Molly Cook, the new pioneer of the Senate

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Molly Cook is Texas’ new historic politician.

When she won a special election in May, she became the first woman to represent Senate District 15, a seat that Houston Mayor John Whitmire held for 40 years. She also became the first member of the LGBTQ community to serve in the Texas Senate. But Cook doesn’t necessarily consider herself a pioneer.

“If that’s the case, then I’m also following the paths that others have blazed before me,” Cook told ABC13, “so I don’t think there’s any accomplishment as a woman, in as an LGBTQ+ member of the community that I can attribute just for myself. I’m truly grateful to the people who came before me and made all of this possible.

She IS the first member of the LGBTQ community in the Texas Senate and the first woman to represent Senate District 15.

“Either way, I have a very strong sense of responsibility for the health and safety of the world around me,” Cook said. “So it’s a real honor to be able to symbolize the kind of progress that we’re actually making here in Houston, in Harris County.”

After winning the special election, which gave him the seat for Whitmire’s unfinished term, Cook then narrowly defeated State Representative Jarvis Johnson for the Democratic nomination. Although she faces Republican Joseph Trahan in November, Senate District 15 is drawn with a Democratic majority.

Among his top priorities is expanding Medicare.

“I want to knock on every door in this state and let people know how much money is on the table,” Cook said. “Let them know that their hospitals could reopen, that they could attract fantastic specialists to their communities.”

Cook is an emergency room nurse. She has a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins and is the only Democratic health care professional in the Senate.

She says she plans to be a voice for those who haven’t been represented before, but she also knows that in a legislature where Republicans hold power, that’s no easy task.

“I think it’s going to be a delicate balance,” Cook said. “And the most important thing is to be really transparent with the district.”

Here again, it is never easy for a pioneer.