Zaffirini: 'Extend boundaries, be bold, take risks'

Editor's Note: This article is part of a series featuring the women elected leaders of Hays County. Just 30% of statewide elected leaders in the United States are women, while 50.52% of the population is made of women. After a number of women were elected to public office in the 2020 General Election, the Daily Record is spotlighting the women elected leaders, their experiences and successes.

After being reelected on Nov. 3, Texas Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) said the Texas Senate has significantly changed since she was first elected 33 years ago.

“When I was elected, only six women had served,” said Zaffirini, who has represented the 21st Senatorial District since 1986. “As of today, only 23 women have served in the senate in the entire history of the State of Texas. Today there are ten of us. We are almost a third. That is a huge difference.”

When she was first elected Zaffirini was asked by journalists if she was proud to be the first Mexican-American Woman elected. She responded, “No, I’m disgusted. What took so long?” 

The next Mexican American woman was elected to the Texas Senate in 1999, and today there are still only two.

“We are getting close,” Zaffirini said. “I believe since women comprise half of the population, we should comprise half of elected officials. Women have made a lot of progress. More women are running and winning. Before women weren’t running.”

The decision to run and the campaign itself were riddled with hurdles that one may consider unique to women running for political office in the 1980s.

Zaffirini was teaching at Laredo Junior College in 1982 when she began becoming involved in efforts to save Laredo State University, which was under threat of being closed permanently. 

At the time it was an upper level two year university, and Zaffirini saw a need not only to save it, but to bring a four year university to Laredo. After realizing Laredo was the largest city in Texas that did not have a four year university, Zaffirini saw an opportunity to lift up low levels of education across her community.

She and her husband were both asked if either would run for state representative when they were working under Wayne Connally, about to run for Lt. Governor, himself. Although neither of the Zaffirinis wanted to be candidates at the time, the issue of higher education that hung on an impending closure of Laredo State University was enough to change one of their minds. 

“So in 1982, it all came together,” said Zaffirini in an interview with the Daily Record. “But something better came along. After four miscarriages, I found out I was pregnant and this baby might be born. So, I did not run because I wanted to protect my baby and be sure I had a safe birth.”

Zaffirini has continued to put family first from her first notion of becoming an elected official and did not run until 1986 after she was able to start her family. Her priorities were, “No. 1, faith and family. No. 2, running for senate,” she said.

“No it wasn’t easy at all. We had 20 counties: 10 Republican and 10 Democratic counties. Today it's 18, nine and nine. It was very difficult to travel. You can imagine the challenge of traveling all over these countries. With a 4-year-old I was committed; I could only run when I could balance my responsibilities and priorities.”

She represents one of the most expansive districts in the entire state; covering 18 counties including parts of Hays County and stretching from Rio Grande to the Colorado River and to the Port of Corpus Christi and the Valley.

In her first campaign season Zaffirini managed to spend a total of three nights away from her husband and son. Her male opponents had the advantage of being on the road for ten days at a time. 

“I arranged everything so I had time to talk to my son during the day, and my husband at night, every day,” Zaffirini said.

 She has won her position for 33 years after getting outspent two to one several years, and after redistricting and lawsuits that had her running every two years in 1992, 1994 and 1996 instead of every four years. 

Zaffirini had to break through people’s prejudices, those who laughed at her, and racist comments over a Mexican American woman from Laredo daring to run for senate. She heard comments like “He is going to beat her like a drum in the North,” “The machismos in South Texas would never vote for you,”, “little lady I’d like to vote for you but I’ve never voted for a lady in my life,” and, “Everybody knows women are supposed to stay home and clean house.”

To which she responded by winning the Primary and General election; “Yes, I dusted off in May, swept up in June, and mopped up in November.”

Zaffirini said many people were shocked to see a woman on the road running for office. Polls showed people over 50 were less likely to vote for her and that voters would favor any man, Democrat or Republican over her. 

 It wasn’t about the location of her campaign though, “It had to do with the times,” she said. “People thought women should not be doing that. There was only one woman senator at the time.”

One county commissioner of a border county even suggested she bring her husband along with her saying people in their county wouldn’t work directly with her. 

However, despite unfavorable polling and doubts, Zaffirini became the first Hispanic woman to serve in the Texas Senate with the help of an army of volunteers and her husband. 

 “The No. 1 reason (I ran) was for bringing a four year university to Laredo,” said Zaffirini. “Secondarily was health and human services. I didn’t want other students to have to go through what I went through.”

After struggling alongside her husband to complete her doctorate, working multiple jobs, skimping on meals and even commuting from Laredo to Austin to afford tuition, Zaffirini has founded much of her legislation on removing barriers to higher education by making it affordable and accessible.

One such bill was the Be on Time (BOT) Loan program; although it has since been abolished, the incentive program allowed eligible students to receive an interest free loan that would be forgiven if the student completed the degree on time with a B average. 

In 2019 she used the funding that was set aside for the abolished BOT Loans to create $129 million in scholarships. 

Why is it important for women to run for office? 

For the young women interested in running for office Zaffirini says, “Do what you love but don’t limit yourself. Extend boundaries, be bold, take risks. Try to excel in areas that may not come easy, including sports. Get involved in other people’s campaigns. Learn to organize, articulate issues and address issues that matter to people you want to serve. Public service is exactly that-serving the public.”

“Don’t go after someone who is doing a great job. I give the same advice for men who are interested in running. The worst reason to run is because you want to. You run to serve. You run because you are the best one for the job.”