Power Players features state lawmakers rising through the ranks and making a notable mark on the 87th Texas legislative session. Each week, Capital Tonight will feature an elected official to give you a chance to get to know the person behind the powerful position.
TEXAS — Sen. Lois Kolkhorst loves sports. She was a high school and college golfer, who had her hopes set on going pro.
"I lacked the courage and the confidence. Just gotten married. I was a good college athlete, but not a great one," she said.
But she says the skills she learned playing sports came in handy for being competitive in the political game.
"There's times even when you're serving in the legislature where your heart's beating so fast. You're convincing your colleagues this is right for Texas and that pounding heart—it reminds me a lot of performing athletically and so those are skills I've used my whole life," she said.
Her kids share her love of sports and she's their number one fan, no matter how hectic her schedule.
"Sometimes I come sliding in sideways. Sometimes I look like this at a baseball game."
Politics wasn't really on Kolkhorst's radar.
"A journalist said you'd be great in politics and I thought, 'huh?'"
After running the Washington County Chamber of Commerce, she took a chance at the State House. She beat an incumbent and was sworn in in 2001 at just 34 years old.
"I look back now as a young female and I brought something to the table. A voice," Kolkhorst, R-Brehham, said.
And also the voice of a young mother, first elected with one child and shortly thereafter, a second.
"I'm either the third or fourth woman in the history of Texas to do that," she said. "So that was kind of a big deal and I was almost scared to tell people I was pregnant at that time. How ridiculous is that? Now, it's commonplace."
She represents District 18, which runs from Caldwell down to Corpus Christi. While she's proud to live in and serve her hometown of Brenham, Kolkhorst boasts about the many gems of her sprawling district.
"Bluebonnets are to District 18 what snow is to Aspen."
She loves the coastal seafood and small town BBQ, but one place stands out.
"Royers Round Top Cafe in Round Top has gotta be my family's favorite."
And of course Blue Bell in Brenham. She even interned there in college.
"It's true. They eat all they can and sell the rest," she said.
Kolkhorst, who chairs the Health and Human Services Committee, says this legislative session will be a success, if they pass a budget and provide more COVID relief — however, a failure if reforms aren't made to the power grid system.
"We have to learn that lesson. We had a warning in 2011 and we didn't act on that warning," she said.
She says the first thing she wants to do post-pandemic is take off her mask and go to football and baseball games, bringing it full circle to her love of sports.
