Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson is serving her 15th term representing the 30th Congressional District of Texas.
She is the first African American and female to chair the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and is the Dean of the Texas Congressional Delegation. She is also Dean of the Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona Democratic Congressional Delegation, the highest-ranking Texan on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and was the first Registered Nurse elected to the U.S. Congress.
She began her career as the first female African American Chief Psychiatric Nurse at the V.A. Hospital in Dallas. In 1972, she became the first Registered Nurse elected to the Texas State House and achieved the same distinction upon her election to the Texas Senate in 1986. From 2011 to 2018, she served as the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s first African American and female Ranking Member.
Congresswoman Johnson has a reputation as a stateswoman who works with both parties to get things done – one earned during her more than 40 years in public office. She is recognized as one of the most effective legislators in Congress, credited with authoring and co-authoring more than 177 bills passed by the House and Senate and signed into law. She has a long-standing reputation for providing excellent constituent services. She is also the founder of the Congressional Diversity & Innovation Caucus, the founder and co-chair of the Congressional Homelessness Caucus, co-chair of the Congressional Lupus Caucus, and co-chair of the Congressional Caucus of Bosnia. She was honored to serve as Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus during the 107th Congress. Her acclaimed initiative, A World of Women for World Peace, has gained national and international recognition.
Congresswoman Johnson is the proud mother of her son, Kirk, and has three grandchildren, Kirk Jr., David, and James.