Harry M. Wurzbach

Harry McLeary Wurzbach (May 19, 1874 – November 6, 1931) was the first Republican since Reconstruction to represent Texas for more than one term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He held Texas's 14th congressional district seat from 1921-1929 and from 1930-1931.

Early life

Wurzbach was born in San Antonio to Charles Louis Wurzbach and the former Kate Fink. He attended public schools and graduated in 1896 from the law department of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. That same year, he was admitted to the bar, established his practice in San Antonio, and married the former Frances Darden Wagner. Wurzbach volunteered as a private in Company F, First Regiment, Texas Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish-American War. After the war, he relocated to Seguin and continued his law practice. He was the Guadalupe County prosecuting attorney from 1900-1902 and County Judge from 1904-1910.

Political career

First elected to Congress in the general election of 1920, Wurzbach unseated the freshman Democratic Representative Carlos Bee of San Antonio, 17,265 (55.6 percent) to 13,777 (44.4 percent). In 1922, 1924, and 1926, Wurzbach won by margins of 54.8, 62.4, and 57.2 percent, respectively. He won his seat even as the Republican presidential candidates in 1920 and 1924 were losing the electoral vote of Texas. Wurzbach was a delegate to the 1924 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio.

In 1928, Wurzbach lost reelection even though Republican Herbert Hoover won Texas over Democratic candidate Al Smith. Wurzbach polled 27,206 (49.7 percent) to 29,0555 (50.3 percent) for the Democrat Augustus McCloskey of San Antonio. Wurzbach claimed irregularities in the election and appealed his case to the Republican-controlled House. The Republican-controlled House reversed McCloskey's election (after eleven months of congressional service) and seated Wurzbach on February 10, 1930. Wurbach then won another term in November 1930, when he polled an impressive 27,206 (59.3 percent) to Democrat Henry B. Dielmann's 18,707 (40.7 percent).

Wurzbach's legacy

Wurzbach was the only representative from Texas to vote for the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill in 1922.

Wurzbach served until his death in San Antonio in 1931. He is buried in the San Antonio National Cemetery.

Wurzbach, of German extraction, was the first native Texan to win election to Congress as a Republican. After Wurzbach, no other Republicans represented Texas in Congress until 1954, when Bruce Alger was elected.

Former Democratic Congressman Bob Eckhardt of Houston was a nephew of Wurzbach.

Wurzbach Road, Wurzbach Parkway, and Harry Wurzbach Road, all in San Antonio, honor his memory.

External links

*CongBio|W000775 Retrieved on 2008-02-10
*Handbookoftexas|id=WW/fwu4|name=Harry McLeary Wurzbach