AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Senate has a new dean — or the longest-serving member in that chamber. Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, assumed the role after former Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, won the Houston mayoral race. 

What You Need To Know

  • Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, is the new dean for the Texas Senate

  • Zaffirini is the first woman to hold the title of dean

  • She represents District 21, which stretches from the Rio Grande to the Colorado River and the Valley

  • She's served in the Texas Senate since 1986. She's also the first Mexican American woman to serve in the state’s upper chamber and is one of only 24 women who have ever served in the state Senate

Zaffirini represents District 21, which stretches from the Rio Grande to the Colorado River and the Valley. She's served in the Texas Senate since 1986. She's the first woman to hold the title of dean. She's also the first Mexican American woman to serve in the state’s upper chamber and is one of only 24 women who have ever served in the state Senate.

"There are 31 members. When I started I was number 30. Never, ever did I think I'd get to be number one," she said in an interview on Capital Tonight. "Because the dean is the longest-serving member, members tend to look to that person for questions about protocol, decorum, traditions, institutional knowledge so to speak." 

Sen. Zaffirini has also never missed a vote in her entire tenure in the Senate. When asked how that was possible, she said "by working at it." 

"It's a lot of work. For example, I've been sick but I've been there anyway," she said. 

Click the video link above to watch our full interview with Sen. Zaffirini.