Cook wins Senate District 15 runoff

Dallas Voice: PRIMARY RUNOFFS: Cook wins Senate District 15 runoff

Molly Cook — the bisexual woman who in April became Texas’ first openly-LGBTQ state senator when she won a special election to fill the District 15 Senate seat through the end of this year, on Tuesday, May 28 — won the runoff to become the Democratic nominee for that seat in the November general election.

John Whitmire had represented District 15, which encompasses a portion of the city of Houston, since 1983. He stepped down late last year after winning his bid to become mayor of Houston. Cook then placed second to Jarvis Johnson in the Democratic Primary in March to determine who will hold the seat for the next four-year term, forcing the race into a runoff.

On Tuesday, Cook defeated Jarvis for the second time this month, winning by 74 votes, based on complete but as yet unofficial results. Cook, an emergency room nurse and community organizer, now faces Republican candidate Joseph L. Trahan in the November general election.

Texas now has its first openly LGBTQ state senator, thanks to Molly Cook’s victory

Dallas Voice: Cook wins special election, becomes Texas’ 1st LGBTQ state senator

Texas now has its first openly LGBTQ state senator, thanks to Molly Cook’s victory Saturday in a special election to fill the seat left empty when John Whitmire stepped down from the Senate after winning last year’s Houston mayoral election.

Cook, a registered nurse with a master’s degree in public health policy from Johns Hopkins University, has earned the seat through the end of the year with her 57 percent-to-43 percent win in Saturday’s special election.  She now faces Jarvis Johnson, a Democratic state representative, in a Democratic Primary runoff to see who will hold the senate seat in the 2025-2026 legislative session.