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State of the Texas Woman
Election In Texas
Texas 254 Women
Women In Texas Politics
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Women in Texas Politics Timeline
Which women were the “
first
“?
We compiled some of the incredible “firsts” to have occurred for women in Texas politics. Click on each picture to expand.
Nellie Gray Robertson
Nellie Gray Robertson is elected as the first woman county attorney in Texas in 1918. TEST
Elizabeth Howard West
Elizabeth Howard West is named state librarian, becoming the first woman to lead a Texas state agency in 1918.
Annie Webb Blanton
When Annie Webb Blanton became the Superintendent of State Public Instruction, she became the first woman in Texas to win a statewide elective office in 1918.
Edith Wilmans
Dallas attorney Edith Williams becomes the first woman elected to the Texas Legislature in the House of Representatives in 1922.
Miriam "Ma" Ferguson
Miriam “Ma” Ferguson (left) was elected Governor of Texas in 1924, making Texas the second state to elect a woman governor. She later appointed Emma Meharg—the first woman to serve as Secretary of State for Texas.a" Ferguson
Margie Neal
Margie Neal (right) becomes the first woman elected to the Texas Senate in 1926—serving as the only woman until 1946.
Minnie Fisher Cunningham
Minnie Fisher Cunningham is the first Texas women to run for the United States Senate but fails in 1927.
Neveille Colson
State representative Neveille Colson becomes a state senator and the first woman to serve in each chamber of the Texas Legislature in 1946.
Oveta Culp Hobby
Oveta Culp Hobby (left), a native Texan, becomes the first secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare as well as the first director of the Women’s Army Corps under President Eisenhower in 1952.
Norma Zuniga Benavides
Norma Zúñiga Benavides wins a seat on the Laredo school board, possibly the first Latina in Texas elected to public office in 1957.
Hattie Mae White
Hattie Mae White is elected to a Houston area school board and becomes the first African American woman elected in Texas in 1958.
Sarah T. Hughes
State District Judge Sarah T. Hughes is appointed to the federal bench—becoming the first woman in Texas to serve in this role in 1961. Fun fact: Honorable Hughes swore in President L. B. Johnson following the assassination of JFK.
Lera Millard Thomas
Lera Millard Thomas is the first Texas woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She fills the seat of her deceased husband in 1965.
Barbara Jordan
Barbara Jordan becomes the first African-American woman elected to the Texas Legislature, after being elected to the Texas Senate, and the first African-American woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in a southern state in 1966.
Louise Raggio
Dallas attorney Louise Raggio spearheads the reform of property laws to benefit Texas women, leading to the passage of the Married Women's Property Rights Act. For the first time, women can buy and sell their own real property and securities in 1967.
Wilhelmina Delco
Wilhelmina Delco becomes the first African-American to be elected in Austin, Texas when she wins a seat on the local school board in 1968.
Anita Martinez
Anita Martínez becomes the first Hispanic woman elected to a city council in Texas when she earns a spot on the Dallas City Council in 1969.
Lila Cockrell
Lila Cockrell of San Antonio becomes the first woman elected mayor of a large city in Texas in 1975.
Gabrielle Kirk McDonald
Hailing from Houston, Gabrielle Kirk McDonald becomes the first African-American woman to serve as a federal judge in Texas and the third in the U.S. in 1979.
Kathlyn Joy Gilliam
Kathlyn Gilliam becomes the first woman and first African-American elected to the Dallas ISD School Board in 1979.
Kathy Whitmire
Kathy Whitmire (above left) is elected as the first woman to serve as Mayor of Houston in 1981.
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O’Connor, originally from El Paso, becomes the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court in 1981.
Ann Richards
Ann Richards is elected as State Treasurer, the first woman to do so in Texas and the first woman to win statewide office in over fifty years as of 1982. She will go on to be elected as Governor of Texas, one of only two women to ever do so.
Ruby Kless Sondock
Ruby Kless Sondock becomes the first woman justice to serve on the Texas Supreme Court in 1982 after serving as a district judge in Houston.
Kay Bailey Hutchinson
After serving in the Texas House of Representatives, Kay Bailey Hutchinson is elected as State Treasurer—becoming the first Republican woman elected to statewide office in Texas in 1990. She would go on to win a special election for a U.S. Senate seat, becoming the first woman to do so in Texas.
Judith Zaffirini
Judith Zaffirini, representing Laredo, becomes the first Hispanic woman elected to the Texas Senate in 1986.
Annette Strauss
Annette Strauss is elected as the first woman to serve as Mayor of Dallas in 1987.
Carolyn Wright
Dallas district judge Carolyn Wright is sworn in as the first African-American woman to serve on the Texas Fifth Court of Appeals in 1995.
Hilda Tagle
Hilda Tagle, a former state district judge, is nominated by President Clinton to serve in the federal Southern District of Texas—becoming the first Hispanic woman to do so in 1997.
Susan Combs
Susan Combs became the first woman to serve as Commissioner of Agriculture for the State of Texas in 1999.
Harriet O'Neill
Harriet O'Neill was the longest-serving justice that is a woman on the Supreme Court of Texas. She was also the first temporary Chief Justice when presiding over a case where the sitting CJ recused themself.
Nandita Berry
Nandita Berry was the first Indian-American appointed to serve as Secretary of State in 2014.
Texas LGBT Caucus
In 2018, the Texas Legislature formed its first LGBT Caucus, dedicated to active representation of the LGBT community in the policy making process.
Miriam "Ma" Ferguson
Miriam “Ma” Ferguson (left) was elected Governor of Texas in 1924, making Texas the second state to elect a woman governor. She later appointed Emma Meharg—the first woman to serve as Secretary of State for Texas.
Beth Van Duyne
Texans elected Beth Van Duyne (R) in 2020—the first new Republican woman in 24 years to represent Texas in the United States Congress. She ran in one of the most expensive and resource-driven congressional races to date.
Jane Bland
Texas Supreme Court Justice Jane Bland (R) secured more votes in the November 2020 election than any other candidate in Texas history. Bland secured 6.5 million votes, breaking 55% of all votes in an increasingly competitive state. She secured 87,551 more votes than U.S. Senator John Cornyn.
Know a history-making woman we should include?
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