Austin's Kirk Watson elected Senate president pro tem

The Texas Senate launched its 86th regular session Tuesday by selecting Sen. Kirk Watson as president pro tempore, a ceremonial post that also carries real responsibilities for the Austin Democrat.

The position, which typically goes to the longest serving senator who has not yet served as pro tem, places Watson on the Senate dais when Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is not available, puts him in the line of succession for governor and gives him a role in next week's inauguration of Gov. Greg Abbott and Patrick.

Five senators — three Republicans and two Democrats — gave speeches nominating Watson for the post, including Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, who gaveled the Senate into session Tuesday because Patrick had been called to the White House for a meeting on border security.

"When the White House calls you to go to Washington, you go," Nelson said.

Watson was sworn in twice Tuesday, first as a senator after winning re-election in November, and later as president pro tem, meaning he would serve as governor if Abbott and Patrick were out of state simultaneously.

Speaking to the Senate, where desks were surrounded by senators' family members for Tuesday's opening day, Watson said his unanimous election as president pro tem had him thinking about what it means to serve.

"Simply following one’s desires or perceived gifts and strengths doesn’t make you a servant any more than words create actions. To get things done, as we all know very well, service requires urgency," he said, adding that his sense of urgency grew after he was diagnosed with metastic cancer in his early 30s.

Chemotherapy and three surgeries were followed several years later by major surgery to remove another tumor.

Surviving cancer, Watson said, gave him the freedom to take chances, empathy for those who suffer and an understanding that life is short.

"Every minute we waste is gone," he said. "We’re not here just to be here, we’re here because there are things we’re compelled to accomplish, and we have very little time — 140 days — to accomplish them."

Watson also said he enters the session with the same priorities — including education, health care, equal rights and open government — but with a new perspective, thanks to his 13-month old granddaughter, Frances Ellen Watson, known to all as Effie.

"I confess that Effie highlights those priorities. She’s made them more real. More immediate. More personal. She has her whole life ahead of her, and the decisions we make over the next 140 days will shape that life," Watson said. "But not just Effie, of course. Our decisions between now and May will touch 28.7 million Texans. More than 7 million of them are children, just like Effie. Their whole lives are ahead of them too."

Watson will serve as president pro tem during the regular session. Senators typically pick another office holder to serve in the interim between sessions.