Betty Andujar

Elizabeth Richards Andujar (November 6, 1912 – June 8, 1997),[1] was a homemaker, civic activist, and politician, the first Republican woman to be elected and serve in the Texas State Senate.

From 1973 to 1983, Andujar represented District 12 in Fort Worth, the seat of Tarrant County in North Texas.

The rise of the Republican Party since the late 20th century was the result of two forces: the civil rights movement having gained passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which authorized the federal government to enforce constitutional rights of minority voters and resulted in black voters registering to vote in considerable number, and the shift of white conservative voters into the Republican Party after decades of affiliation with the Democratic Party.

Born in Chicago to an American mother and Spanish father, he had lived for years with his family in Puerto Rico.

[11] Betty Andujar became active in the auxiliaries of the Texas state and Tarrant County medical associations.

African Americans, who comprised the majority of the Republican Party in Texas in the 19th century, and many Hispanics were disenfranchised by laws passed by the white-Democratic dominated state legislature at the turn of the 20th century, which required payment of poll taxes and established white primaries that excluded minorities.

[6] Andujar's election was a sign of the changing demographics of the Republican Party as it was appealing to white conservatives in Texas and across the South in the middle to late 20th century.

[9] [12] Although a conservative, Andujar in 1973 introduced a bill to remove prison terms for conviction of the possession of marijuana, claiming that it should be treated as a substance comparable to alcohol and regulated.

[13] The bill did not pass but she was ahead of her time: in the 21st century, this has become an increasingly popular view among law enforcement, physicians, and many citizens.

In keeping with her civic work on treatment for blindness, she sponsored bills to allow physicians in Texas to remove corneas from deceased persons to transplant to new patients for sight restoration.

Texas Democrats swept all statewide offices that year, and John Andujar was defeated by Hugh Parmer, well known as the former mayor of Fort Worth.