Molly Cook, Texas' first openly LGBTQ state senator
Texas now has its first openly LGBTQ person, thanks to Molly Cooke's victory Saturday in a special election to fill the seat left vacant by John Whitmire's resignation from the Senate in last year's Houston mayoral race. A new state senator was born.
Cook, a registered nurse with a master's degree in public health policy from Johns Hopkins University, won the seat until the end of the year with a 57% to 43% victory in Saturday's special election. She is currently facing Democratic state Rep. Jarvis Johnson in a Democratic primary runoff that will determine who will hold the U.S. Senate seat in the 2025-2026 Congress.
In the March primary election, Jarvis led a field of six candidates with 36% of the vote, while Cook came in a close second with 21%. Early voting for the May 28 runoff election begins on Monday, May 20th.
Cook came out as bisexual in 2021 and is a “sixth generation Texan born and raised in the Houston area,” according to the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, which is supporting her.
The Victory Fund notes that Cook earned a bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of Texas at Austin, then worked on a general hospital floor for a year before returning to Houston to become an emergency room nurse.
“After three years in ER nursing, Molly moved to Baltimore to study public health policy at Johns Hopkins University. Armed with her master's degree, Molly returned home and began working full-time in home health nursing. and volunteered with the Bet for Texas campaign,” the Victory Fund bio continues. “Since then, Molly has returned to the ER and applied what she learned to organize fair and sustainable transportation in Texas. In addition to her work in the ER, public safety, and public health, Molly plays the harp, teaches yoga, and cares for senior Chihuahuas.
— Tammy Nash
