Tovo previously served on the Austin City Council and as the city’s Mayor Pro Tem.
AUSTIN, Texas — A former Austin City Council member announced Monday her plans to run for the 49th District of the Texas House of Representatives.
Democrat Kathie Tovo is campaigning for the seat currently held by Texas Rep. Gina Hinojosa (D-Austin), who recently announced her run for Texas governor.
“The reason I’m running is simple: The government of Texas is destroying our state’s quality of life by attacking our constitutionally protected public schools, banning books and applying political purity tests to professors and teachers, and attacking the personal right of all Texas who don’t agree with the Republican party,” Tovo said in a statement.
The former Mayor Pro Tem plans to hold a kickoff event towards the end of the year, though an official date has not yet been announced.
Kathie Tovo’s career background
Most recently, Tovo faced three other candidates in the 2024 run for Austin’s mayor, hoping to unseat Kirk Watson.
Before starting her career, Tovo studied at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Texas.
In 2011, she took on a role as an Austin City Council member, where she served in this position for three years. In 2014, she started a roughly 8-year role representing District 9.
Then in 2015, Tovo began a four-year term serving as Austin Mayor Pro Tem.
She also previously lectured at the University of Texas and took on a role with Humanities Texas, an Austin-based nonprofit that helps support classrooms, museums and libraries.