Rafael Anchia

Early life and education

Anchia was born and raised in Miami, Florida. He is one of two children born to parents who emigrated to America. His father, Julio Anchia, is from the Basque region of Spain. His mother, Edurne Anchia, was born and raised in Mexico City, Querétaro and Acapulco.

Anchia's grandfather, Claudio, was a sheep and goat herder in the province of Viscaya, Spain. In the early 1900s, he traveled to Idaho, as did legions of other Basques, to herd sheep. Despite not being a citizen of the United States, Claudio signed up to fight for America in World War I.

After being on the losing side in the war against fascism in Spain, the Basque people suffered greatly. Julio left his home town at the age of fifteen to earn money for the family and came to the US at the age of nineteen.

Anchia's mother was the daughter of a well-known engraver, Justino Michelena; he was an engraver of handguns and rifles, which led to a job offer by Colt's Manufacturing Company, an American firearms manufacturer. At the age of fifteen years old, she immigrated to the United States with her family. She attended and graduated from Miami High School. Julio and Edurne met in Miami. After a long courtship, in 1967, the two got married.

Anchia lived in Miami as a child, where he attended and graduated from Miami Coral Park Senior High School in 1986. Upon graduation, he enrolled at Southern Methodist University in Dallas where he triple majored in Spanish, Latin American studies, and Anthropology and graduated with Honors. Anchia continued his studies and earned his law degree from Tulane University Law School.

During his legislative advocacy class, he worked on legislation that ultimately became law creating a statewide ombudsperson to monitor conditions in Louisiana nursing home. Anchia also served as a volunteer advocate for immigrant detainees who were denied the benefit of counsel.

Anchia is married to Marissa. They have two daughters, Sofia and Maia.

DISD Board of Trustees

In 2001, at the age of 32, Anchia was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Dallas Independent School District, the nation's 12th largest. He represented District 7. During his tenure on the Dallas School Board, he served as First Vice President and chaired the Policy and Governance Committee. As a Trustee, Anchia helped lead the successful effort of the Dallas ISD to win public approval of a $1.37 billion school bond package.

Anchia advocated for, and helped lead an effort to ensure that teachers received two 4% consecutive pay increases without raising taxes. The board was also committed to cut down on waste and create a more efficient school district. With student and teachers as their primary focus, the board was able to cub nearly one hundred administrative positions. This decision helped to guarantee the salary increases promised to DISD teachers, making starting salaries the highest in the DFW metroplex. The following year marked the first academic school year in two decades where the school district started with no teacher vacancies—a number that reached two thousand at the beginning of Anchia's term.

Texas House of Representatives

Anchia was elected to the Texas House of Representatives on November 2, 2004, the date of the 2004 Presidential Election. He was sworn into the freshman class of the 79th Texas Legislature on January 11, 2005. Anchia is now serving his sixth term in the Texas House and is currently 35th in seniority out of the 150 members of the Texas House of Representatives. He is seeking reelection in the upcoming general election on November 8, 2016.

Anchia is a supporter of new urbanism and finding a balance between fossil fuels and renewable energy.

Anchia is also an attorney with the law firm Haynes & Boone LLP.