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Around the Capitol / On the Move

Rep. Tony Tinderholt announced his retireme from the House and has decided to run for the Tarrant County Commissioners Court.

Sen. Charles Perry was elected President Pro Tempore of the Senate.

House outstanding legislator awards:

• Rep. Mitch Little – outstanding freshman member of the Republican Caucus
• Rep. Aicha Davis – outstanding freshman member of the Black Caucus and outstanding freshman member of the Progressive Caucus.
• Rep. Lauren Ashley Simmons – outstanding freshman member of the Democratic Caucus and the outstanding freshman member of the LGBTQ Caucus.
• Rep. Linda Garcia – outstanding member of the Legislative Study Group
• Rep. Christina Morales --outstanding member of the Progressive Caucus.
• Rep. Vikki Goodwin --outstanding overall member of the Progressive Caucus.
• Rep. Vincent Perez – outstanding freshman member of the IT Caucus.

Devan Daniel has been promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff for Rep. Jon Rosenthal. Previously he was his Legislative Director.

Rep. Vikki Goodwin has announced she is running for Lt. Governor in the Democratic primary in 2026.

Pooja Sethi, previously the Chief of Staff for Rep. Vikki Goodwin, has announced her campaign to replace her boss in the legislature.

General Counsel Jimmy Skipton has departed the Speaker’s Office.

Rep. Jolanda Jones has announced she is running for Congress to replace the late US Rep., Houston Mayor and Rep. Sylvester Turner.



Texas Politics Today is produced and sponsored by Arnold Public Affairs, an Austin-based public affairs and lobby firm working with corporate and non-profit organizations. Jim Arnold, Ellen Arnold and Rea Motiwala

Be sure to send us news of departures, promotions, births, marriages and other milestones, so we can share it with the Capitol community!

Information can be sent to jim@arnoldpublicaffairs.com or text at 512-431-5385

Lobby/Association/Other

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht is now a Partner at Jackson Walker.

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP has formed a strategic alliance with Andrea McWilliams.

Mike Joyce has launched Sine Die Events, a conference and logistics service for the Capitol community.

Melinda Little recently became the Vice President of External Affairs of the Texas Region at Comcast. Previously she was the Vice President of Government Affairs of the Big South Region.

Ana Yanez Correa recently announced she is moving back to Mexico. She most recently worked as the Deputy Executive Director for the Sierra Club.

Mary Grace Davidson has recently taken a job as the Client Services and Communications Manager at Mercury Public Affairs.

State Agencies

Esteban Prado recently joined DPS' Office of Government Relations as a legislative aide.

Birthdays

Note: If you'd like your birthday listed and we aren't friends on FB, email me and I'll make sure it's included.

June

1- Jason Johnson

3- Will Buchanan, Dylan Matthews, Jeffrey Waldock, Shannon Meroney

4- Kelly Barnes, Grace Porter, Grace Loos Nowlin

5- Rep. Martinez Fischer, Jordan Root, Sean Cunningham, Joshua Garrett, Kay Kamm, Joe Arnold, Daniel Gonzalez, Rep. Gina Hinojosa

6- Rep. Will Metcalf, Brianna Menard

7- Rep. Erin Gamez, Rep. John Lujan, Mackenna Wehmeyer

8- Rep. Tom Oliverson, Rep. Matt Shaheen, Chris Britton, Fmr. Rep. Aaron Pena

10- Rep. Jeff Leach, Wendy McDaniel Foster

11- Ashley Westenhover. Tony Dale

12- Daniel Perez, Dave McNeely

13- Fmr. Rep. Carl Sherman

14- Ward Tisdale, Jeff Stokes, Deb Mamula, Emily Eppright Kirchner

15- Robyn Hadley, Rusty Word

16- Rep. Ana-Maria Ramos, Terra Tucker, Angelos Angelou, Matthew Wright

17- Merita Zoga, Amanda Kit Tollett, Anna Lisa Montoya, Matt Ruszczak

18- Rep. Greg Bonnen, Amy Gummow Bruno, Dee Kelly Jr.

19- Bill Noble, Dale Wainwright

21- Meredith Delk, Jayna Grove

22- Rep. Keith Bell, Fmr. Rep. DeWayne Burns

23-Becky Brownlee, Danielle Delgadillo, Wayne Franke, Ryan Trimble, Phil Fountain

24-Chet Dombrowski

25-Fmr. Sen. Larry Taylor, Suzy Woodford

26-Rep.John Bucy, Marc Salvato, Amy Baird Maxwell, Lara Wendler, Jess Heck

27-Rep. Mike Schofield, Casey Christman, Sloan Byerly, Santiago Diaz, Luke Merchant, Kristin Knuth Nuckols, Grayson Coker

28-David Feigen, James Henson, Joe Morris, Joey Bennett

29-Fmr. Rep. Doc Anderson, Michelle Smith, Meghan Weller, Mark Garcia

30- Aaron Gregg

Shout Outs

Joel Romo has been elected president of the Washington on the Brazos Historial Foundation for 2025 through 2027.

Sandy Hoy welcomed Alice Miller Hoy into the world in April. Congratulations!

Congratulations to Heather Dyer Diehl and her family on the recent birth of twins, Sophia and Suzannah.

Our Thoughts



Our condolences go out to the friends, family, and former colleagues of:

• Ronnie Dugger, founding editor of the Texas Observer
• Glenn Wayne Shankle
• Mark Hanna

For inquiries regarding sponsorship opportunities for this newsletter, please reach out to Jim Arnold at jim@arnoldpublicaffairs.com.