Texas Senate, District 15

District 15 of the Texas Senate is a senatorial district that currently serves a portion of Harris county in the U.S. state of Texas.^[1]

Texas's 15th State Senate district
Senator	Molly Cook D–Houston
Demographics	25.5% White 24.2% Black 44.8% Hispanic 5.8% Asian
Population	911,767

The current senator from District 15 is Molly Cook. Cook was elected in a special election to succeed John Whitmire, who resigned on December 31, 2023, to take office as the mayor of Houston.^[2][3]

Top 4 biggest cities in district

District 15 has a population of 793,108 with 574,255 that is at voting age from the 2010 census.^[4]

	Name	County	Pop.[5][a]
1	Houston	Harris	392,976
2	Baytown		29,778
3	Humble		14,810
4	Jacinto City		2,757

Election history

Election history of District 27 from 1992.^[b]

2024

Changes with 2022.

Texas general election, 2024: Senate District 15^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Molly Cook	200,680	61.90	−3.43
	Republican	Joseph L. Trahan	123,515	38.10	+3.43
Turnout			324,195
	Democratic hold		Swing

2024 (special)

2024 Texas Senate District 15 special election - 4 May 2024^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Molly Cook	9,370	57.06
	Democratic	Jarvis Johnson	7,052	42.94
Majority			2,318	14.12
Turnout			16,422
	Democratic hold

2022

Texas general election, 2022: Senate District 15^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Whitmire	159,125	65.33	+0.15
	Republican	George Brian Vachris	84,437	34.67	+2.50
Turnout			243,562
	Democratic hold

2018

Texas general election, 2018: Senate District 15^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Whitmire	153,016	65.18	+6.01
	Republican	Randy Orr	75,518	32.17	−6.31
	Libertarian	Gilberto "Gil" Velasquez, Jr.	6,229	2.65	+0.30
Turnout			234,763
	Democratic hold

2014

Texas general election, 2014: Senate District 15^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Whitmire	74,192	59.17	−3.17
	Republican	Ron Hale	48,249	38.48	+0.72
	Libertarian	Gilberto Velasquez, Jr.	2,947	2.35	+2.35
Majority			25,943	20.69	−3.99
Turnout			125,388		−42.45
	Democratic hold

2012

Texas general election, 2012: Senate District 15^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Whitmire	135,822	62.34	+3.06
	Republican	Bill Walker	82,038	37.66	−3.06
Majority			53,784	24.68	+6.12
Turnout			217,860		+67.51
	Democratic hold

2010

Texas general election, 2010: Senate District 15^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Whitmire	77,096	59.28	−3.73
	Republican	Bill Walker	52,959	40.72	+3.73
Majority			24,137	18.56	−7.46
Turnout			130,055		+44.05
	Democratic hold

2006

Texas general election, 2006: Senate District 15^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Whitmire	56,884	63.01	+2.64
	Republican	Angel DeLaRosa	33,396	36.99	−2.64
Majority			23,488	26.02	+5.28
Turnout			90,280		−12.74
	Democratic hold

2002

Texas general election, 2002: Senate District 15^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Whitmire	62,458	60.37	−4.69
	Republican	Michael P. Wolfe	41,003	39.63	+4.69
Majority			21,455	20.71	−9.38
Turnout			103,461		−29.76
	Democratic hold

Republican Party Primary Election, 2002: Senate District 15^[15]

Candidate		Votes	%	±
✓	Michael P. Wolfe	8,314	83.04
	Sam Texas	1,698	16.96
Turnout		12,713

2000

Texas general election, 2000: Senate District 15^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Whitmire	95,826	65.06	+3.01
	Republican	Warren A. Lawless	51,465	34.94	−3.01
Majority			44,361	30.12	+6.02
Turnout			147,291		+12.65
	Democratic hold

1996

Texas general election, 1996: Senate District 15^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Whitmire	81,134	62.05	−37.95
	Republican	Tom Kelly	49,619	37.95	+37.95
Majority			31,515	24.10	−75.90
Turnout			130,753		+97.09
	Democratic hold

Republican Party Primary Election, 1992: Senate District 15^[18]

Candidate		Votes	%	±
✓	Tom Kelly	8,608	67.71
	David D. Schein	4,105	32.29
Turnout		12,713

1994

Texas general election, 1994: Senate District 15^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Whitmire	66,341	100.00	+30.12
Majority			66,341	100.00	+55.79
Turnout			66,341		−33.62
	Democratic hold

1992

Texas general election, 1992: Senate District 15^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Whitmire	69,844	69.88
	Republican	Thomas V. Kelly	25,660	25.67
	Libertarian	George Hollenback	4,438	4.44
Majority			44,184	44.21
Turnout			99,942
	Democratic hold

Democratic Party Primary Runoff Election, 1992: Senate District 15^[21]

Candidate		Votes	%	±
✓	John Whitmire	16,938	52.39
	Roman O. Martinez	15,390	47.61
Turnout		32,328

Democratic Party Primary Election, 1992: Senate District 15^[22]

Candidate		Votes	%	±
✓	Roman O. Martinez	15,575	48.87
✓	John Whitmire	14,707	46.14
	David Alley	1,587	4.97
Turnout		31,869

District officeholders

Legislature	Senator, District 15	Counties in District
1	Edward Burleson	Bastrop, Travis.
2
3	Wilds K. Cooke	Brazos, Leon, Limestone, Navarro, Robertson.
4	Jesse Grimes	Grimes, Montgomery, Walker.
5	William C. Edwards	Jasper, Newton, Sabine, San Augustine.
6	James M. Burroughs
7
8	Franklin Barlow Sexton Henry C. Wallace
9	J. J. Dickson William D. Lair	Collin, Grayson.
10	James W. Throckmorton
11	John K. Bumpass
12	John S. Mills	Grimes, Madison, Walker.
13	Edward T. Randle
14		Grimes, Madison, San Jacinto, Walker.
15	Thomas J. McCulloch	Brazos, Leon, Robertson.
16
17	John Nathaniel Henderson
18	Lochlin Johnson Farrar	Freestone, Limestone, Navarro.
19
20	Eldred James Simkins
21
22
23	William P. McComb	Grimes, Leon, Madison, Montgomery, Polk, San Jacinto, Walker.
24
25	George D. Neal
26
27
28	Alfred W. Morris
29	McDonald J. Meachum
30
31
32
33	Clinton W. Nugent
34
35	William L. Dean
36
37	Henry L. Lewis
38
39	Gus Russek	Austin, Colorado, Fayette, Lavaca, Waller.
40
41
42
43
44	Louis J. Sulak
45
46
47
48
49
50	Gus J. Strauss
51
52
53		Austin, Colorado, Fayette, Lavaca, Lee, Waller, Wharton.
54
55	Culp Krueger
56
57
58		Austin, Colorado, Fayette, Lavaca, Matagorda, Washington, Wharton.
59
60	Henry Grover	Portion of Harris.
61
62
63	Jack C. Ogg
64
65
66
67
68	John Whitmire
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88	John Whitmire Molly Cook
89	Molly Cook

Notes

1. Population is based on the number of people in the district in that city, not the overall population of that city
2. Uncontested primary elections are not shown.