Jon Rosenthal, the Democrat representing Texas House District 135 in Northwest Houston since 2019, has built a legislative record defined by opposition to tax relief and a consistent alignment with activist priorities over the interests of everyday Texas families. Now seeking a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission, Rosenthal is asking voters to trust him with oversight of the state’s energy industry. His record in Austin tells a troubling story.
Fiscal Record: An “F” That Speaks for Itself
Every legislative session since he was first elected and sent to Austin, Rosenthal has earned an “F” on the Fiscal Responsibility Index,1 a rating reserved for lawmakers who consistently vote against the interests of taxpayers, with a 24% score in the most recent 89th Legislative Session (the third worst rating of all one hundred fifty members).
And this score doesn’t come from a one-time lapse. In 2025, Rosenthal voted against proposals to cut taxes2 for Texas small businesses, the engines of local economies across the state. He also voted against a constitutional ban on “Death Taxes.”3 He opposed a ban on a state capital gains tax,4 a protection to keep Texas competitive and keep government out of Texans’ investment returns.
Other anti-taxpayer votes included supporting expanding taxpayer-funded corporate welfare5 for Hollywood, raising his own government pension6 at taxpayer expense, and opposing legislation, SB 17, to ban countries like China and Russia from owning land and other real property in Texas.7
A Record of Activist Priorities
Rosenthal’s voting record shows where his priorities actually lie, and it isn’t with everyday Texans.
He fought against a bill requiring college student athletes to compete based on their biological sex rather than gender identity, putting female athletes at risk.8 He also fought9 Senate Bill 14, the 2023 law that prohibited taxpayer-funds from being used for irreversible gender-transition procedures on children10, going so far as to claim on the House Floor that protecting minors from these treatments was “wrong and immoral.”
Rosenthal also sponsored11 legislation, HB 1945,12 stripping Texas school districts of the ability to use internet filtering software to block certain websites from students, opening the door for minors to access content that mixes “mental-health resources” with sexually explicit material aimed at adults. One specific website Rosenthal and other LGBT activists think students should be able to access is the LGBT news website Advocate,13 which features articles with headlines such as “Gays share the gayest thing straight guys have done with them — and it’s wild.” (this specific article got very graphic). Parents who trust school districts to keep age-inappropriate content away from their children should ask why Rosenthal fought to take that filtering ability away.
The Bottom Line
Jon Rosenthal wants Texans to hand him a seat on the Railroad Commission. His record in the Legislature, opposition to smart fiscal policy and tax relief, and votes that put children at risk, should require real scrutiny by Texans before he attempts to move up the political ladder.
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- https://index.texastaxpayers.com/legislators/jon-rosenthal/2025-index ↩︎
- https://index.texastaxpayers.com/votes/2025-house-vote-rv72 ↩︎
- https://index.texastaxpayers.com/votes/2025-house-vote-rv714 ↩︎
- https://index.texastaxpayers.com/votes/2025-house-vote-rv628 ↩︎
- https://index.texastaxpayers.com/votes/2025-house-vote-rv3545 ↩︎
- https://index.texastaxpayers.com/votes/2025-house-vote-rv4171 ↩︎
- https://index.texastaxpayers.com/votes/2025-house-vote-rv1881 ↩︎
- https://index.texastaxpayers.com/votes/2023-house-vote-rv1813 ↩︎
- https://x.com/Jon_RosenthalTX/status/1657219662508089350 ↩︎
- https://index.texastaxpayers.com/votes/2023-house-vote-rv1686 ↩︎
- https://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2023/03/a-pro-lgbtq-bill-advances-in-austin ↩︎
- https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=HB1945 ↩︎
- https://www.advocate.com/health/sexual-health ↩︎
