Suleman Lalani

Suleman Lalani

Democratic Party

Texas House of Representatives District 76

Tenure

2023 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

2

Predecessor

Claudia Ordaz

Compensation

Base salary

$7,200/year

Per diem

$221/day

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 5, 2024

Personal

Profession

Doctor

Contact

Official website

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Personal Facebook

Personal Instagram

Personal LinkedIn

Suleman Lalani (Democratic Party) is a member of the Texas House of Representatives, representing District 76. He assumed office on January 10, 2023. His current term ends on January 12, 2027.

Lalani (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Texas House of Representatives to represent District 76. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Biography

Suleman Lalani's career experience includes working as a doctor.

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Committee assignments

Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.

2023-2024

Lalani was assigned to the following committees:

• Natural Resources Committee
• House Higher Education Committee
• Resolutions Calendars Committee

Elections

2024

See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Texas House of Representatives District 76

Incumbent Suleman Lalani defeated Lea Simmons in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 76 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Suleman Lalani (D)	56.5	39,770
	Submit photo	Lea Simmons (R)	43.5	30,615

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 70,385
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary runoff election

Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 76

Lea Simmons defeated Summara Kanwal in the Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 76 on May 28, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Lea Simmons	67.2	641
		Summara Kanwal	32.8	313

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 954
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 76

Incumbent Suleman Lalani defeated Vanesia Johnson in the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 76 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Suleman Lalani	63.5	6,494
		Vanesia Johnson	36.5	3,738

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 10,232
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 76

Summara Kanwal and Lea Simmons advanced to a runoff. They defeated Dayo David in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 76 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Summara Kanwal	35.6	2,771
✔	Submit photo	Lea Simmons	35.5	2,761
		Dayo David	28.9	2,244

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 7,776
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Lalani received the following endorsements.

• Texas AFL-CIO

2022

See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for Texas House of Representatives District 76

Suleman Lalani defeated Dan Mathews in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 76 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Suleman Lalani (D)	57.3	28,312
		Dan Mathews (R)	42.7	21,131

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 49,443
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 76

Suleman Lalani defeated Vanesia Johnson in the Democratic primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 76 on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Suleman Lalani	63.0	3,560
		Vanesia Johnson	37.0	2,095

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 5,655
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 76

Suleman Lalani and Vanesia Johnson advanced to a runoff. They defeated L. Sarah DeMerchant and James Burnett in the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 76 on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Suleman Lalani	36.7	3,237
✔		Vanesia Johnson	24.7	2,181
		L. Sarah DeMerchant	19.3	1,707
		James Burnett	19.3	1,703

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 8,828
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 76

Dan Mathews defeated Ramesh Cherivirala and Mike Khan in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 76 on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Dan Mathews	51.6	3,849
		Ramesh Cherivirala	26.5	1,981
	Submit photo	Mike Khan	21.9	1,632

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 7,462
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

To view Lalani's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.

2020

See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Texas House of Representatives District 26

Jacey Jetton defeated L. Sarah DeMerchant in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 26 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jacey Jetton (R)	51.8	43,438
		L. Sarah DeMerchant (D)	48.2	40,436

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 83,874
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 26

L. Sarah DeMerchant defeated Suleman Lalani in the Democratic primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 26 on July 14, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		L. Sarah DeMerchant	52.3	4,579
		Suleman Lalani	47.7	4,168

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 8,747
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary runoff election

Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 26

Jacey Jetton defeated Matt Morgan in the Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 26 on July 14, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jacey Jetton	52.4	7,544
		Matt Morgan	47.6	6,853

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 14,397
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 26

Suleman Lalani and L. Sarah DeMerchant advanced to a runoff. They defeated Rish Oberoi and Lawrence Allen Jr. in the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 26 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Suleman Lalani	31.7	4,425
✔		L. Sarah DeMerchant	29.6	4,131
		Rish Oberoi	20.3	2,838
		Lawrence Allen Jr.	18.4	2,570

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 13,964
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 26

Matt Morgan and Jacey Jetton advanced to a runoff. They defeated Leonard Chan in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 26 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Morgan	49.7	7,989
✔		Jacey Jetton	40.7	6,540
		Leonard Chan	9.6	1,551

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 16,080
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Rick Miller (R)

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Suleman Lalani did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Suleman Lalani completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Lalani's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

For many years I felt a sense of frustration seeing how our healthcare system was failing people throughout their lives. In my practice, geriatric medicine, I saw people riddled with ailments that would have been prevented with continuously regular health care. Because of this life experience I will focus on healthcare and the economic impact of lacking healthcare. These two issues have come front and center during the pandemic as Texans have suffered more than other Americans.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I know firsthand the impact lack of healthcare has on individuals and families. It can destroy not only their bodies but their financial lives. Expanding healthcare will be by number one goal in service to the people of HD 76.
• The current “Robinhood” system of recapture needs to be revamped and the dependence on property tax values can no longer determine the quality of public education. I will work with colleagues to create long-term sustainable funding for public education.
• The pandemic also proved that putting more cash into the hands of low-income families has a much greater impact on the economy than trickle down economics. Corporations benefit with the public has greater spending power and can increase their standard of living. The pandemic has proved that the economy could sustain increased wages across the board. We should enshrine $15 as the minimum and use a COLA (cost of living adjustments) style index. Inflation may be too volatile an indicator. On this subject I am open to expert economic advisement that takes the human impact into consideration first.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

For many years I felt a sense of frustration seeing how our healthcare system was failing people throughout their lives. In my practice, geriatric medicine, I saw people riddled with ailments that would have been prevented with continuously regular health care. Because of this life experience I will focus on healthcare and the economic impact of lacking healthcare. These two issues have come front and center during the pandemic as Texans have suffered more than other Americans.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2020

Suleman Lalani completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Lalani's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Dr. Suleman Lalani has been in private practice in the Greater Houston area for the last two decades and in Sugar Land for 15 years. In the early 90's Dr. Lalani arrived in the United States to begin his medical career. He chose the United States because here is where the medicine was the most advanced, here is where the greatest quality of healthcare was provided and because this is the world's greatest nation. It was a shock to discover how inequitable the healthcare system was in this wealthy nation. The advancements and the high level of care was undeniable, but the access to the common citizen was shameful. Throughout his career, Dr. Lalani tried to shorten that gap through his own practice and charitable endeavors-always wanting to do more. Now, after decades of practice and thousands of patients, Dr. Lalani has decided to do more for his fellow Texans. Who better to advocate for the healthcare and betterment of a community than its trusted physician? Dr. Lalani completed his fellowship training at Baylor College of Medicine and has attended courses at Harvard Medical School and Columbia University College of Physicians. He has been triple board certified in Internal Medicine, Geriatric Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine, and he has also certified by the American Medical Directors Association. Dr. Lalani is among an elite group of physicians nationwide with this qualification.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• As a physician, I feel obligated to do all I can to assure all Texans have access to health care.
• Our education system is one of the most underfunded in the country with the state always taking from education funds.
• The key here to educate moderate Democrats that good local government can be run by Democrats.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

This community is one of the most diverse communities in America, but the representation does not reflect that. Our state has the lowest health care coverage in America. As a physician, I feel obligated to do all I can to assure all Texans have access to health care.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

---

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

---

Suleman Lalani campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Texas House of Representatives District 76	Won general	$384,993	$289,411
2022	Texas House of Representatives District 76	Won general	$399,167	$324,797
2020	Texas House of Representatives District 26	Lost primary runoff	$192,943	N/A**
Grand total			$977,103	$614,208
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Texas

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Texas scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.

2024

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show].
In 2024, the Texas State Legislature was not in session.

2023

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show].

In 2023, the Texas State Legislature was in session from January 10 to May 29. Texans for Fiscal Responsibility Legislators are scored based by the organization on their votes on bills relating to "core budget and free enterprise issues." Texans Uniting for Reform & Freedom Legislators are scored based on their votes on bills relating to taxes and property rights. Texas Right to Life Legislators are scored on bills related to reproductive health issues. Texas Sierra Club Legislators are scored on their votes on environmental issues. Texas Values Action Legislators are scored on their votes on social issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues. The Institute for Legislative Analysis Legislators are scored on their adherence to the limited government principles of the U.S. Constitution.

See also

2024 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. President U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

Texas House of Representatives District 76

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Officeholder

Texas House of Representatives District 76

Website

Personal

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Claudia Ordaz (D)	Texas House of Representatives District 76 2023-Present	Succeeded by -

[show]

Current members of the Texas House of Representatives

Leadership

Speaker of the House:Dustin Burrows

Representatives

District 1

Gary VanDeaver (R)

District 2

Brent Money (R)

District 3

Cecil Bell (R)

District 4

Keith Bell (R)

District 5

Cole Hefner (R)

District 6

Daniel Alders (R)

District 7

Jay Dean (R)

District 8

Cody Harris (R)

District 9

Trent Ashby (R)

District 10

Brian Harrison (R)

District 11

Joanne Shofner (R)

District 12

Trey Wharton (R)

District 13

Angelia Orr (R)

District 14

Paul Dyson (R)

District 15

Steve Toth (R)

District 16

Will Metcalf (R)

District 17

Stan Gerdes (R)

District 18

Janis Holt (R)

District 19

Ellen Troxclair (R)

District 20

Terry Wilson (R)

District 21

Dade Phelan (R)

District 22

Christian Manuel (D)

District 23

Terri Leo-Wilson (R)

District 24

Greg Bonnen (R)

District 25

Cody Vasut (R)

District 26

Matt Morgan (R)

District 27

Ron Reynolds (D)

District 28

Gary Gates (R)

District 29

Jeffrey Barry (R)

District 30

A.J. Louderback (R)

District 31

Ryan Guillen (R)

District 32

Todd Hunter (R)

District 33

Katrina Pierson (R)

District 34

Denise Villalobos (R)

District 35

Oscar Longoria (D)

District 36

Sergio Munoz (D)

District 37

Janie Lopez (R)

District 38

Erin Gamez (D)

District 39

Armando Martinez (D)

District 40

Terry Canales (D)

District 41

Robert Guerra (D)

District 42

Richard Raymond (D)

District 43

J.M. Lozano (R)

District 44

Alan Schoolcraft (R)

District 45

Erin Zwiener (D)

District 46

Sheryl Cole (D)

District 47

Vikki Goodwin (D)

District 48

Donna Howard (D)

District 49

Gina Hinojosa (D)

District 50

James Talarico (D)

District 51

Maria Luisa Flores (D)

District 52

Caroline Harris (R)

District 53

Wesley Virdell (R)

District 54

Brad Buckley (R)

District 55

Hillary Hickland (R)

District 56

Pat Curry (R)

District 57

Richard Hayes (R)

District 58

Helen Kerwin (R)

District 59

Shelby Slawson (R)

District 60

Mike Olcott (R)

District 61

Keresa Richardson (R)

District 62

Shelley Luther (R)

District 63

Ben Bumgarner (R)

District 64

Andy Hopper (R)

District 65

Mitch Little (R)

District 66

Matt Shaheen (R)

District 67

Jeff Leach (R)

District 68

David Spiller (R)

District 69

James Frank (R)

District 70

Mihaela Plesa (D)

District 71

Stan Lambert (R)

District 72

Drew Darby (R)

District 73

Carrie Isaac (R)

District 74

Eddie Morales (D)

District 75

Mary Gonzalez (D)

District 76

Suleman Lalani (D)

District 77

Vincent Perez (D)

District 78

Joseph Moody (D)

District 79

Claudia Ordaz (D)

District 80

Don McLaughlin (R)

District 81

Brooks Landgraf (R)

District 82

Tom Craddick (R)

District 83

Dustin Burrows (R)

District 84

Carl Tepper (R)

District 85

Stan Kitzman (R)

District 86

John Smithee (R)

District 87

Caroline Fairly (R)

District 88

Ken King (R)

District 89

Candy Noble (R)

District 90

Ramon Romero (D)

District 91

David Lowe (R)

District 92

Salman Bhojani (D)

District 93

Nate Schatzline (R)

District 94

Tony Tinderholt (R)

District 95

Nicole Collier (D)

District 96

David Cook (R)

District 97

John McQueeney (R)

District 98

Giovanni Capriglione (R)

District 99

Charlie Geren (R)

District 100

Venton Jones (D)

District 101

Chris Turner (D)

District 102

Ana-Maria Ramos (D)

District 103

Rafael Anchia (D)

District 104

Jessica Gonzalez (D)

District 105

Terry Meza (D)

District 106

Jared Patterson (R)

District 107

Linda Garcia (D)

District 108

Morgan Meyer (R)

District 109

Aicha Davis (D)

District 110

Toni Rose (D)

District 111

Yvonne Davis (D)

District 112

Angie Button (R)

District 113

Rhetta Bowers (D)

District 114

John Bryant (D)

District 115

Cassandra Garcia Hernandez (D)

District 116

Trey Fischer (D)

District 117

Philip Cortez (D)

District 118

John Lujan (R)

District 119

Elizabeth Campos (D)

District 120

Barbara Gervin-Hawkins (D)

District 121

Marc LaHood (R)

District 122

Mark Dorazio (R)

District 123

Diego Bernal (D)

District 124

Josey Garcia (D)

District 125

Ray Lopez (D)

District 126

Sam Harless (R)

District 127

Charles Cunningham (R)

District 128

Briscoe Cain (R)

District 129

Dennis Paul (R)

District 130

Tom Oliverson (R)

District 131

Alma Allen (D)

District 132

Mike Schofield (R)

District 133

Mano Deayala (R)

District 134

Ann Johnson (D)

District 135

Jon Rosenthal (D)

District 136

John Bucy (D)

District 137

Gene Wu (D)

District 138

Lacey Hull (R)

District 139

Charlene Ward Johnson (D)

District 140

Armando Walle (D)

District 141

Senfronia Thompson (D)

District 142

Harold Dutton (D)

District 143

Ana Hernandez (D)

District 144

Mary Perez (D)

District 145

Christina Morales (D)

District 146

Lauren Simmons (D)

District 147

Jolanda Jones (D)

District 148

Penny Shaw (D)

District 149

Hubert Vo (D)

District 150

Valoree Swanson (R)

Republican Party (88)

Democratic Party (62)