Philip Cortez
Philip A. Cortez is a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives. He previously served as a State Representative for House District 117 during the 83rd Legislative Session. From 2007 to 2012, he was a member of the nominally nonpartisan San Antonio City Council, on which he was a firm ally of then Mayor Julian Castro.
Cortez is a captain in the Air Force Reserve, having originally joined the Air Force as an enlisted airman.
In the November 6, 2012 general election, Cortez unseated the freshman Republican John Garza. In his first term, Cortez was named the top Democratic freshman by Capitol Inside.
In the November 4, 2014 general election, Cortez was narrowly unseated by the Republican Rick Galindo, who won his party primary on March 4 with 2,372 votes. Galindo thwarted the primary comeback bid waged by former Representative John Garza, who trailed with 1,300 votes of the ballots cast. In the November 4 general election, Galindo defeated Cortez, 12,835 votes to 11,521.
Cortez returned in 2016 to unseat Galindo, who polled 27,783 votes in the general election to Cortez's 29,319. Cortez won again in the general election held on November 6, 2018, when he handily defeated the conservative Republican candidate, Michael Berlanga, 32,779 to 24,352. Berlanga is a certified public accountant in San Antonio who formerly ran for Bexar County tax assessor-collector but lost to Democrat Albert Uresti.
Cortez's younger brother, Joseph Cortez, was a candidate for the District 6 seat on the San Antonio City Council in the municipal election held on May 6, 2017. Joseph Cortez sought to succeed the term-limited Ray Lopez, for whom he was the policy and communications advisor during the preceding three years.
