Power Players features state lawmakers rising through the ranks or 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 — Senator Bryan Hughes has served the residents of northeast Texas for nearly 20 years. He first won a seat in the Texas House back in 2002.
"When you’re running as the underdog, it’s great because there's no pressure on you because you're not supposed to win,” said Sen. Hughes.
Hughes says he didn't know whether he was going to win but just knew he needed to run.
"Prayed about, talked to family and church leaders about then, yeah we won,” he said.
He now represents Senate District 1. It's the area he grew up in and is proud to still call home. He says there are a lot of special things about his district. Caddo lake is in his district — one of just a few natural lakes in the state. An international boundary marker is also unique.
"It was placed there in 1842 and it's on the state line. On the Louisiana side it says “US” and on the Texas side it says "RT" for Republic of Texas. It's an international border marker. Those were placed by the US government during the period 1836 and 1845, when we were our own country and this is the only one left, the only international border marker in the continental United States. We're pretty proud of that," said Hughes.
Senator Hughes has a lot to be proud of too. He's the first in his family to get a college degree and even went on to law school.
"Civil law practice is what I do, it's something I enjoy,” he said.
Hughes believes his law degree is an advantage in the Texas Senate along with already having experience as a legislator in the Texas House. He says moving to the state's upper chamber has been an adjustment though.
"When I walked into the Senate chamber the first few times, I thought something was wrong or I thought maybe it was a memorial resolution, maybe they were honoring someone who had died. It was so quiet. So, I've had to get used to that,” said Hughes.
The House is definitely more lively.
"There's nothing like it. It's alive, it's organic, it's exciting, it's wild. It’s rarely quiet.”
And he's been part of the racket.
"In the House, they really hit the gavel really hard, trying to break it sometimes, and they're hard to break but I did break one. I was in the chair and I gaveled down and the head flew off. It narrowly missed Rep. Phil King. That wasn't intentional,” said Hughes.
When you've spent as much time at the Capitol as he has, you collect a lot of stuff including a giant cut out of former President Ronald Regan.
"When we moved into the capitol a couple sessions ago, we had these high ceilings and we wanted to make good use of them, and we were able to find this cut out of President Regan and he's been with us ever since,” said Hughes. “That's a guy who grew up poor, didn't have a lot and just really enjoyed the American dream and wanted to share it with others and he did, he did."
And that's what Hughes says he hopes to do too.