Tryon D Lewis

Early years, family, education

Lewis was born to Tryon E. "Bud" Lewis (1911–2003) and the former Erma Lea Beauchamp in Kermit in Winkler County. The senior Lewis was descended from a pioneer ranching family from Fort Stockton in Pecos County. His work in the petroleum exploration industry required several early moves for the Lewis family, who relocated in 1952 to Odessa in the oil-rich Permian Basin. Tryon D. Lewis has two sisters, Barbara Southern and Ann Elizabeth Smith. Bud and Erma Lewis retired to Fort Stockton in 1980.

Lewis attended Odessa College, a community college, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He obtained the Juris Doctor degree from Baptist-affiliated Baylor Law School in Waco, Texas. Since 1973, he has been a partner in the law firm Atkins, Hollman, Jones, Peacock, Lewis, and Lyon. From 1985-2006, he was judge of the 161st State District Court.

Lewis and his wife, Trudy Lynn Lewis (born 1949), an educator who graduated from Rice University in Houston, have two daughters, Eleanor R. Lewis and Annie Lewis. He previously served as chairman of the Ector County Republican Party and as president of the Republican Men's Club. He is on the board of the Permian Playhouse, the Odessa Cultural Council, and Meals on Wheels. The Lewises are promoters of the western art of Thomas C. Lea, III.

Judicial views

As the 161st district judge, Lewis wrote a letter in 1989 to Texas Monthly challenging an article in the magazine that claims prison overcrowding in Texas stems from judges and juries sending convicted persons to the penitentiary for trivial reasons. Lewis wrote:

"No state is more lenient toward criminals than Texas. Every criminal with no prior felony conviction is eligible for probation. There are eight different kinds of probation. . . . Forty-five percent of all prisoners are repeat offenders. Thus there are very few nonviolent first offenders in prison, and nearly all of those have already failed the court's attempt at alternative punishment. The convicts in prison are there because they deserve to be. [While prison cells are expensive], not providing those cells is far more expensive. . . . A typical multi-offender inmate will commit 187 crimes per year, for a total crime cost to society of $430,000. With this comparison, the $25,800 cost of imprisoning criminals seems reasonable."

Legislative service

One of three candidates who challenged the ailing incumbent George E. "Buddy" West of Odessa in the 2008 Republican primary election, Lewis led the field with 5,273 votes (44 percent) to West's 4,602 (38.4) percent. In the lower-turnout runoff primary, Lewis prevailed by a large margin, 5,181 (76 percent) to West's 1,637 (24 percent). Lewis was supported by then Speaker of the Texas House Tom Craddick of nearby Midland, who at the time was at odds with West, his Republican colleague for the past fifteen years. Four anti-Craddick Republican legislators came to Odessa to campaign in the runoff for West. West died some two months after the runoff election. In 2009, as Lewis succeeded West, Craddick himself was deposed as Speaker by Moderate Republican Joe Straus of San Antonio. Lewis and Craddick remain neighboring House colleagues from Districts 81 and 82, respectively; neither had an opponent in the 2010 or 2012 general elections.

With his judicial background, Lewis served on the House (1) Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence and (2) Public Safety committees. In the 2009 legislative session, Lewis supported the positions of Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum 71 percent of the time. He supported the positions of interest groups Texans for Fiscal Responsibility and the Texas Association of Business 85 percent and 90 percent of the time, respectively.

Lewis did not seek a fourth House term in 2014. He was succeeded by Brooks Landgraf, an Odessa attorney.