Florence Shapiro

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As a Republican, Shapiro served in the Texas Senate from 1993 to 2013, representing District 2 from 1993 to 1995 and District 8 from 1995 until her retirement in 2013. Her constituency was centered in Collin County in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, especially the city of Plano.

In the Texas Senate, Shapiro chaired the State Affairs Committee and the chamber's Education Committee from 2003 to 2013.

Early life and education

A first-generation American, Shapiro was born to German-born Martin and Ann Donald, both Holocaust survivors,<ref name=USHMM>Template:Cite press release</ref> in New York City on May 2, 1948.<ref name="PVS" /> Shapiro's mother was pregnant with her on the ship passage from England to New York City.<ref name="TJP">Template:Cite news</ref>

After a decade in New York City, the family moved to Dallas, Texas in 1958,<ref name="TJP" /> and Shapiro attended and graduated from Hillcrest High School. After high school, Shapiro matriculated to The University of Texas at Austin, and was the first in her family to attend college.<ref name="Local Profile">Template:Cite news</ref> At UT, she met her husband Howard.<ref name="Plano Star Courier">Template:Cite news</ref> and earned a B.S. in secondary education in 1970.<ref name="Local Profile" />

Shapiro began her professional career as a public school English and speech teacher at Richardson High School in Richardson, Texas for two years. She and her husband moved from Richardson to Plano in 1972, when Plano's population was 17,500.<ref name="Plano Star Courier" /> In the 1980s, Shapiro founded and operated Shapiro & Company, an advertising, public relations and events firm for 10 years before closing the company due to scheduling demands from her responsibilities in the Texas Senate.<ref name="Local Profile" />

Political career

Local politics (1979-1992)

Shapiro quit her job as a teacher in 1972 in order to have a baby and turned to community involvement.<ref name="D Magazine">Template:Cite news</ref> After several years as an active volunteer in Plano, Shapiro was encouraged to run for the "woman's seat" on the Plano City Council.<ref name="PSC 2018" /> She won her first election in 1979 by 39 votes<ref name="D Magazine" /> and was subsequently elected to serve six terms from 1979 to 1990. During her entire tenure, Shapiro was the only woman on the council.<ref name=PVS/><ref name="Local Profile" /> As a council member, Shapiro served as the president of the North Central Texas Council of Governments in 1984<ref name="PSC 2018" /> and as President of the Texas Municipal League.<ref name=TJP/>

In 1990, Shapiro ran unopposed<ref name="PSC 2018">Template:Cite news</ref> and was subsequently elected the first female and first Jewish<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Mayor of Plano. She served one term from 1990 to 1992.<ref name=PVS/><ref name="Local Profile" />

Texas Senate (1993-2013)

File:FlorenceShapiro-5179.jpg

Shapiro in 2009

At the Cotton Bowl parade in 1991, Shapiro's friend Kay Bailey Hutchison, then the Texas State Treasurer, suggested that Shapiro run for the Texas Senate. In 1992, she ran for District 2, which included Collin County and counties in East Texas. Her campaign manager was Karl Rove, who would later work as a top aide to Governor George W. Bush (who would go on to be elected President in 2000). Shapiro was the top vote-getter in the Republican primary against Don Kent and former Plano mayor Jack Harvard, then defeated Kent by 1 percentage point in a hotly-contested run-off election, during which vandals defaced her campaign signs with swastikas due to Shapiro's Jewish faith.<ref name="D Magazine" />

In the general election, Shapiro faced 13-year Democratic incumbent Ted Lyon. The race was so vitriolic that the Dallas Morning News ran an editorial titled "Voters Didn't Deserve This," calling for a lowering of temperatures. Shapiro won by 13 points. After the 1992 election, Shapiro rarely faced serious competition.<ref name="D Magazine" />

In the Texas Senate, Shapiro earned attention for authoring "Ashley's Laws" in 1995 that increased penalties for sex offenders and improved tracking of sex offenders released from prison. In 1993, 7-year-old Ashley Estell was kidnapped, from Carpenter Park in Plano, assaulted, and murdered. "Ashley's Laws" consisted on 12 bills that required, among other things, police departments to publicize the location of sex offenders after their release and require notification of schools of their presence in the area.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="D Magazine" /> Shapiro's work earned her the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault's "Champion for Social Change Award".<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> and the Children's Advocacy Centers of Texas's "Legislator of the Year Award" in 2008.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

Shapiro was also involved in efforts to advocate for human rights and Holocaust education. President George W. Bush appointed Shapiro to the Honorary Delegation to Jerusalem for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel in May 2008.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2009, Governor Rick Perry signed Senate Bill 482 co-authored by Shapiro and Rodney Ellis that established an 18-member Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission, charged with improving Holocaust and genocide education and organizing memorial events in Texas.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Governor for a Day

In January 2005, she was elected President pro tempore of the State Senate, becoming second in the gubernatorial line of succession, behind the Lieutenant Governor of Texas.<ref name=PVS/> She was the first senator from Collin County to serve in that position in more than forty years.<ref name=Governor>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> When both Governor Rick Perry and Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst were out of the state on official business on April 9, 2005, Shapiro served as the Governor for a day, the sixth woman in Texas history to do so.<ref name=Governor/>

U.S. Senate speculation (2008-2011)

File:Shapiro and Staubach.jpg

Florence Shapiro and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach in 2008

Potential special election

In October 2007, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson announced that she would potentially vacate her seat in the U.S. Senate before the end of her term in 2012 to challenge incumbent Governor of Texas Rick Perry in the Republican primary of the 2010 Texas gubernatorial election. On July 15, 2008, Shapiro announced the formation of an exploratory committee for Hutchinson's seat, chaired by her friend and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach. Shapiro was the first candidate to formally announce an exploratory committee, but local media expected additional candidates to jump into the fray, such as U.S. Congressmen Pete Sessions and Kay Granger, former Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams, and Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

After forming the committee, Shapiro began heavy fundraising and had raised more money than any other declared candidate by the end of 2008. Shapiro raised $226,000 in the fourth quarter of 2008 and ended the year with $373,556 in her campaign war chest.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Hutchison formally announced her gubernatorial campaign on August 17, 2009.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, Hutchison did not resign from her Senate seat, announcing on November 13, that she would remain in the Senate during the campaign.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

2012 election

Hutchinson subsequently announced on January 13, 2011, that she would not run for re-election in 2012 and would retire after 18 years in the U.S. Senate<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The next day, Shapiro decided against running to replace Hutchinson in the 2012 United States Senate election in Texas, ultimately won by Texas solicitor general Ted Cruz.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Shapiro, who by then had raised approximately $1 million, formally withdrew her candidacy on March 31 and announced that she would refund her donors.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Retirement

On September 19, 2011, Shapiro announced that she would not stand for reelection to the Texas Senate.<ref name="Retirement">Template:Cite news</ref> Her seat was ultimately won by State Representative Ken Paxton, who would later serve as the Texas Attorney General.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Post-political career

After retiring from the Texas Senate, Shapiro worked for an education company.<ref name="Retirement" /> In 2013, Plano's city council chambers were renamed the Senator Florence Shapiro Council Chambers in her honor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life

Shapiro lives in Plano, Texas with her husband Howard. They have three children and 12 grandchildren.<ref name="Local Profile" />

External links

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• • Committees
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• • Official Facebook Page
• Template:CongLinks
• Follow the Money - Florence Shapiro
  • 2006 2004 2002 2000 campaign contributions
• Template:C-SPAN