Local Lawmaker Gets Called Out For Being a 'Cockroach' During Legislative Session

It’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility that when Charles Dickens wrote “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times” to begin his classic novel A Tale of Two Cities, that he might’ve been referring to the Texas Legislature. Published in 1859, Dickens’ classic tale began hitting shelves 13 years after members of the Texas Senate and House of Representatives began gathering to decide the new state’s laws.

Although it’s safe to assume that Dickens wasn’t super plugged into Texas politics back then, that classic opening line can all too often sum up the always colorful, usually combative and typically polarizing months of each legislative session. Perhaps that is more the case now than ever before. Since adjourning last week, many Republicans have claimed this session was among the very best to ever take place, while many on the opposite side of the aisle point to a number of controversial, yet successful bills to suggest that we are not anywhere near living in the best of times.

Along with keeping track of which local legislators supported or opposed the legislation we were in favor of or against, one of the great post-session traditions is to see who Texas Monthly named the best and worst legislators of the session. The venerable outlet has been doing this for more than 50 years, and seemingly without fail, lawmakers from North Texas make an appearance, not always in the “best” column.

But that tradition is gone this year. On Monday, Texas Monthly published its session postmortem, but the best and worst legislators are not listed. The magazine wrote that such classifications are futile in the Lege’s modern era.

“As the institution became more ideologically polarized, this list came to be seen by the right wing as liberal whining,” the article read. “But our concern is not that the wrong people win elections: It’s that those who have achieved a monopoly on power are misusing it.”

But Texas Monthly still dove deep into the lawmakers, or non-lawmaking elected officials in some notable North Texas cases, who helped give the 89th session its identity.

Of the nine lawmakers that Texas Monthly says defined the session, the vast majority are not from North Texas. And the ones who are weren’t exactly showered with the grandest of praise.

First-year Republican Reps Mitch Little of Lewisville and Shelley Luther of Tom Bean were highlighted as being “Paxton’s Posse.”

You may remember Luther as the former Dallas salon owner who rocketed to notoriety in the early lockdown days of the COVID-19 pandemic when she refused to keep her business doors closed. For his part, Little grabbed just enough notoriety in 2023 as one of Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton’s defense attorneys during his Senate impeachment trial.

Texas Monthly called Little “the star of the group” and explained that Little had an impact that isn’t common for many freshman lawmakers.

“True to his right-wing roots, he co-authored a bill that would allow the state to prosecute murder cases against women who get abortions,” the article noted. “But Little also worked with Democrats on criminal justice reform. His bill to end immunity for schools and teachers from sex-abuse lawsuits overwhelmingly passed both chambers. And he was a consistent voice of moral clarity on a bill that ended nondisclosure agreements for survivors of sexual abuse.”

Even worse, in a sidebar dubbed “The Furniture,” North Richland Hills Sen. Kelly Hancock was pointed out for just being there and little else.

“Rumored to be in the running to be appointed comptroller, Hancock kept his head low, presumably to avoid riling the Republican grassroots. So low that we almost forgot about him,” Texas Monthly wrote.

But no one got as much ink, regardless of which part of the state they represent, as Republican Rep. Brian Harrison, from Midlothian, about 25 miles southwest of downtown Dallas. And boy, did he get some ink spilled all over him.

One of the most unapologetically outspoken officials filling up the Capitol this year, Harrison often had his name in the news and on social media, but rarely for the reasons he, or his constituents, would likely hope for.

“He passed no bills and made about as many friends,” the report stated. “But he forged something rare and inspiring in the House: bipartisan consensus. Most everyone agreed that Brian Harrison is unbearable.”

You might recall an April spat between him and fellow Republican Rep. Jeff Leach, when the Plano representative accused Harrison of messing around on Twitter on his phone during a House committee meeting. It was a reasonable suspicion on Leach’s part. Not only because Harrison was visibly uninterested in what was happening in the meeting, but because Harrison really likes to tweet and to take shots at his fellow House members.

“He tweeted or retweeted more than 3,500 times during the 140-day session and made regular appearances on Steve Bannon’s show to claim that the House was secretly controlled by Democrats,” Texas Monthly wrote.

The magazine goes as far as calling Harrison a “cockroach,” which they describe as “an old Lege term for a figure who mucks up lawmaking the same way vermin sully a kitchen.”

Perhaps predictably, Harrison took to his favorite social media app to defend being called out for tweeting a lot and not passing any bills.

“Another day, another hit piece from a leftist rag. Being called "cockroach" by low-IQ libs at @TexasMonthly is a badge of honor,” Harrison wrote on X on Monday. “The harder the swamp tries to intimidate, silence, and take me out... the harder I'll fight for liberty. They hate me. Because I fight for YOU!”