Roy Barrera, Jr.

Roy R. Barrera, Jr. (born January 25, 1952), is an American attorney and politician in San Antonio, Texas. As the Republican nominee, he nearly unseated Attorney General Jim Mattox, a Democrat, in the 1986 general election.

Roy Barrera, Jr. was born on January 25, 1952, in San Antonio, Texas, to Roy Barrera, Sr. (born 1927), and the former Maria del Carmen Zendejas (born 1924). The senior Barrera served in 1968 as the Texas secretary of state, under the appointment of then Governor John B. Connally, Jr.

Barrera, Jr. received his Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas. He then received his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from St. Mary's University Law School, San Antonio, Texas, in 1975.

Barrera practices in the firm Nicholas and Barrera in San Antonio, Texas.

Before the attorney general's race, he served as a state district court judge from 1982 to 1986. Along with Tom Rickhoff, David Peeples, and David Berchelmann, Barrera was the first Republican in Bexar County elected to state court judgeships since Reconstruction.

From 1992 to 2004, Barrera was the chairman of the Bexar County Republican Party. He was allied with former U.S. President George W. Bush. He had been a particularly effective fundraiser for the San Antonio GOP. Jim Mattox only narrowly won a second term as attorney general. Though Barrera is Hispanic, a majority of Hispanics voted for the Anglo-Democrat Mattox. Webb County (Laredo), for instance, one of the most Hispanic and Democratic enclaves in the state, supported Mattox.

In 2007, Barrera endorsed Francisco "Quico" Canseco, who sought the Republican nomination to challenge 23rd District Democratic U.S. Representative Ciro D. Rodriguez of San Antonio. Canseco lost the primary in 2008 to Lyle Larson, who was then defeated by the incumbent Rodriguez.

In 2010, however, Canseco won the Republican nomination and then narrowly unseated Rodriguez in the general election. He served only one term until his own defeat.