Xochil Pena Rodriguez

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Xochil Pena Rodriguez

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

July 14, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

Rice University, 2004

Law

University of Texas School of Law

Personal

Birthplace

San Antonio, Texas

Religion

Catholic

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Personal Facebook

Personal Instagram

Xochil Pena Rodriguez (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Texas State Senate to represent District 19. She lost in the Democratic primary runoff on July 14, 2020.

Pena Rodriguez completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Xochil Pena Rodriguez was born in San Antonio, Texas. She earned a bachelor's degree from Rice University and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law. Pena Rodriguez's career experience includes working as an attorney, including as associate counsel for the University of Texas, San Antonio, and assistant city attorney for the city of San Antonio.

Elections

2020

See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for Texas State Senate District 19

Roland Gutierrez defeated incumbent Peter P. Flores and Jo-Anne Valdivia in the general election for Texas State Senate District 19 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Roland Gutierrez (D)	49.9	158,726
		Peter P. Flores (R)	46.5	148,213
	Submit photo	Jo-Anne Valdivia (L)	3.6	11,465

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 318,404
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for Texas State Senate District 19

Roland Gutierrez defeated Xochil Pena Rodriguez in the Democratic primary runoff for Texas State Senate District 19 on July 14, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Roland Gutierrez	52.7	16,593
		Xochil Pena Rodriguez	47.3	14,864

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 31,457
= 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.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 19

Xochil Pena Rodriguez and Roland Gutierrez advanced to a runoff. They defeated Freddy Ramirez in the Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 19 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Xochil Pena Rodriguez	43.9	30,821
✔		Roland Gutierrez	37.8	26,550
	Submit photo	Freddy Ramirez	18.3	12,808

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 70,179
= 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

• Belinda Shvetz (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 19

Incumbent Peter P. Flores advanced from the Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 19 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Peter P. Flores	100.0	35,526

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 35,526
= 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.

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for Texas State Senate District 19

Jo-Anne Valdivia advanced from the Libertarian convention for Texas State Senate District 19 on March 21, 2020.

		Candidate
✔	Submit photo	Jo-Anne Valdivia (L)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= 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.

Campaign themes

2020

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released September 23, 2019

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Xochil Pena Rodriguez completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Pena Rodriguez'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.

I am a wife, mom, and attorney born and raised in the south side of San Antonio. I earned my BA from Rice University and JD from The University of Texas School of Law. I worked as Assistant City Attorney for San Antonio and as Associate Counsel for UTSA. As an attorney for over 11 years, I analyzed legislation, wrote policy, drafted contracts, interpreted a broad range of laws, and handled disputes. My husband is a public school teacher. My dad, Congressman Ciro Rodriguez, taught me importance of community involvement & service. My mom went from being a migrant farm worker to a teacher. I have seen the power of education to transform lives. I want to everyone no matter what their resources are to have access to opportunity.

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?

• Fund quality education from pre-k to higher education and vocational so we all have access to opprotunity.
• Make quality health care affordable and accessible.
• Work to ensure that infrastrucure needs throughout the district from roads and drinking water to internet are meet so Texas can continue to grow.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Education and health care

A system based on property tax is inherently unequal. Education needs to be a core part of budget so schools can make long term plans. All school that receive public funds should be held to the same standards. Reduce testing requirements so teachers are free to teach and are treated & compensated as professionals. It takes a community to educate a child. Schools should be a hub which coordinate education, GED, health, and social service for students & families. With our changing economy, people need access to education at different times in their life so higher education, adult education, and vocational training all need to be accessible.

Texas has the most uninsured & most expensive healthcare, we need to increase access to healthcare including mental health by expanding access to medicaid & change restrictions on accessing medicaid that result in pregnant women receiving substandard care leading to highest US maternal death rate. Rural and low-income areas often do not have doctors; we can fund loan forgiveness programs and residency programs in these areas to draw more health professionals to under-served communities.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

I am a mom so, the last song was El Pollito Pio. My toddler loves it and asks for it by name. I grew up speaking both Spanish and English. It is important to me to continue this. We are committed to bringing her up to be bilingual.

What do you perceive to be your state’s greatest challenges over the next decade?

As our economy continues to be disrupted, Texas needs to provide access to

opportunity that is not dependent on what neighborhood or family you are born into or what resources you have. All Texans deserve the chance to succeed in this state. Fact is families are squeezed...by
student loan debt, medical bills, taking care of parents who may now be sick, grandparents
having to taking care of their grandchildren. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect,

dignity and whether that is being able to earn a decent living and be able to provide for one's family. Have access to healthcare or benefits that have been rightly earned, to start out you life without crushing a debt of student loans.

Is there a particular legislator, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

I have learned so much from father. He always stressed that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of their level of education, race, ethnicity, gender, or who they love. You cannot represent people unless you go out and listen to their concerns. I have been traveling throughout the 17 counties of this district. I pledge to have open door policy and listen to the concerns of the people throughout Senate District 19 so that no community is ignored or neglected. As I've been out on the campaign trail, people have told me how Ciro helped them get their citizenship, roads, a firetruck for their community, etc.

He also stayed grounded and did not let the power of the position go to his head. Ultimately it is not about any one particular candidate but about serving the community and listening to people so you can solve problems. Just in education, he worked to pass the dual credit program in Texas allowing high-school students to earn college credit, drafted top 10% law, and got initial funding for the cybersecurity program at UTSA.

Through it all he stood his ground and kept his principles on critical issues. I am still proud of him for voting against the Iraq War when so many others followed the drumbeat to war.

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.

See also

2020 Elections

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Government

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External links

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Footnotes

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Current members of the Texas State Senate

Leadership

Senators

District 1

Bryan Hughes (R)

District 2

Bob Hall (R)

District 3

Robert Nichols (R)

District 4

Brandon Creighton (R)

District 5

Charles Schwertner (R)

District 6

Carol Alvarado (D)

District 7

Paul Bettencourt (R)

District 8

Angela Paxton (R)

District 9

Vacant

District 10

Phil King (R)

District 11

Mayes Middleton (R)

District 12

Tan Parker (R)

District 13

Borris Miles (D)

District 14

Sarah Eckhardt (D)

District 15

Molly Cook (D)

District 16

Nathan Johnson (D)

District 17

Joan Huffman (R)

District 18

Lois Kolkhorst (R)

District 19

Roland Gutierrez (D)

District 20

Juan Hinojosa (D)

District 21

Judith Zaffirini (D)

District 22

Brian Birdwell (R)

District 23

Royce West (D)

District 24

Peter Flores (R)

District 25

Donna Campbell (R)

District 26

José Menéndez (D)

District 27

Adam Hinojosa (R)

District 28

Charles Perry (R)

District 29

César Blanco (D)

District 30

Brent Hagenbuch (R)

District 31

Kevin Sparks (R)

Republican Party (19)

Democratic Party (11)

Vacancies (1)