Florence Shapiro
Encyclopedia
Florence Donald Shapiro (born May 2, 1948) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 politician from Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. Shapiro is a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 member of the Texas Senate
Texas Senate
The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing 31 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 672,000 per constituency. There are no term limits, and each term is four years long. The Senate meets at the...

, from 1993 to 1995 representing the 2nd Senatorial District
Texas Senate, District 2
District 2 of the Texas Senate is a senatorial district that serves all of Delta, Fannin, Hopkins, Hunt, Kaufman, Rains, Rockwall and Van Zandt counties, and portions of Dallas and Smith counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The current Senator from District 2 is Robert F...

 and since 1995 representing the 8th Senatorial District
Texas Senate, District 8
District 8 of the Texas Senate is a senatorial district that currently serves portions of Collin and Dallas counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The current Senator from District 8 is Florence Shapiro.-2006:-2002:-2000:-1996:...

 which includes several cities, towns, and other outlying areas of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex
Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex
The Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area, a title designated by the U.S. Census as of 2003, encompasses 12 counties within the U.S. state of Texas. The area is divided into two metropolitan divisions: Dallas–Plano–Irving and Fort Worth–Arlington. Residents of the area...

.

Shapiro previously served as Senate State Affairs Committee chair and since 2003 has chaired the Senate Education Committee. Her series of bills known as Ashley's Laws, which severely punishes sexual predators, quickly became national benchmarks in the fight against sex offenders. Shapiro's work earned her the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault's "Champion for Social Change Award". and the Children's Advocacy Centers of Texas's "Legislator of the Year Award" in 2008.

President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

 appointed her to serve on the Honorary Delegation to accompany him to Jerusalem for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel in May 2008.

Personal life

A first-generation American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and the daughter of two Holocaust survivors, Florence Shapiro was born in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

,. After the family moved to Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

, she attended and graduated from Hillcrest High School. After high school, Shapiro matriculated to The University of Texas at Austin, the first in her family to attend college,
and graduated with a B.S.
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...

 in secondary education
Secondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...

. Shapiro began her professional career as a public school English and speech teacher for the Richardson Independent School District
Richardson Independent School District
Richardson Independent School District is a school district based in Richardson, Texas .RISD covers and includes most of the city of Richardson, TX and portions of the cities of Dallas, TX and Garland, TX . RISD operates 55 campuses that serve more than 34,000 students...

 in Richardson, Texas
Richardson, Texas
Richardson is a city in Dallas and Collin Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 99,223. In 2011 the population was estimated to be 107,684. Richardson is an affluent inner suburb of Dallas and home of the Telecom Corridor with a high...

. Shapiro also founded Shapiro & Company, an advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...

, public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

 and special events agency. She lives in Plano, Texas
Plano, Texas
Plano is a city in the state of Texas, located mostly within Collin County. The city's population was 259,841 at the 2010 census, making it the ninth-largest city in Texas and the 71st most populous city in the United States. Plano is located within the metropolitan area commonly referred to as...

 with her husband Howard; they have three children, Lisa Strauss of Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

, Todd Shapiro of Frisco
Frisco, Texas
Frisco is an affluent city in Collin and Denton Counties in the U.S. state of Texas and a rapidly growing suburb of Dallas. As of the 2010 Census, 116,989 people were living in Frisco up from 33,714 in the previous census. Frisco was the fastest growing city in the United States in 2009, and also...

, and Staci Rubin of Frisco, and seven grandchildren.

Local politics

Florence Shapiro entered politics after being elected to be a member of the Plano City Council
Plano City Council
The Plano City Council is the governing body of the City of Plano, Texas, United States. The Council operates using the council-manager government. They hold regular meetings at the Plano Municipal Building on the second and fourth Monday of every month at 7:00 p.m...

, where she served six terms from 1979 to 1990. Shapiro was subsequently elected Mayor of Plano and served from 1990 to 1992. During this time, Shapiro was the President of the Texas Municipal League and the North Texas Council of Governments.

Texas Senate

Florence Shapiro was first elected to the Texas Senate
Texas Senate
The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing 31 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 672,000 per constituency. There are no term limits, and each term is four years long. The Senate meets at the...

 in 1992, after defeating Democratic incumbent Ted Lyon, serving since 1993. In January 2005, she was elected President pro tempore
President pro tempore
A President pro tempore is a constitutionally recognized officer of a legislative body who presides over the chamber in the absence of the normal presiding officer...

 of the State Senate, becoming second in the gubernatorial line of succession, behind the Lieutenant Governor of Texas
Lieutenant Governor of Texas
The Lieutenant Governor of Texas is the second-highest executive office in the government of Texas, a state in the U.S. It is the second most powerful post in Texas government because its occupant controls the work of the Texas Senate and controls the budgeting process as a leader of the...

. She was the first senator from Collin County
Collin County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 491,675 people, 181,970 households, and 132,292 families residing in the county. The population density was 580 people per square mile . There were 194,892 housing units at an average density of 230 per square mile...

 to serve in that position in more than forty years. When both Governor Rick Perry
Rick Perry
James Richard "Rick" Perry is the 47th and current Governor of Texas. A Republican, Perry was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998 and assumed the governorship in December 2000 when then-governor George W. Bush resigned to become President of the United States. Perry was elected to full...

 and Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst
David Dewhurst
David Dewhurst is the 41st and current Lieutenant Governor of Texas, serving under Governor Rick Perry since January 21, 2003. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as Texas Land Commissioner from 1999 to 2003. Dewhurst announced on July 18, 2011, that he was running for the...

 were out of the state on official business on April 9, 2005, Shapiro served as the Governor for a day, the sixth woman in Texas history to do so.

U.S. Senate campaign speculation

Due to her friendship with Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 Kay Bailey Hutchison
Kay Bailey Hutchison
Kathryn Ann Bailey Hutchison, known as Kay Bailey Hutchison , is the senior United States Senator from Texas.She is a member of the Republican Party. In 2001, she was named one of the thirty most powerful women in America by Ladies Home Journal. The first woman to represent Texas in the U.S....

, it was widely speculated that Shapiro would run for Hutchison's seat upon her resignation for her own gubernatorial run against Rick Perry. On July 15, 2008, Shapiro announced the formation of an exploratory committee for U.S. Senate, the first candidate to do so. It is chaired by former Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...

 quarterback Roger Staubach
Roger Staubach
Roger Thomas Staubach is a businessman, Heisman Trophy winner and legendary Hall of Fame former quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys from 1969 until 1979. Staubach was instrumental in developing the Cowboys into becoming one of the best teams of the 1970s and led the team to nine of the Cowboys'...

. Since the formation of the committee, Shapiro has begun heavy fundraising, both in Texas and out-of-state, and by the end of 2008, had raised more money than any other declared candidate, to date the highest of any declared Republican. Shapiro raised $226,000 in the fourth quarter of 2008 and ended the year with $373,556 in the bank. Early polls indicate Shapiro defeating former Texas State Comptroller John Sharp, but trailing current Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

 mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 Bill White in head-to-head matchups.

However in January of 2011, she decided against continuing a campaign for United States Senate. Saying that she is "committed to serving in the Texas State Senate now and in the future."

2006

2002

2000

1996

1994

1992

External links

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