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Karthik Soora
Karthik Soora (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Texas State Senate to represent District 15. He lost in the Democratic primary on March 5, 2024.
Soora completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Karthik Soora was born in Americus, Georgia. He earned a bachelor's degree from Rice University in 2011 and a graduate degree from the Yale School of Management in 2018. His career experience includes working as a public school teacher and renewable energy developer.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Texas State Senate District 15
Incumbent Molly Cook defeated Joseph L. Trahan in the general election for Texas State Senate District 15 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Molly Cook (D)  | 61.9 | 200,680 |
 | Joseph L. Trahan (R) | 38.1 | 123,515 | |
| Total votes: 324,195 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary runoff election
Democratic primary runoff for Texas State Senate District 15
Incumbent Molly Cook defeated Jarvis Johnson in the Democratic primary runoff for Texas State Senate District 15 on May 28, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Molly Cook | 50.2 | 9,506 |
 | Jarvis Johnson | 49.8 | 9,444 | |
| Total votes: 18,950 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 15
The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 15 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jarvis Johnson | 36.2 | 17,953 |
| ✔ | | Molly Cook | 20.6 | 10,213 |
 | Todd Litton | 15.8 | 7,859 | |
 | Michelle Bonton | 10.7 | 5,291 | |
 | Alberto Cardenas Jr. | 10.5 | 5,196 | |
 | Karthik Soora | 6.2 | 3,091 | |
| Total votes: 49,603 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 15
Joseph L. Trahan advanced from the Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 15 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Joseph L. Trahan | 100.0 | 23,627 |
| Total votes: 23,627 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign finance
Endorsements
To view Soora's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Soora in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Karthik Soora completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Soora's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Born to Indian immigrant parents, I attended public magnet schools before earning a triple major from Rice University. My career began in education, where I significantly improved academic performance as a chemistry teacher at Houston’s Eastwood Academy. I also co-founded One Jump (now Momentum Education), connecting low-income students with enrichment opportunities.
My candidacy is historic. I aim to be the first minority to represent a majority-minority district, the first Asian American in the Texas State Senate, and the first legislator with a background in clean energy. My campaign refuses corporate PAC money and pledges against serving as a lobbyist, underlining my commitment to integrity and public service. I'm dedicated to advocating for all communities in Houston, embodying strong leadership and community engagement.- Unrigging the System and Standing up to Special Interests
- Making our Democracy Work Again
- Stopping Gun Violence and Fighting for Reproductive Freedom
Banning legislators from serving simultaneously as lobbyists (this should be illegal)
Citizen-led ballot referendums so any Texan can send popular ideas to Austin. Getting citizen-led ballot initiatives into our Constitution will allow us to put ideas like Roe v. Wade and universal-gun background checks on the ballot. This idea failed in 1914 by just 3%. Texas is a different place now, and voters are hungry for change.
passing bold campaign finance reform ($500 limits for individuals as opposed to unlimited donations) to stop billionaires from buying our elections
Increasing funding for the Texas Ethics Commission and stopping politicians from enriching themselves with the public trust
Massively increasing transparency requirements for the legislature
Pushing for some form of reasonable term limits so we can have new voices join the legislature
Enacting Online voter registration so Texas can join the 43 other states that allow for online voter registration
See No Stranger by Valarie Kaur
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
The Nordic theory of everything by Anu Partanen
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee
I read absolutely voraciously.
I think the Governor of Texas and the legislature both have been bought out by special interest money. I think that our challenges with gun violence, public corruption, health-insurance costs, reproductive freedom, comprehensive immigration reform, climate change, democracy, and more are a result of a legislature that has not pushed back on the Governor for the actual popular interests of Texans.
The Immigration and Nationalization Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Affordable Care Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act were compromises that nonetheless pushed the arc of the moral universe forward towards justice. Those compromise pieces of legislation would not have been possible without a mix of activists pushing the Overton window of what was achievable as well as those within the legislature who turned the popular will into legislative text and found the votes to make it pass.
Raj Salhotra, Executive director of Momentum Education and former City Council Member At Large Place 1 candidate.
Staci Childs, Texas State Board of Education District 4
Run For Something
South Asians For America (SAFA)
Rev Leslie Jackson, Senior Pastor and Chair of Deacons at St. Peter United.
LoneStarLeft
Howie Klein
Criminal Justice
Education
Health & Human Services
Natural Resources and Economic Development
State Affairs
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Texas State Senate District 15 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on December 13, 2023
