Democratic state Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. starts choking up over the phone. The 29-year veteran of Texas’ upper chamber is recalling legislation he passed in 2007 requiring health insurers to cover early intervention for kids with autism spectrum disorder. Lucio describes the emotional speech of a Georgetown father who testified that the bill would help his 3-year-old son.
I’m suspicious that the Brownsville senator’s tears are just a show for me. But later I find the archived video, and it’s wrenching. The father, his young daughter on his lap, can barely speak through sobs as he addresses the Senate’s health committee. Lucio sits right next to the dad and pours him a glass of water. At the end, the little girl chimes in, “My brother needs your help.” The bill itself would stall out, but Lucio managed to amend it on to a different measure and get it passed, the first of a series of bills he would pass promoting autism treatment.
I tell you that story to emphasize that Lucio—who now faces his first serious primary challenge since 1992—has at times used his power to help vulnerable Texans. And that’s how he’d like you to see him: a deeply Catholic man who votes his conscience and helps the needy.
