Donna Campbell

Donna Sue Campbell ( Burrows; born September 17, 1954) is an American politician and physician who is the 25th district member of the Texas Senate. On July 31, 2012, she became the first person in Texas history to defeat an incumbent Republican senator, Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio, in a primary election.

Her district represents all of Blanco County, Comal County, and Kendall County, and portions of Guadalupe County, Hays County, Bexar, and Travis counties.

Early life and education Campbell was born on the naval base in San Diego, California, and reared in Oklahoma. Her father served in the U.S. Navy and later as a trooper in the highway patrol. Her mother was a factory worker for much of her life but became a registered nurse at the age of forty-eight. at Columbus Community Hospital in Columbus, Texas, a city west of Houston.

Campbell is a member of the American Academy of Physician Specialists and the Texas Medical Association.

Tenure On her first day in the legislature, an aide to Senator John Whitmire passed out and Campbell provided assistance.

Campbell was named the vice-chair of Nominations Committee and given a seat on the Education and Transportation Committees of the Senate.

Political positions Campbell is conservative. Campbell is also pro-life. Texas Governor Rick Perry and Campbell support a proposed 2013 law, one that would restrict abortions after the twentieth week of pregnancy, place abortion clinics in the same regulatory category as other ambulatory surgery centers, and require doctors who perform abortions have admitting privileges at a hospital within thirty miles of the facility where they perform abortions.

On the last day of the regular legislative session in 2017, Democrat Jose Menendez of San Antonio used a filibuster to kill Campbell's bill which would have made it more difficult for municipalities to annex surrounding territory.

In 2019, Campbell expressed opposition to expanding medical marijuana to cover post-traumatic stress. She claimed that a study had shown that 70% of veterans who committed suicide had cannabis in their system; PolitiFact rated her assertion false and said it could find no such study.

In 2021, Campbell responded to the rise in mass shootings in Texas with a bill to furnish families with fingerprint and DNA kits, which could be used to identify their dead children. After the 2022 Robb Elementary School mass shooting, the Texas Education Agency began to furnish school districts with these kits.

Personal life Campbell has four adopted daughters. They live in New Braunfels, Texas

2012 election results Republican primary, Texas Senate District 25, May 29, 2012

In the Republican primary on May 29, 2012, for Texas Senate District 25, Campbell came in second, advancing to the runoff. Elizabeth Ames Jones, the former Railroad Commissioner was eliminated from the runoff. The incumbent, Jeff Wentworth, who was in the Texas Senate for more than two decades, led the voting with 27,040 votes; Campbell followed with 25,458 primary votes. With 23,075 votes, Jones finished in a strong third place in the primary.

In the Republican primary, Wentworth spent $727,568. Campbell spent about $175,000. And Jones, who had the backing of Texans for Lawsuit Reform's political action committee, spent $1,754,310. Election box begin no party title=Republican primary, May 29, 2012: Senate District 25 joined Campbell's team and helped Campbell defeat incumbent Jeff Wentworth, who was in the Texas Senate for over two decades, by a two-to-one margin in the state Senate primary runoff on July 31, 2012. Campbell defeated Wentworth in every county in the 25th District except the portion of the district in southern Travis County. She built upon the base of support she gathered during the 2010 run for Congress to create the numbers that she needed to finish second in the Republican primary on May 29 and to win the July 31 Republican primary runoff against Wentworth. After the results were announced Campbell stated, "People were tired of the status quo government – that's the folks who came out and voted for us. We have a large grass-roots movement. People identified with our message: smaller government, lower taxes and a vision for having a strong economy with job creation in the private sector." Campbell also stated that she believed that she benefited from the endorsement of Ted Cruz.

2014 election

In the Republican primary on March 4, 2014, Campbell won re-nomination to her first four-year term in the state Senate. She received 40,767 votes (55.4 percent). Her two opponents, Elisa Chan and Mike Novak, received 17,887 votes (24.3 percent) and 14,942 (20.3 percent), respectively.