Rep. Neave Criado, Victoria

Biography

Victoria Neave Criado represents Texas House District 107, which includes parts of Dallas, Mesquite, and Garland. For the 88th Legislative Session, Representative Neave Criado has been appointed to serve as Chair of the House County Affairs Committee and is a member of the Business and Industry Committee. Neave Criado is one of four women appointed as a committee Chair and is only the sixth Latina in Texas history to serve as a Committee Chair.

Victoria Neave Criado also serves as Chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus (MALC), the largest and oldest Latino caucus in the country, becoming the first woman elected in thirty years since the late Representative Irma Rangel.

Representative Neave Criado has passed the language of more than two dozen bills, including the historic Lavinia Masters Act—comprehensive legislation to address the backlog of thousands of untested rape kits—as well as various bills to address sexual assault and sexual harassment, domestic violence, and human trafficking in our state, bills to help increase access to higher education and make college more affordable, and legislation that designated June 12 as Women Veterans Day in Texas. The Lavinia Masters Act was allotted an unprecedented $50 million from the state budget in the 86th Legislative Session to tackle the rape kit backlog.

Victoria grew up in Dallas and comes from a working-class family. Her parents emphasized the importance of education and compassion for others. The daughter of an immigrant father with a sixth grade education who had a small TV and VCR repair shop in Mesquite, Victoria became the first in her family to graduate from college. She earned her degree in Government and Politics from The University of Texas at Dallas. Victoria went on to graduate magna cum laude in the top 3% of her law school class at Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law. She began her legal career as an attorney in the Complex Commercial Litigation group at Weil, Gotshal and Manges LLP, a global top 10 law firm. As an attorney, she has represented a broad range of clients from multinational corporations and small businesses to women and children in civil litigation, family, and employment law.

Professional Recognitions

• “Legislator of the Year” award from the State Bar of Texas Hispanic Issues Section, 2023
• “Legislative Leadership” award from the Sherrifs’ Association of Texas, 2023
• “Public Education Champion” award from Raise Your Hand Texas, 2023
• “Excellence in Government Service” Award from the Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund, 2023
• “Big Voice for Little Texans” award from Texas Casa, 2022
• “Legislator of the Year” by the Association of Texas Professional Educators, Region 10, 2021
• “Best Legislators” List by Texas Monthly, 2019
• “Best of 2019 Texas Legislature” by the Dallas Observer and “Legislator of the Year”
• “Freshman of the Year” by the House Democratic Caucus, 2017
• “Top 5 North Texas Legislators” by the Dallas Observer, 2017
• “Public Elected Official of the Year” by the National Association of Social Workers, North Central Texas-Dallas Area Branch, 2017
• “Hero in the Movement” award from the Dallas Fort-Worth Urban League Young Professionals, 2017