This article is the fifth in a six-part MSNBC Daily series, “Meet the Freshmen,” featuring six of Congress’ newest faces — three Republicans and three Democrats — in a series of diverse columns that explore the new members’ backstories, policies, home districts and where they fit in this historic political moment. You can read the rest of the series here.
There’s an old idiom in politics that a politician is either a “work horse” or a “show horse.” In its 180 years as a state, Texas has sent more than its fair share of work horses to Congress. Members like Lyndon Johnson, Sam Rayburn, Tom DeLay and Barbara Jordan expertly navigated the halls of Congress, emerging as party leaders and change-makers in Washington.
Recently, however, the Texas delegation has been all show horse. Representatives like Louie Gohmert, Chip Roy and Ronny Jackson are drawn like moths to the bright lights of Fox News and Newsmax cameras. The eminently quotable Rep. Jasmine Crockett once did a TV hit from her seat on a Southwest flight. But a new member of the Texas delegation, Rep. Julie Johnson, has all the makings of the next Texas congressional work horse.
A new member of the Texas delegation, Rep. Julie Johnson, has all the makings of the next Texas congressional work horse.
As a former trial lawyer, Johnson boasts a background that would have made it easy for her to veer into the politics of identity or the world of attention-seeking that many of her new colleagues are fond of. Johnson made history as the first member of the Texas Legislature to have a same-sex spouse, and she defeated one of the chamber’s most bigoted members. Nearly all of the headlines about Johnson’s 2024 victory have likewise noted that she is the first openly LGBTQ person to represent Texas in Congress.
It might have been easy for Johnson’s tenure in the state House to be defined more by her sexual orientation or her history-making electoral victory than by the policy she has had a hand in. Instead, during her time in the Legislature, Johnson has earned a reputation as a smart member, a hard worker and someone who was unafraid of sharing a good whiskey with members of either party — all of which earned her the hard-won honorific “Freshman of the Year” from Texas Monthly. The magazine called Johnson a “paragon of collegiality,” noting that she “carried a variety of nuts-and-bolts legislation, including limits on predatory practices by insurance companies as well as bills to legalize medical marijuana as a treatment for PTSD.” This isn’t glamorous work, but it’s genuinely reassuring that there are still some politicians up to the task.
In just three legislative sessions in the State Capitol, Johnson quickly learned how to wield the levers of power, even as a young member of the minority party. She led a bipartisan effort to reform the Texas Medical Board following an investigation by NBC affiliate KXAN of Austin. During her tenure, at least 40 of the bills Johnson co-authored or joint-authored were signed into law, according to The Texas Tribune. Just before the November election, Matt Angle, director of the Lone Star Project (a Texas group that works to boost Democrats) called Johnson’s tenure in the Legislature “just outstanding terms.” These aren’t words often used, even by other Democrats, to describe lawmakers in the Texas House.
What’s more, like any effective progressive working in the State Capitol, Johnson put her weight behind blocking harmful bills. Notably, she helped strike down a 2019 anti-LGBTQ bill by using parliamentary procedure, and she was instrumental in organizing the so-called quorum break to hold up 2021 voter suppression legislation.
It’s refreshing to have a political newcomer on the scene who isn’t interested in inhabiting the already-crowded green rooms of cable TV shows.
But her ambitions in the Texas House have reached beyond simply passing good legislation and blocking bad legislation. In 2020, Johnson helped launch Fair and Square PAC, a leadership PAC that supports Democratic efforts to win a majority in the Texas House. That kind of move typically indicates politicians have eyes toward leadership roles for themselves, should their party gain a majority. While she never got that chance, it has become abundantly clear that Johnson is a member willing to stick her neck out to be an agent of change.
It’s refreshing to have a political newcomer on the scene who isn’t interested in inhabiting the already-crowded green rooms of cable TV shows but who instead has worked to shape her state for the better — and who has expressed a desire to do the same in Washington. After her work reforming the Texas Medical Board, she told KXAN Austin that she hopes to increase health care transparency at the federal level next. She has the intellect, work ethic and ambition to make a meaningful splash in Washington, just as she did in Austin.
It is no sure thing that Julie Johnson will be the next LBJ or Sam Rayburn, whose legislative powers are the stuff of legends. But someone has to be. Why not her?
Billy Begala
Billy Begala is the director of product and operations for The Barbed Wire. He previously spent his professional career working on Texas political campaigns, in the Texas Legislature and in professional communications.