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Molly Cook

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Molly Cook
Image of Molly Cook

Democratic Party

Texas State Senate District 15
Tenure

2024 - Present

Term ends

2029

Years in position

1

Predecessor

Compensation

Base salary

$7,200/year

Per diem

$221/day

Elections and appointments
Last elected

November 5, 2024

Education

High school

College Park High School

Bachelor's

University of Texas at Austin, 2013

Graduate

Johns Hopkins University

Personal
Birthplace
Houston, Texas
Profession
Nurse
Contact

Official website

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Campaign YouTube

Personal LinkedIn

Molly Cook (Democratic Party) is a member of the Texas State Senate, representing District 15. She assumed office on May 16, 2024. Her current term ends on January 9, 2029.

Cook (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Texas State Senate to represent District 15. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Cook also ran in a special election to the Texas State Senate to represent District 15. She won in the special general election on May 4, 2024.

Cook completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Molly Cook was born in Houston, Texas. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 2013. She earned a graduate degree from the Johns Hopkins University Schools of Nursing and Public Health in 2018. Cook's career experience includes working in nursing. She has been affiliated with Stop TxDOT I-45, Doctors for Change, and the Emergency Nurses Association.[1]

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2024

Regular election

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
✔
Image of Molly Cook
Molly Cook (D) Candidate Connection
 
61.9
 
200,680
Image of Joseph L. Trahan
Joseph L. Trahan (R) Candidate Connection
 
38.1
 
123,515

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 324,195
Candidate Connection = 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
✔
Image of Molly Cook
Molly Cook Candidate Connection
 
50.2
 
9,506
Image of Jarvis Johnson
Jarvis Johnson Candidate Connection
 
49.8
 
9,444

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 18,950
Candidate Connection = 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
✔
Image of Jarvis Johnson
Jarvis Johnson Candidate Connection
 
36.2
 
17,953
✔
Image of Molly Cook
Molly Cook Candidate Connection
 
20.6
 
10,213
Image of Todd Litton
Todd Litton Candidate Connection
 
15.8
 
7,859
Image of Michelle Bonton
Michelle Bonton
 
10.7
 
5,291
Image of Alberto Cardenas Jr.
Alberto Cardenas Jr. Candidate Connection
 
10.5
 
5,196
Image of Karthik Soora
Karthik Soora Candidate Connection
 
6.2
 
3,091

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 49,603
Candidate Connection = 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
✔
Image of Joseph L. Trahan
Joseph L. Trahan Candidate Connection
 
100.0
 
23,627

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 23,627
Candidate Connection = 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

Cook received the following endorsements.


Special election

See also: Texas state legislative special elections, 2024

General election
Special general election for Texas State Senate District 15

Molly Cook defeated Jarvis Johnson in the special general election for Texas State Senate District 15 on May 4, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Molly Cook
Molly Cook (D)
 
57.1
 
9,370
Image of Jarvis Johnson
Jarvis Johnson (D)
 
42.9
 
7,052

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 16,422
Candidate Connection = 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Cook in this election.

2022

See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2022

General election

General election for Texas State Senate District 15

Incumbent John Whitmire defeated George Vachris in the general election for Texas State Senate District 15 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of John Whitmire
John Whitmire (D)
 
65.3
 
159,125
Image of George Vachris
George Vachris (R)
 
34.7
 
84,437

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 243,562
Candidate Connection = 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

Incumbent John Whitmire defeated Molly Cook in the Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 15 on March 1, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of John Whitmire
John Whitmire
 
58.4
 
26,286
Image of Molly Cook
Molly Cook Candidate Connection
 
41.6
 
18,695

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 44,981
Candidate Connection = 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

George Vachris advanced from the Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 15 on March 1, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of George Vachris
George Vachris
 
100.0
 
23,261

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 23,261
Candidate Connection = 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


Campaign themes

2024

Special election

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Molly Cook did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

Regular election

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia
Released February 5, 2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Molly Cook completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cook's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

My name is Molly Cook. I use she/her pronouns, I am an emergency room nurse, community organizer, and Democrat. I have a masters degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. I have been a nurse for ten years, and that is the basis of my organizing and policy advocacy work. I had a procedural abortion in 2014, and I am thankful to share my story and fight for scientific medical care in Texas and the rights of every person seeking the healthcare they need. I am a leader of the movement to stop the widening of I-45 and invest in sustainable, equitable transportation, I co-led the Yes on Prop B Fair for Houston campaign to establish fair representation on the Houston-Galveston Area Council, and in 2023, I piloted a legislative agenda program for Democrats in SD 15. I built relationships with Democrats and Republicans to help pass HB 2071, which is bipartisan legislation to protect affordable housing and save Harris County billions of dollars, and I also advocated for safer transportation, environmental justice, racial and economic justice, and LGBTQ+ rights. As a Senator, I will work year-round to organize SD 15. I ran for this seat in 2022, got 42% of the Democratic primary votes, and never stopped running for it. From Medicaid expansion to common sense firearm safety reform to protecting public education, I will bring nursing leadership, public health, and grassroots organizing into every room and every policy issue fight.
  • Grassroots organizing For years, I have been building local organizing capacity in Houston and Harris County, knocking on doors in our district, and educating and supporting Democrats in navigating the Legislature to make their voices heard. For many of the policy issue fights that matter most to Texans, grassroots organizing is the missing piece. I want to build capacity and care for our district with the institutional support that comes with elected office.
  • Public Health I am highly-trained in public health policy analysis and policy advocacy. No matter the committee, no matter the issue, I will bring public health expertise and a data-driven approach to move the needle and save lives.
  • Nursing leadership Nurses are the most trusted profession year after year for a reason. Nurses are effective communicators, regardless of party. I provide the gold standard of care to every patient who checks into my emergency department, regardless of their ability to pay. I work seamlessly with the team in the ER, regardless of their ideology or party affiliation. SD 15 deserves the service of a nurse who has her hand on the pulse of what causes suffering, brings healing, and keeps us healthy and safe.
I am passionate about saving lives and improving public health and public safety for all Texans. I have spent years advocating for multi-modal transportation, healthcare access, fair housing, racial justice, protection of green spaces, historical preservation, LGBTQ+ rights, air quality, and more.
I am genuine, trustworthy, and relentless. As a nurse and experienced community organizer, I am a strong advocate, thoughtful decision-maker, and clear communicator. Nurses understand difficult decision-making, high stakes, compassion, and empathy, and have unparalleled listening skills. All of these will help me to be an exceptional public servant.
The most important characteristic for an elected public servant is honesty. If you cannot trust someone, you cannot work with them. The most important principle is bottom-up planning. Centering the most affected communities and seeking diversity in decision-making bodies yields the best possible outcomes.
I am not interested in my legacy. I am interested in being useful to my district and saving lives.
Adrienne Maree Brown’s book Emergent Strategy changed my life, how I view myself and the world, and how I organize. I admire her philosophy of centering affected voices, trusting people to be experts of their own experiences, and being fully values-driven. Her vision of leadership as love and servitude is inspiring and feels authentic to me.
An ideal relationship between governor and sate legislature should have tension but not be contentious.
All of Texas's greatest challenges stem from the State's top-down approach to policy, project, and program development. It is a difficulty state for working people to engage in policy, and many populations are woefully underrepresented in decision-making bodies. Our greatest challenge as leaders is to create access and build engagement and capacity across the entire state to bring the true will of the people to life.
All of life and all of problem-solving is driven by relationships. Yes. But it is equally (if not more) important to build and maintain relationships with folks who are most affected by the outcomes of decision-making.
I have no plans to currently. I will go wherever I can be useful.
Organizations:

Able Dems
Annie’s List
Area 5 Democrats
Avow
Greater Heights Democrats
Harris County Young Democrats
Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus
LPAC
NAKASEC Texas Chapter
Our Revolution Harris County
Texas Democrats with Disabilities
Texas Organizing Project
Victory Fund

Elected Officials:
Houston Council Member Tarsha Jackson
Former Houston Council Member Robert Gallegos
Pasadena ISD Trustee Crystal Davila

El Paso County Commissioner David Stout

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.

2022

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia
Released December 13, 2021

Candidate Connection

Molly Cook completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cook's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Molly Cook, RN (she/her) is a sixth generation Texas born and raised in the Houston area. She earned a Bachelors of Science in nursing from the University of Texas at Austin; she worked for a year on a general medical floor before moving to Houston to achieve her dream of becoming an emergency nurse. After three years of caring for medically complex patients, who suffer from chronic illnesses and lifelong injuries, Molly moved to Baltimore, Maryland to study health policy at Johns Hopkins University Schools of Nursing and Public Health. Armed with her masters and experience working in healthcare delivery reform, consumer protection, community health programming, and policy advocacy, Molly moved back home to work in home-health nursing while volunteering for the Beto for Texas campaign. Since then, Molly returned to the ER and also began organizing for equitable, sustainable transportation in Texas with Stop TxDOT I-45. Her experiences in transportation advocacy showed her the power of local and State level public office, inspiring her to run for Texas State Senate. In addition to her work in the ER, public safety, and public health, Molly plays the harp, teaches yoga, and takes care of her senior chihuahua.
  • I am running to represent the people of Texas Senate District 15 as their state senator because I believe the challenges of the next legislative session are too important to leave in the hands of someone more focused on their next political office than their district. Fixing our critical infrastructure, health care delivery reform, multi-billion dollar transportation decisions, and public safety all require singular focus and a new perspective. As an emergency nurse, I see how our legislative mistakes cost people their health, happiness, and sometimes their lives. Complacent leaders making decisions in service of their own political preservation instead of the lived reality of their constituents is the reason our problems persist.
  • I will advocate for better equity and bottom up planning related to large scale infrastructure projects, housing affordability (rent and home ownership), and urban development. I have seen firsthand from my work in transportation advocacy that housing/transportation/economic development are the bread and butter of state and local politics that impact quality of life. I want to focus on preventing crime before it starts, clean up the air, water, and soil by holding corporate polluters accountable to existing laws, and expand access to healthcare for low-income folks and middle-class earners who still struggle to afford insurance.
  • My focus as a candidate and as an elected public servant will be Public Health and Public Safety. Issues that came up repeatedly in the 87th Leg session and subsequent special sessions like stabilizing the power grid, voting rights, abortion access, protection for the LGBTQ+ community (especially our trans neighbors), providing quality affordable education to all kids, and decriminilaizing cannabis and poverty are all important to me, and addressing these issues will improve health outcomes across the state and especially for folks who need it most.
Urban development, affordable housing, transportation, healthcare access, public health, environmental justice, climate justice, criminal/legal, consumer protection, data privacy, abortion and reproductive rights, anti-discrimination, parks and green spaces, historical preservation, voting rights and voting access, education, workers' rights, data privacy, broadband access and public wifi
Adrienne Maree Brown. Her book Emergent Strategy changed my life, how I view myself and the world, and how I organize. I admire her philosophy of centering affected voices, trusting people to be experts of their own experiences, and being fully values-driven. Her vision of leadership as love and servitude is inspiring and feels authentic to me.
The most important characteristic for an elected public servant is honesty. If you cannot trust someone, you cannot work with them. the most important principle is bottom-up planning. Centering the most affected communities and seeking diversity in decision making bodies yields the best possible outcomes.
I am genuine, trustworthy, and relentless. As a nurse and experienced community organizer, I am a strong advocate, thoughtful decision-maker, and clear communicator. Nurses understand difficult decision making, high stakes, compassion and empathy, and have unparalleled listening skills. All of these will help me to be an exceptional public servant.
I am not interested in my legacy. I would be fine dying in obscurity, given the opportunity. I want people to be healthy and safe, and I want things to be fair.
The Power Broker or The People's History of the United States of America. They turned my worldview upside down and taught me to question everything I've known. I am better for having read both of them.
I was sexually abused as a young child, and that taught me the reality of struggle. It also gave me empathy. More recently, I have struggled to stop the widening of a major freeway in Houston. That has been a daily fight for over two years for me. It is a a joyful honor, but it is a struggle.
An ideal relationship between governor and sate legislature should have tension but not be contentious.
All of Texas's greatest challenges stem from the State's top-down approach to policy, project, and program development. It is a difficulty state for working people to engage in policy, and many populations are woefully underrepresented in decision-making bodies. Our greatest challenge as leaders is to create access and build engagement and capacity across the entire state to bring the true will of the people to life.
Experience is helpful, of course, but what state governments typically lack is the experiential expertise of their constituency. If every single person who works in a state legislature is an attorney who has spent their career in politics, that will not produce good outcomes. Diversity in every sense of the word produces best outcomes. Sometimes, a politically inexperienced candidate can bring the fresh perspective or the values that are missing.
All of life and all of problem-solving is driven by relationships. Yes. But is equally (if not more) important to build and maintain relationships with folks who are most affected by the outcomes of decision making.
Bottom-up planning. New maps should be coming directly from the constituency through a process of community consensus.
I love working on transportation. Transportation is bread and butter for communities. People feel the direct results, and there is so much opportunity to undo past patterns of oppression and disinvestment.
I have no plans to currently. I will go wherever I can be useful.
I believe that compromise can be necessary. Sometimes, on issues related to human or civil-rights, compromise is unacceptable. I also believe that win-win-wins are possible. Regardless, policy development (like project and program development) must be bottom-up. Compromises should be made by and for the people most affected by the outcomes of the decision being made, not by the few in power.

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.

Molly Cook campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024* Texas State Senate District 15Won general$1,252,084 $1,060,813
2022Texas State Senate District 15Lost primary$163,715 $124,903
Grand total$1,415,799 $1,185,716
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Texas

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Texas scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.















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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on January 9, 2022

    Political offices
    Preceded by
    John Whitmire (D)     		Texas State Senate District 15
    2024-Present    		 Succeeded by
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