'Phenomenal': Houston and Texas politicians remember Garnet Coleman's decades of service – Houston Chronicle

‘Phenomenal’: Houston and Texas politicians remember Garnet Coleman’s decades of service  Houston Chronicle

Passion, public service and fierce advocacy for under-served Texans — that's how elected officials Thursday remembered the work of former state Rep. Garnet Coleman, who died Wednesday of natural causes at 65 after 30 years of representing Houston. Coleman, who served in the Texas Legislature from 1991 to 2022, had been living for years with complications from diabetes. HISD NEWS: HISD cuts staff, campus budgets after enrollment drops nearly 10,000 from last September A native Houstonian, Coleman dedicated his years of public service to fighting for access to healthcare. The Obama administration selected Coleman to join a 32-member working group of state lawmakers who helped Congress pass the Affordable Care Act. In 2022, then-Mayor Sylvester Turner, who served with Coleman for over two decades and died in March 2025, called him "one of the foremost experts and champions of access to healthcare." Coleman also used his position to fight for Houston's Black community, creating public improvement districts to prevent gentrification and grow affordable housing in minority neighborhoods.

Here's what Houston and Texas politicians had to say about Coleman: Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows Burrows, a Republican, said in a statement on X Thursday that Coleman was a good friend, a passionate advocate for the Houston community and a champion of the underserved. Burrows highlighted Coleman's work expanding healthcare and mental