“We need a leader and legislator in that seat who understands the value and importance of grassroots organizing, and is willing to use their significant platform and service to feed those movements”
Emergency room nurse Molly Cook will serve out the remaining months of John Whitmire’s term in the Texas Senate after defeating state Rep. Jarvis Johnson in a special election Saturday, according to unofficial returns.
With all precincts reporting, Cook led with 57% to Johnson’s 43%. She declared victory in a statement shortly after 10 p.m.
The win means Cook will represent Senate District 15 through the end of the year, making her the first person other than Whitmire to hold the seat since 1983. The post has been vacant since January, when Whitmire resigned to be sworn in as Houston mayor.
The outcome marked a sharp reversal from the March 5 primary, in which Johnson, Cook and four other Democrats squared off for a full term that will start when the Legislature reconvenes for its next regular session in January 2025.
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Cook, a community organizer who challenged Whitmire for the Senate seat in 2022, said it was “the honor of my life that the people of District 15 have chosen me as their next State Senator.”
“With the May 28th runoff election fast approaching, our work continues,” Cook said. “As we’ve done twice already, my campaign is prepared to knock on every door, talk to every voter, and reach every corner of District 15.”
Cook, who came out as bisexual in 2021, will be the first out member of the LGBTQ+ community to serve in the upper chamber, her campaign noted in a press release.
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Cook said she would look to boost the types of grassroots movements she has helped organize in recent years, such as opposing the state’s massive plan to expand Interstate 45 and passing a city ballot referendum aimed at strengthening Houston’s representation on a regional group that distributes federal funds.
“We need a leader and legislator in that seat who understands the value and importance of grassroots organizing, and is willing to use their significant platform and service to feed those movements,” Cook said. “The more and more institutional support that I have, the more support that I can lend to the folks on the ground doing this work.”