The congresswoman from the 30th District is Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Democrat first elected in 1992. She became the ranking Democrat on the Science, Space and Technology Committee in 2011. Read More

The congresswoman from the 30th District is Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Democrat first elected in 1992. She became the ranking Democrat on the Science, Space and Technology Committee in 2011.

Johnson grew up in Texas, graduated from Texas Christian University with a nursing degree, and later got a master’s degree in public administration at Southern Methodist University. She worked at St. Paul Hospital and was the chief psychiatric nurse at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Dallas. In 1972, she was elected to the Texas House, the first black woman elected to the legislature from Dallas. She became a regional director of the old Health, Education and Welfare Department under Democratic President Jimmy Carter. She was elected to the Texas Senate in 1986. As the Senate’s Redistricting Committee chairman in 1991, she was instrumental in creating the new 30th District, and she went on to win the Democratic primary with 92% of the vote.

In the House, Johnson—known by her initials “EBJ” —has a mostly liberal voting record. A former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, she was more supportive of President Barack Obama in 2009 than other caucus members critical of his efforts for low-income and unemployed blacks. She has been attentive to business interests in Dallas, though her lifetime voting score from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce through 2010 was 41—third-lowest among Texas’ House delegation. Johnson once pledged to labor unions to oppose the North American Free Trade Agreement, but she changed her mind and voted for it in 1993. Dallas probably exports more to Mexico than any other American city, and many jobs depend on those exports. Johnson also sided with business on normalizing trade relations with China.

On the Science Committee, Johnson has worked to develop cost-effective technologies for vehicle research and to help more women receive federal research grants. She shared credit for passing the Networking and Information Research and Development Act to double funding for information research. She also sought to double spending for the National Science Foundation. As a health-care professional, she also takes an interest in minority health issues.

On the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Johnson has worked to secure funds for construction of the Interstate 30 suspension bridge over the Trinity River, and she continues to support Trinity River projects. The Trinity River Corridor project, in the works for decades and estimated to cost $2.5 billion, is moving toward reality, with its ambitious plans for flood control, recreational facilities, and transportation improvements, including three new suspension bridges. She also has sought to address the Dallas-Fort Worth area’s mass transit needs to alleviate traffic congestion.

Johnson generally has sailed to re-election. But in the months before the 2010 election, The Dallas Morning News reported that she had awarded college scholarships to four relatives and the two children of a top aide who otherwise would have been ineligible under the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s guidelines. Johnson said she had not been familiar with the rules and agreed to repay the foundation. But the scandal provided an opening for her Republican challenger, minister Stephen Broden. The Morning News endorsed Broden, and rebuked Johnson for being among the South Dallas leaders “who treat their districts as if they were their fiefdoms.” But whatever chance Broden may have had for an upset vanished a few weeks later, when he told a television interviewer that an armed overthrow of the federal government is “on the table.” Johnson chalked up another landslide, 76%-22%.