Last weekend, emergency room nurse and community organizer Molly Cook won a special election for Senate District 15 to serve the remaining seven months of John Whitmire’s term, who became Houston mayor after holding the seat for over 40 years. In a very low-turnout affair with 3 percent of registered voters casting ballots, Cook beat state Representative Jarvis Johnson by 14 percentage points. The win could give her a needed boost as she faces off against Johnson, the frontrunner, in the May 28 runoff for a full four-year term. The Texas Observer met with newly elected Senator Cook to learn about her plans heading to the runoff and her vision for serving Texans.
You trailed Johnson in the March primary, but then led him by 14 percentage points winning this special election to fill Whitmire’s seat. What do you take away as the reason for this gain? How will you use this heading into the May 28 runoff?
Every race is different. We knew that going from a six-way primary to a head-to-head special election is a completely different dynamic. It’s a huge compliment to my team, my campaign manager, and his strategy and skills that we were able to successfully navigate each one. Our plan has really been to take these races separately and together at the same time, and we’ll take the success and momentum that we’ve built from the last two races and just continue to push it over the edge for the runoff election. And we’re in a really strong position so it’s exciting to just get to hammer home the message and continue knocking on doors and making phone calls.
