Ron Reynolds (politician)

Ronald Eugene Reynolds (born September 18, 1973) is an American politician and disbarred lawyer who represents District 27 in the Texas House of Representatives. He was first elected in 2010. Reynolds is the first African American elected to represent Fort Bend County in the Texas House of Representatives since the Reconstruction era.

Reynolds was a managing partner and attorney in private practice with the Brown, Brown & Reynolds law firm. He was an adjunct professor at Texas Southern University, a Houston Associate Municipal Judge, and was the president of the Houston Lawyers Association and president of the Missouri City & Vicinity National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Currently, he is a National Board Member of the NAACP. He is also a principal at Civitas Engineering and Group Vice President of Business Development.

One day after U.S. President Joe Biden's performance in the June 27, 2024, presidential debate, Reynolds became one of the first Democratic politicians to call for Biden to be replaced at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

Education
Reynolds attended Texas Southern University and graduated in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science degree in public affairs. He then attended Texas Tech University School of Law, graduating in 1999, with a Juris Doctor degree. He is a recipient of three Honorary Doctorate's, Doctor of Humanities from Trinity International University of Ambassadors, Doctor of Philosophy in Humanitarianism and a Doctorate of Divinity from Pendleton Chapel Seminary.

Political career
Reynolds first vied in the 2008 Texas House of Representatives Democratic party primary election for District 27, against the incumbent, Dora Olivo. During his campaign, the Texas Ethics Commission terminated his campaign treasurer. Reynolds afterwards continued to raise and spend campaign funds, although the Texas Election Code prohibits candidates from doing so until a campaign treasurer report is filed with the Texas Ethics Commission. He hired a new campaign treasurer six months after his initial treasurer was removed. Reynolds garnered 14,634 votes (49.7%) to Olivo's 14,821 (50.3%). In 2010, he vied in the Democratic primaries again and unseated Olivo after polling 5,158 (57.6%) to 3,791 (42.4%). In the same year's general elections, he beat Derek Dean Grayson of the Libertarian Party. He was sworn in on 10 January 2011 as State Representative, House District 27.

In 2012, he ran unopposed in the Democratic Party primaries and won re-election with 69% of the votes in the general elections. Reynolds was elected for a third term during the 2014 general elections after polling 24,326 (67%) against David Wayne Hamilton's 11,990. During the Democratic primaries in 2018, he beat his opponent Wilvin Carter with 61.37%. He won the general elections unopposed as the republican party did not field a candidate.

During the 2020 primaries, general elections, he defeated Tom Virippan to win re-election. In 2021, he founded the Texas House Progressive Caucus and in 2022, he polled 70.3% of the votes to beat the Republican party candidate, Sohrab Gilani. Reynolds was elected Chair of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus in August 2022. He led the charge to form the first-ever Texas Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Legislative Caucus in 2023.

Awards and honors
Reynolds has been awarded with EEOC Civil Rights All Star Award, American Red Cross Humanitarian Award, two-time recipient of the Houston Black Chamber of Commerce Pinnacle Award, recognition in Who's Who in Black Houston, designation as Houston's Top Lawyer by HTexas Magazine, receipt of the Missouri City Juneteenth Community Service Award, Houston's Top 40 Leaders Under 40, and the DMARS Business Journal Top Lawyer & Public Servant Award. He was voted by the House Democratic Caucus as Freshman Legislator of the Year in 2011 and was named Public Servant of the Year by the Houston Minority Contractors Association.

He has also received American Red Cross Humanitarian Award, YMCA Minority Achievers Award, NAACP Drum Major for Justice Award, MLK Drum Major For Justice Award, NAACP ALEX Award for Legal Excellence and Texas Association of African American Chamber of Commerce Legislator of the Year Award. He received Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award under both President Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Conviction
He was first charged in 2013 in a scheme with eight other attorneys to pay a convicted felon to look through Houston police accident reports for potential clients. He was convicted of misdemeanor barratry in a 2014 trial. In November 2015, Reynolds was convicted on multiple misdemeanor counts under Texas' Barratry & Solicitation of Professional Employment statute. He was fined and sentenced to 365 days (a year) in county jail. On May 23, 2018, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused Reynold's appeal, meaning he will need to serve his year-long jail sentence. Since he was convicted of a misdemeanor, he continued to hold office during his jail sentence and was released in January 2019 after serving four months of a one year jail sentence. He was formally disbarred by the State Bar of Texas on July 29, 2019, after having been in an interlocutory suspension for 2 years and 2 months. He had previously been sanctioned by the agency twice before, in 2005 and 2006. He had also been fined $10,000.00 by the Texas Ethics Commission for refusing to file legally-required financial disclosure statements.