Roy Barrera, Jr.

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Roy R. Barrera, Jr., is a high profile lawyer in San Antonio who attempted to unseat Texas Attorney General James Albon "Jim" Mattox in the 1986 general election. Barrera (born 1952) is a 1975 graduate of St. Mary's University Law School in San Antonio. He practices in the firm Nicholas and Barrera.

After the attorney general's race, Barrera served as a state district judge.

Barrera was the chairman of the Bexar County Republican Party from 1992-2004. In Texas, chairmen of the parties are elected by primary voters every four years. Barrera is considered a close friend and political ally of U.S. President George W. Bush. He had been a particularly effective fundraiser for the San Antonio GOP.

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), one of the most Hispanic and Democratic enclaves in the state, supported Mattox. Mattox made child support for divorced and single women a high priority of his tenure as attorney general.

Mattox gave up the attorney general's office in 1990 to seek, unsuccessfully, the Democratic nomination for governor. He lost to his intraparty rival, outgoing State Treasurer Ann Richards, who was elected governor in the fall.

In 1998, Mattox tried to reclaim the attorney general's position, but, as the Democratic nominee, he lost to Republican John Cornyn, who was thereafter elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002. The position is now held by Greg Abbott, the second Republican in modern Texas history to serve as attorney general.