Texas Monthly has been covering the scoundrels, saints, hucksters, and statesmen of the Texas Legislature since our founding in 1973. And as our 2019 Best and Worst Legislators list demonstrates, the Lege continues to be the best entertainment Texas has to offer. But it’s also a serious business that deserves the gimlet eye of independent journalists. These lists aim to capture what’s wonderful and terrible, hilarious and stupefying about the 181 Texans who meet in the Capitol every odd year to do the people’s business. Here you’ll find all 24 Best and Worst lists as well as some of our favorites from the last 46 years.
The Classics

Passing legislation may be fun. But this compilation shows that writing about passing legislation can be even more fun.

Passing legislation may be fun. But this compilation shows that writing about passing legislation can be even more fun.
2010-2019

They called it the kumbaya session, but we still found plenty of scoundrels and statesmen.

It just wouldn’t be an odd-numbered year without a crazy legislative session—and our picks of the ten lawmakers who made us proud and the ten who made us pull our hair out.

New guv, new lite guv, new attorney general, new committee chairs: the Eighty-fourth Legislature had a lot to prove. So how well did its members do?

The legislators that shaped the Eighty-third Legislative session, for good and bad.

For the Eighty-second Legislature (our twentieth at the Capitol), everything old was new again: the state faced a budget deficit; the governor harbored presidential ambitions; the members of the Best list were hard to find; and the names on the Worst list picked themselves.
2000-2010

It was a new era at the Capitol, with a new Speaker and a new mood of peace, love, and bipartisanship in the war-torn House. But the eighty-first legislative session turned out to be a lot like the eighty that came before it—some heroes, some villains, and enough hot air to last until 2011.

The eightieth session began with a Speaker’s race, ended with a Speaker’s race, and was consumed in between by the usual mix of nuanced issues and nasty politics. Along the way, a handful of lawmakers put the common good ahead of all else. And a handful of lawmakers didn’t.

A few lawmakers in both parties distinguished themselves during one of the worst sessions anyone can remember. As for the rest? Well, in the words of Jon Stewart, that famous observer of Texas politics: not so much.

It was a session like no other: different rules, new power players, a surprise trip to Oklahoma, and the small matter of a $9.9 billion budget shortfall. All of which made it tricky to separate the heroes from the zeroes. But we did.

Rodney Ellis was excellent. Gary Elkins was well, significantly less so. Bill Ratliff was a model of dignified leadership. Domingo Garcia was a one-man leper colony. Our biennial roundup of the Legislature's leading lights and dim bulbs.
1990-2000

Naughty Nixon and wonderful Wolens, soapy Shapiro and revered Ratliff, and of course, a certain governor who’s ready for his close-up: Our say-so on the session’s standouts—good, bad, and in-between. Read Story
1980-1990

We just rate them. You voted for them.

We just rate them. You voted for them.

We just rate them. You voted for them.

We just rate them. You voted for them.

Nineteen people you voted for and one you didn't.
1973-1980

We just rate them. You voted for them.

We just rate them. You voted for them.

Guess which list had the most competition.

Competition was fierce and the winners in both categories are outstanding.