Meet Kirk

Texas State Senator

In 2006, Kirk announced his candidacy for State Senate in District 14, which covers most of Travis County. He won the Democratic primary unopposed, and no Republican challenged him in the general election.

During that campaign year, Kirk led an unprecedented collection of Central Texas leaders in discussing goals and concerns for the future development of the Texas 130 corridor in eastern Travis and Williamson Counties.

He also chaired a committee through the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce to review the operations of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, or CAMPO – the region's primary transportation planning group.  The committee recommended a number of reforms to CAMPO, all of which were approved.

In November 2006, Kirk was elected State Senator for District 14.  He approached the Texas Legislature with many of the same goals and strategies he pursued throughout his career in public service – building new coalitions, working with all sides, and preparing for Texas' future.

In the 2007 legislative session, he passed the only climate change-related legislation to come out of either chamber.  He created an electronic waste recycling program that became a national model. He worked to launch the landmark effort to raise $3 billion for cancer research.  And he fought for broader educational access from elementary schools to universities, as well as wider transparency and accountability in Texas' transportation agencies.

Kirk was recognized by numerous groups for his legislative work. Texas Monthly magazine named him Rookie of the Year.

He also has remained very involved in issues across Central Texas.   As chair of CAMPO, he injected new transparency and accountability into long-discussed highway improvements and assembled a broad coalition that overwhelmingly approved the projects.  He helped launch and serves on the board of a community bank in Elgin, a rural town east of Austin. 
And he helped lead a process that will allow Central Texas to create a transit system around facts rather than political dogma.

As he approaches the 2009 legislative session, Kirk is creating an ambitious agenda to invest in the schools, health care, transportation, and clean energy resources that will keep Texas prosperous for this and future generations, while also reforming a closed budget process that prevents these investments from being made.

Most importantly, and as he has throughout his career, he is working to ensure that Texas offers as much opportunity to our children as it has to Kirk.