Our Favorite Progressive Candidates in 2024 - Molly Cook, Texas State Senate District 15

As we get further into election season, the races are starting to heat up! This week we are profiling Molly Cook (she/her), a bisexual millennial ER nurse who is the latest addition to the Texas State Senate. On May 4, Molly won a special election in District 15 to fill an open seat left by the departure of John Whitmire to take over the mayorship of Houston. While she is locked in for the remainder of the term (which ends on January 14, 2025), Molly is having another election on May 28 — this time the Democratic primary runoff for the general election (on November 5) of the next term of District 15, where she is facing the same candidate who she defeated in the special election.

Molly is a woman of many talents! Before becoming a RN and earning her Master’s in Public Health Policy from Johns Hopkins University, Molly studied music performance at the University of Texas at Austin as a harpist. As an ER nurse, Molly has witnessed the fallout of gun violence on a regular basis. This drove her to advocate for firearm safety reforms and volunteer with Moms Demand Action. Molly has also been an organizer with the grassroots organization Stop TxDOT I-45 since July of 2019. Through this advocacy, Molly fights for climate justice, reducing pollution and cleaning up our air, flood resiliency, historic preservation, racial justice, and economic justice.

Where are you based?
I am based in Harris County in Texas (Houston).

What is your current position and what position are you running for?
I am an Emergency room nurse and community organizer. I am running for TX Senate Senate District 15.

How would you briefly summarize your platform?
I am running to be the only Democratic medical professional in the Texas Senate, a voice that is missing and sorely needed. I will bring nursing leadership and grassroots organizing into every fight that matters to us. Medicaid expansion, ending gun violence, fully funding our public schools, transportation safety, environmental justice, and access to abortion and reproductive healthcare are issues that are core to my platform.

What inspired you to run?
I am tired of watching policy failures play out time and time again in my patient's lives in the emergency department. My nursing practice is the foundation of my organizing work and my public service is an extension of my nursing practice.

What change are you hoping to bring to your district and country?
For Democrats in Texas, the most foundational change that we need is increasing the turnout at the polls. I also want to bolster statewide organizing to turn out Democratic voters and shift power to the working people of Texas.

What do you consider your major accomplishments so far?
Major accomplishments I have achieved in my life so far are being a big sister, earning my nursing license, passing proposition B (citizen driven ballot initiative campaign), holding off a highway expansion, helping to pass HB 2071 to protect affordable housing and save Harris County billions of dollars in property tax loss, and making it into the runoff for Texas Senate District 15 this year.

What do you feel are the most important issues right now, why, and how do you plan to tackle them?
This is a question that I get asked a lot, and the reality is there are a lot of important issues right now in Texas. The issues that I hear about most consistently when talking to voters are low voter turnout, the abortion ban, the state takeover of the Houston Independent School District, and gun violence. We will move the needle on each one by focusing on the issues and organizing year round.

America is very divided these days. How would you hope to bridge that divide with your constituents to better unite Americans?
Nurses are the most trusted profession, and I will be a steady, credible voice for the data driven policies. From transportation advocacy to passing HB 2071 last session, my body of work is entirely multi-partisan. I am committed to transparent governance with my constituents. We will decide together when it is time to compromise and when it is time to take a stand.

How do you see your unique identity and background to be an asset to you in office?
If elected, I will be honored to bring the perspective of a public health expert, a community organizer, and nurse into the Texas Senate to protect the rights of working Texans. Texas needs a champion who is willing to put in the work to defend such basic rights as the right to reproductive healthcare. I have advocated for safe, stigma-free abortion access for years. I had an abortion in 2014, and the fight to restore our rights is personal for me and my patients.

What is your motto in life?
Do the right work the right way for the right reasons.

Where can we find out more about you?
The website is mollyfortexas.com, and I am on social media at mollyfortexas, across all platforms.