed by filibuster in the Senate. After Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson pushed the bill forward, which in its final form was passed in the U.S. Congress by a Senate vote of 73-27 and House vote of 289-126. The Act was signed into law by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2, 1964, at the White House.

1965 Voting Rights Act

This act suspended the use of literacy tests and authorized the appointment of federal examiner who could order the registration of blacks in states and counties where fewer than 50% were registered, or voted previously. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the Civil Rights Movement on August 6, 1965, and Congress later amended the Act five times to expand its protections. Designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Act secured the right to vote for racial minorities throughout the country, especially in the South. The Act's "general provisions" provide nationwide protections for voting rights that prohibits every state and local government from imposing any voting law that results in discrimination against racial or language minorities. Other general provisions specifically outlaw literacy tests and similar devices that were historically used to disenfranchise racial minorities. The Act also contains "special provisions" that apply to only certain jurisdictions which prohibits certain jurisdictions from implementing any change affecting voting without receiving preapproval from the U.S. Attorney General or the U.S. District Court for D.C. that the change does not discriminate against protected minorities. Another special provision requires jurisdictions containing significant language minority populations to provide bilingual ballots and other election materials.

Kay Bailey Hutchison

is an American attorney, television correspondent, politician, and diplomat who is the 22nd United States Permanent Representative to NATO. A member of the Republican Party, she previously was a United States Senator for Texas from 1993 to 2013. In 1993, she was elected to the United States Senate in a nonpartisan special election against Democrat Bob Krueger and became the first woman senator in Texas history. Hutchison was the most senior female Republican senator by the end of her tenure in 2013, and the fifth most senior female senator overall.

Charles Stenholm

a conservative Boll Weevil/Blue Dog D, he represented 17th CD which included Abilene from 1978-2004. After redistricting he ran against R Randy Neugebauer in the new 19th CD which includes Abilene but also the much larger Lubbock and lost (58-40%). Like many conservative Texas Democrats, Stenholm opposed abortion and gun control. In 1990 he was one of the only three House Democrats to vote against the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. However, his main interests were in agriculture and budget matters. For six years, he was ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee. He worked very closely with the committee's chairman, Republican Larry Combest of the neighboring 19th District (and himself a farmer), to shepherd the 2002 Farm Bill through Congress. He was a longtime supporter of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

two-thirds rule

a former rule in the Democratic Party, effective 1832-1936, requiring a vote of at least two thirds of its national convention delegates to nominate a presidential and vice-presidential candidate. How bills are taken in TX Senate when they're out of order ⅔ senators must be present to hear a bill out of order Tx. St. Senators used this rule by leaving to prevent the senate from hearing the redistricting bill TX House has a calendar Now it's ⅗ rule

Chris Bell

a moderate D, he represented 25th CD in Harris Co for 1 term (02-04). He lost in bitter 04 D primary in newly drawn 9th CD to A-A Al Green, who still holds the seat. He was then the Democratic nominee in the 2006 election for the office of Governor of Texas, losing to Republican incumbent Gov. Rick Perry. Bell, a member of the Democratic Party, is currently an attorney specializing in many forms of litigation, including commercial disputes, copyright infringement, and securities disputes.

Al Green

is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. Representative for Texas's 9th congressional district since 2005. The district includes most of southwestern Houston, including most of that city's share of Fort Bend County. It also includes most of Missouri City. Green is a member of the Democratic Party. While in Congress, Green has focused on issues similar to those that he worked for while with the NAACP. Fair housing and hiring practices for the poor and minorities are some of his greatest concerns. He was the first congressman to bring the idea of impeaching President Donald Trump to the House of Representatives.

Eddie Lucio

is a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives, having represented Texas's 38th District since 2007.

Bill Ratliff

is a Texas politician who served as a member of the Texas State Senate from 1988 to 2004. Between 2000 and 2003 he served as the 40th Lieutenant Governor of Texas, after previous Lieutenant Governor Rick Perry succeeded to the governorship to replace George W. Bush who resigned to become President of the United States.

Pete Laney

is a U. S. Democratic Party politician from West Texas. He was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1973 to 2007. A resident of Hale Center, near Plainview in Hale County, Laney served as House Speaker from 1993 to 2003.

Llyod Doggett

is an American attorney and politician who is a U.S. Representative from Texas. A member of the Democratic Party, he has represented a district based in the state capital and his hometown, Austin, since 1995, currently numbered as Texas's 35th congressional district. Dogget has held office as a legislator in the Texas State Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. He has also held office as a justice of the Texas Supreme Court, before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

John Whitmire

is an American attorney and politician who is the longest-serving of current members of the Texas State Senate. Since 1983, he has representing District 15, which includes much of northern Houston, Texas. His tenure earns him the title of Dean of the Senate. Previously he was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1973 through 1982. He also served as the Acting Governor of Texas in 1993[3] as part of the Governor for A Day tradition.

David Dewhurst

is an American politician, businessman, and attorney who served as the 41st Lieutenant Governor of Texas, serving from 2003 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he was the Texas Land Commissioner from 1999 to 2003. Dewhurst was a candidate in 2012 for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the retiring Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison, but he lost his party's runoff election to former Solicitor General Ted Cruz, who went on to win the general election.

Mary Landrieu

is an American politician, entrepreneur, and former U.S. Senator from the state of Louisiana. She is a member of the Democratic Party.

Martin Frost

is an American politician, who was the Democratic representative to the U.S. House of Representatives for Texas's 24th congressional district from 1979 to 2005. He successfully in 1978, became the first Jewish U.S. congressman from Texas. Frost was reelected 12 times without serious opposition. In 1980, he defeated an African American Republican opponent, Clay Smothers.