Raquel Saenz Ortiz

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Raquel Saenz Ortiz

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

Colorado College, 2008

Ph.D

Boston College, 2021

Personal

Profession

Assistant professor

Contact

Campaign website

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Personal website

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Raquel Saenz Ortiz (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Texas State Board of Education to represent District 10. She lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

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

Biography

Raquel Saenz Ortiz's professional experience includes working as an assistant professor, school administrator, and school teacher. Saenz Ortiz earned a bachelor's degree from Colorado College in 2008 and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from Boston College in 2021.

Elections

2024

See also: Texas State Board of Education election, 2024

General election

General election for Texas State Board of Education District 10

Incumbent Tom Maynard defeated Raquel Saenz Ortiz in the general election for Texas State Board of Education District 10 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tom Maynard (R)	67.6	594,496
		Raquel Saenz Ortiz (D)	32.4	285,508

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 880,004
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Gerald McAlexander (L)

Republican primary runoff election

Republican primary runoff for Texas State Board of Education District 10

Incumbent Tom Maynard defeated Mary Bone in the Republican primary runoff for Texas State Board of Education District 10 on May 28, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tom Maynard	51.8	24,658
		Mary Bone	48.2	22,924

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2 Source 3	Total votes: 47,582
= 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 Board of Education District 10

Raquel Saenz Ortiz defeated Daniel Caldwell in the Democratic primary for Texas State Board of Education District 10 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Raquel Saenz Ortiz	78.6	35,622
		Daniel Caldwell	21.4	9,703

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 45,325
= 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 Board of Education District 10

Incumbent Tom Maynard and Mary Bone advanced to a runoff. They defeated Daniel Caldwell in the Republican primary for Texas State Board of Education District 10 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tom Maynard	49.3	101,741
✔		Mary Bone	40.5	83,497
		Daniel Caldwell	10.3	21,162

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 206,400
= 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

• Daniel Caldwell (G)

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for Texas State Board of Education District 10

Gerald McAlexander advanced from the Libertarian convention for Texas State Board of Education District 10 on March 23, 2024.

		Candidate
✔	Submit photo	Gerald McAlexander (L)

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

• Daniel Caldwell (L)

Endorsements

Saenz Ortiz received the following endorsements.

• Texas AFL-CIO

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

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

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Dr. Raquel Sáenz Ortiz is an experienced educator and dedicated advocate for quality education in Texas. With over 15 years of experience in the field, she has a deep understanding of the challenges facing our Texas' education system and is committed to finding innovative solutions that will benefit all teachers and students. Her passion for education stems from her own experiences witnessing failures of the education system, as the daughter of Latin American immigrants (from Puerto Rico and México). She began her career as a 6th grade Social Studies teacher in the Rio Grande Valley, across the border from where her father grew up in Reynosa, México. She later taught dual language elementary, high school history, and worked as a guidance counselor. She has developed district wide curriculum, including Ethnic Studies curriculum. She currently teaches pre-service teachers at the college level at Southwestern University. She has a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from Boston College and currently lives in Georgetown, TX with her family.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Representation and inclusivity in instructional materials and state standards
• Supporting teacher agency to make decisions about the instructional materials they use
• Centering critical thinking in all content areas

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am particularly passionate about equity in education. I recognize that Black and Latino students pass the STAAR test at lower rates than their white and Asian counterparts. I am passionate about ensuring that legislation raises teacher salaries to ensure that teachers can fully commit to this work. I also am passionate about legislation that reduces inequity through shifts in school discipline (particularly moves towards restorative justice practices. I am also passionate about ensuring that state content standards and instructional materials promote critical thinking and diverse perspectives.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Teacher - 10 years

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

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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.

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Raquel Saenz Ortiz campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Texas State Board of Education District 10	Lost general	$24,198	$28,517
Grand total			$24,198	$28,517
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

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