Education
MA Climate and Society, Columbia University, New York, 2007; BS Evolutionary Anthropology, Rutgers University, New Jersey, 2006
Occupation
Homemaker
I’m a wife & mom to two daughters who’s lived in our district for over a decade. During that time, I’ve experienced hurricanes and severe local flooding, power grid failures, our public school system unable to fully support its teachers and students, my healthcare choices be limited, my husband’s career go on a roller coaster ride, & future opportunities for my children disappear. I’m mad that our current rep didn’t stand up for public schools last session the way he promised to, & I vowed to give people a choice when it comes to their representation since the Harless family has held this seat almost uninterrupted since 2007. I’m ready to fight and be the change for our district & to make Texas a safer, smarter, stronger home for all of us!
I’ll pass laws about flooding in Texas: not building homes or other structures in floodplains; about the time between a warning from the NWS to when it’s communicated to people in flood-prone areas; require appointed people along the river who’ll be awake during a flood warning and respond appropriately. Second, every child in Texas deserves a free, fully funded public education. Teachers & staff shouldn’t buy their own basic supplies, and shouldn’t need a second job to stay afloat. We don’t need more guns in schools either—we need students’ basic needs met: with food, professional counseling services, and a safe and welcoming learning environment for every student, no matter their race, sexual orientation, learning style or ability.
I'm a regular person who wants to see Texas change for the better in the future. I was a HS science teacher & learned in public schools, but I have been homeschooling my two children since 2020. I've been a Type 1 Diabetic since childhood and have witnessed the cost of chronic, "pre-existing" conditions. I've worked in environmental consulting and have a scientific background. I’ve volunteered as a precinct chair and talked to local voters about what they think is important. I have been a member of Moms Demand Action since the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde and have worked to make Texas safer from gun violence since then. I’ve volunteered as editor for our local neighborhood magazine. I have experience being a part of our community.
Teachers & staff should get the pay and respect they deserve as educational professionals. We spend $4000 per student LESS than the nat’l average, ranking Texas 47th in the nation. Teachers shouldn’t need to buy pencils or white-board markers for their classrooms, or need a second job to pay bills. Teachers are trained and educated: we should trust their judgement when it comes to the books they want their students to read or have in their classrooms. Secular, professionally licensed counselors should be the ones talking to and guiding students and I will make that the law again. We don’t need more guns on campuses either—they don’t make anyone safer, as we’ve seen guns left in school bathrooms by adults we thought were responsible.
We need to expand Medicaid in our state, accepting federal dollars that have been left on the table for too long. We have to ensure that doctors want to come to Texas to learn and work, and in order to do that, we need to let doctors actually practice medicine, and not let the government make decisions for their patients. We should have more publicly funded hospitals statewide with patients’ best interests in mind instead of a bottom line. We need to promote preventative medicine like vaccines and annual checkups for every Texan, but especially children to keep our state healthy.
Texas’ population is growing every single year, but our water supply is not. We have to make laws to protect water for our people instead of for data centers. More state money should be put towards infrastructure that protects our water supply from misuse and pollution, and maintains its levels even as we expand our population. The increasing cost of water as demand grows will hurt everyone in Texas—regular people, businesses, and farmers alike. The government should work harder to protect our current fresh water supply instead of imagining we can depend on desalination plants. As the climate changes, water supply in our area will change too. We should prepare for this and figure out how we can adapt now before it’s too late.
First, Texas needs to start with a minimum wage increase, then we can start investing in our state. We will hire Texans to better the infrastructure in our state from roadways and bridges to water infrastructure to beautifying and upgrading our state park system. We should work on increasing our power grid’s reliability and resilience. We should invest in environmental projects that will help us plan for flooding and the extremes that come with a changing climate. We can invest in our hemp farmers and ensure they will have a continuing market in Texas with proper oversight and protections for consumers. But overall, it shouldn’t be about bringing economic opportunities to Texas; we already have them here, we just need to invest!
We must make it easier to register & vote in this state. It should be easy to register to vote online. The Secretary of State should do its job and ensure that every person who applies to register to vote is eligible. Mail-in voting should be allowed & accessible for a variety of reasons, and mail-in ballots should be mailed to eligible voters (like those over 65) automatically for each election. Education about voting should be more widespread. Registration should be allowed on Election Day, especially for voters who have lived in or moved within Texas recently. Harris County’s expanded hours and days of early voting during the 2020 election cycle should be mandated across the state.
district
126
Education
I graduated from Spring High School in 1999, and I got my Associates Degree in Graphic Design from Lone Star College.
Occupation
Veteran and Mom
I am an Air Force Security Forces Veteran, an OIF Veteran, proud mother of two teenage boys, and I have lived in this district since June 2013. I am militantly empathetic. This means that no one is going to be able to negotiate my core beliefs out of me. I know that every Texan deserves life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Aside from that, I am consistently paying attention to politics, and I am fascinated with true history. All of this combined makes me qualified to be a Texas House Representative.
1) Convincing Republicans in the House that Progressive policies are popular. I plan to hold town halls in different areas of the district every month. I want to encourage civic engagement, and charter busses for my constituents to go to Austin to lobby the Texas legislature and tell their stories.
2) Being a Texas State Legislature is not a full time job. I plan to push the issue that it should be a full time job and should pay a livable wage. The way it is now, normal, working class people cannot afford to become a state representative, and current members use this as an excuse to not be available to their constituents. The only reason I am able to run for Texas House is because I am a service connected, disabled veteran.
I wanted to leave Texas. Over the years I have watched as Republicans at the Federal level have slowly taken away our rights and protections. The Republicans in Texas are not doing anything to stop it, nor are the allowing any new laws in Texas to protect us. When Trump got reelected in 2024 I knew what was coming. It was laid out in Project 2025. I was scared to stay in Texas, but decided to stay and fight. I have deep roots here, and I love Houston. As a disabled veteran I knew that I was one of the few Progressive Democrats living in District 126 who could afford to run. I was called to serve again.
We are going to need to put more money into the public school system. I support raising the state's individual contribution for funding each student. This will allow for more teachers and supporting staff, more resources, free breakfast and lunch, and safety measures.
I support a state run, not for profit health insurance plan.
I support making the corporations that are poisoning us to pay their fair share of property taxes. Then we need to regulate how they use water and force them to not pollute it. Also, we must keep water a public resource.
We need to stop privatizing everything and make working for the state of Texas a well paying job with benefits. I also support raising the minimum wage.
We need to make it easier to vote in Texas. I support online registration, and a path to regain voting rights for Texans with criminal records who have completed their punishment.
