Rep. Bobby Guerra, D-McAllen, decides not to seek reelection

Longtime State Rep. R.D. “Bobby” Guerra, D-McAllen, on Thursday, October 2, 2025, became the most recent member of the 150-member Texas House of Representatives to announce he will not seek reelection – in his case, to an eighth two-year term that would have begun in January 2027.

Guerra said he will continue as the House District 41 state lawmaker until Thursday, December 31, 2026, when his current term is completed. Otherwise, Gov. Greg Abbott would call a special election to fill the Guerra’s remaining term.

“There is still work to do, and I plan to give it everything I have until the very end” of his current term, he said.

His successor will be sworn into office on Tuesday, January 12, 2027, when the 140-day regular session begins for the 90th Texas Legislature.

“I am forever grateful to my colleagues, from both sides of the aisle, my staff, and my family for their steadfast support,” Guerra said. “My deepest gratitude, however, goes to the people of House District 41, who have given me this honor to serve and represent them in the Texas Legislature.”

Whoever qualifies as the nominee for their political party in March 2026, and then goes on to victory in the November 2026 general election, will represent all or portions of Edinburg, Lópezville, McAllen, Mission, Pharr, and Palmhurst.

The Edinburg native, an attorney who is a founding member of Guerra & Sabo, P.L.L.C., offered advice to the candidates who will campaign to succeed him in the House of Representatives.

“The work isn’t for the weary (lacking in strength),” Guerra said. “Too many times the Texas Legislature reminds me of an old Sam Rayburn quote: ‘Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one.’ Here’s hoping the carpenters will outnumber the jackasses and we live up to the promise of Texas for generations to come.”

During his 48 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Rayburn †, a Texan, served as majority leader for four years, majority leaders for three years, and speaker of the house for 17 years.

In addition to continuing to serve his constituents at the Capitol and in House District 41, Guerra will help shape legislation for action by the 90th Texas Legislature, which will begin its 140-day regular session in January 2027, as the speaker of the Texas house most likely will ask House committees to participate in producing interim reports.

In the Texas House of Representatives, committee interim reports are documents detailing the research, findings, and recommendations of a standing or special legislative committee during the “Interim” — the period when the legislature is not in a regular session.

Guerra is currently a member of the House Committee on Agriculture and Livestock Committee, the House Committee on Energy Resources, the Select House Committee on Congressional Redistricting, and the House Committee on Redistricting.

Guerra said throughout his legislative career he has promoted health care, agriculture, economic development and educational opportunities.

He comes from a family with strong public affairs and education achievements, including his father, Hidalgo County Judge Ramiro Guerra †, and his mother, Edina B. Guerra †, an educator who was an appointee of Gov. Dolph Briscoe to serve as a member of the Board of Regents of Pan American University.

“I’m the son of a teacher, and a former county judge, and I couldn’t be more proud to have done my part to continue a legacy of service,” Guerra said. “From the establishment of the Tejano Monument on the Capitol grounds, which honors the grit and strength of our forefathers, to funding a medical school which paves the way for the next generation of public servants, I believe now more than ever in the promise of Texas’ future.”

Among the hundreds of bills and resolutions carrying his name as author, coauthor, sponsor or cosponsor that became state law during his legislative career, Guerra was a cosponsor of Senate Bill 24, authored by Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, which created the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and its School of Medicine in 2013.

Senate Bill 24, which combined that assets of its legacy institutions UT Pan American and UT Brownsville to establish one strengthened and unified university across the Valley, also provided UTRGV access to the Permanent University Fund, which has almost $40 billion in state money which is used to fund major construction projects within the University of Texas System and Texas A&M System.

Guerra provided highlights of some of his many other legislative accomplishments, including:

• Promoted economic development by securing state funding for UTRGV and its medical school, as well as for highway and infrastructure expansion in House District 41;

• Improved maternal health care, such as cosponsoring legislation to improve access to postpartum depression screening and raising standards for neonatal and maternal care as hospitals;

• Supported pay raise for teachers and increasing the standard of living for retired public school employees, while opposing private school vouchers which he says takes money away from public schools;

• Supported public safety and flood control legislation, including voting for the state constitutional amendment that allocated $800 million towards a newly-created Flood Infrastructure Fund.