Two members of the LGBTQ from the Houston area will be heading to Austin in January after winning their races for the Texas Legislature.
Molly Cook became Texas’ first LGBTQ senator in May when she won the special election to replace John Whitmire when he stepped down from the Texas Senate District 15 seat to run for mayor of Houston. Today Cook easily out-distanced Republican Joseph Trahan to win her first full term in the Senate. She was ahead of Trahan by a margin of about 63 percent to 37 percent with 71 percent of precincts reporting.
Lauren Ashley Simmons, a longtime union organizer and community organizer, defeated Texas House District 146’s anti-trans incumbent, Shawn Thierry, in the Democratic Primary last spring. Thierry, who voted with House Republicans last year on bills targeting transgender youth, has since switched parties and joined the GOP.
In today’s general election, with nearly 70 percent of the precincts reporting, Simmons was leading Republican Lance York, 79 percent to 21 percent.
— Tammye Nash