Final answer:
Men are overrepresented in the Texas legislature when compared to their state population, while both African Americans and Latinos are underrepresented relative to their percentages of the overall population.
Step-by-step explanation:
Men are overrepresented in the Texas legislature relative to the state population. When considering the diversity of Texas and its representation in government, we can refer to lawmakers such as Veronica Escobar, who represents a constituency in El Paso, which is likely less diverse than the entire state that Texas Senators like Ted Cruz and John Cornyn represent. Texas's senators are tasked with representing the interests of a massive and diverse state population. However, looking at the state legislature, minority representation is an important factor to consider. According to estimates from professor Beth Reingold and 2019 census figures, both African Americans and Latinos are underrepresented in state governments relative to their total population percentages. Specifically, African Americans made up 9.3 percent of state legislators, whereas they comprise 13.4 percent of the nationwide population. Latinos were 4.4 percent of state legislators, despite accounting for 18.5 percent of the total U.S. population. Texas, along with states like Arizona, California, and New Mexico, has a higher proportion of Latino legislators, but still not proportional to their population.