Senator Judith Zaffirini, the first Mexican American woman elected to the Texas Senate in 1986, on Sunday at 10 p.m. will become the first woman Dean of the Senate in the history of the State of Texas. Often called the “Dean-in-Waiting” as the second-highest-ranking senator for 16 years, she will rise to highest-ranking as former Senator John Whitmire resigns at that time to become Mayor of Houston on Jan. 1.
“Only 24 women have served in the Texas Senate with 952 men,” Senator Zaffirini said, “including the four Democratic and four Republican women who serve today. In 1986 Senator Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Dallas) and I became the seventh and eighth women elected. We joined Senator Cyndi Krier (R-San Antonio), marking the first time more than one woman served in the 31-member body.”
Because the next three senators in seniority are male, it could have been a long time before another woman was in place to assume the deanship if Senator Zaffirini hadn’t.
