A labor leader from Oklahoma is a candidate for a state House seat in Texas and believes his odds of getting elected are achievable.
“Texas may be tough terrain, but it’s not immovable,” Seminole native Jeremy Hendricks, 49, told Southwest Ledger.
He’s a Democrat running for the Texas House of Representatives in the 50th District, which encompasses a northeast portion of Austin and a small part of southern Pflugerville, both in Travis County.
The Texas House has 150 members; this year it is comprised of 88 Republicans and 62 Democrats. Hendricks is vying for a seat that was held for the last four years by a “rising star” of the Democratic Party who now is seeking a U.S. Senate seat.
“I’ve spent years organizing in neighborhoods, union halls, and community spaces across this state,” Hendricks said, “and I’ve seen firsthand that working families – regardless of party – want safe jobs, good schools, and leaders who show up. That’s what I bring to the table.”
Hendricks says he’s in a marathon, not a sprint.
“We’re not trying to flip Texas overnight. We’re building something durable: a coalition rooted in labor, community, and common sense. House District 50 isn’t just winnable – it’s ready for a candidate who knows how to connect across lines, listen deeply, and deliver results. I’m running to prove that boots-on-theground organizing still works, even in a state as red as Texas.”
Hendricks said he and his wife, Lyn, moved to Austin 12 years ago. “After covering Texas for the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) and doing a lot of work in Austin, we moved in 2013 to open a new office here and found a new Local that I served as business manager for, to get it off the ground.”
Why is he seeking a seat in the Texas Legislature? “Because every morning I wake up thinking about how we can make life better for working folks, and I wish more lawmakers did the same.”
Hendricks contends Texas is “the most dangerous state in America for workers, and that’s not just a statistic – it’s a crisis.”
Year after year, he said, Texas “leads the nation in workplace fatalities, with 564 deaths reported in 2023 alone. Injuries are widespread across construction, transportation, and the service sectors, and the state’s weak enforcement mechanisms make it a hotspot for wage theft and rampant worker misclassification.”
In addition, “Too many employers skirt accountability while working families pay the price: losing income, benefits, and even their lives. It’s a crisis rooted in policy neglect and it demands urgent action.”
The Lone Star State needs leaders who “aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves, stand shoulder- to-shoulder with working families, and fight like hell for safer jobs and real opportunities for all Texans,” Hendricks asserted.
On his website, Hendricks lists his priorities as:
• Ensure every Texan has access to opportunity, fair pay, and the resources they need to succeed.
• Expand Medicaid, improve access to health care, and address mental health needs.
• Invest in public school teachers, classrooms, and career pathways to prepare the next generation.
• Defend voting rights, reproductive freedom, and equality for all communities.
• Invest in renewable energy and infrastructure to create jobs and protect our environment. The Texas primary election is scheduled for March 3, 2026. As of Oct. 2, Hendricks and two other Democrats are vying for the House District 50 office.
Union executive, campaign manager For the last 15 years, Hendricks has been the assistant business manager of the Southwest Laborers District Council, which includes Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. And for almost 17 years he has served as executive director of the Southwest Laborers Employers Cooperation and Education Trust, which brings LIUNA and its signatory contractors together “to address issues of mutual importance.”
Among his other activities, Hendricks also was:
• The campaign manager and general consultant for one of Dan Boren’s four successful 2nd District congressional campaigns in Oklahoma. Boren was elected with more than 70% of the vote cast in that election.
• An assistant to the executive director of the Oklahoma House of Representatives’ Research, Legal and Fiscal Divisions in 2000-2002. His duties included preparing a daily summary of legislation for the Democratic Caucus and tracking the status of key legislation.
Hendricks graduated cum laude in 1998 from Oklahoma City University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. Subsequently he worked on a master’s degree in mass communication and media studies at Northeastern Oklahoma State University, and a master’s in political science at the University of Central Oklahoma.