Montserrat Garibay is hoping to succeed Gina Hinojosa for the Texas House District 49 seat on Nov. 3. Her only competition is Arshia Papari, a 22-year-old University of Texas at Austin undergraduate student.
Papari has raised less than 1% of Garibay’s campaign contributions.
The district includes a large swath of Central and North Austin. Hinojosa, who has held the seat for about a decade after winning in the 2016 general election, is running against Greg Abbott for governor of Texas.
Garibay won the Democratic primary in a runoff with 62% of the vote against Kathie Tovo.
Papari is running under the Green Party. The Republican Party did not field a candidate for the race.
Garibay said she’s now looking ahead.
“In terms of the campaign, yes, that part is over,” Garibay said in an interview with KUT News, “but I think a bigger challenge starts now. Of course, we’re waiting for the Nov. 3 election and see how many Democrats we’re going to be able to elect, because that can potentially change the dynamics and how much leverage we will have.”
Montserrat Garibay, center, celebrates her lead against Kathie Tovo during the Democratic primary runoff.
Garibay graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with an undergraduate and master’s degree in education, according to her LinkedIn, and she is now pursuing a PhD in curriculum and instruction from Kansas State University.
She has spent over 20 years in education and advocacy, including time with the U.S. Department of Education serving as assistant deputy secretary and director for the Office of English Language Acquisition. Her main focus now is drafting bills to deliver on her campaign promises, specifically on implementing more requirements for private school vouchers and making sure public schools are well funded.
She said there would need to be more qualifications for the vouchers, like having the teachers be certified to teach students with disabilities and emergent bilinguals.
“If those private schools are gonna get these vouchers,” Garibay said, “then we need to make sure that they have those resources for the people that need it the most. And right now, that’s something that we’re not seeing.”
She also campaigned on creating down payment programs for new homeowners, investing in public transit and expanding Medicaid.
She’s been reaching out to current and former state legislators for advice, studying state Legislature procedures and picking her Texas House team, like a chief of staff.
Garibay has raised about $525,000, according to the Texas Ethics Commission website. Her opponent, Papari, has raised $4,300 as of Oct. 5. The majority of her contributions, 56%, came from individuals.
Garibay’s top three donors were all education-related political action committees. The National Education Association, Texas American Federation of Teachers and Education Austin donated a total of $75,000.
Arshia Papari chants during a protest against ICE on the UT Austin campus in February 2025.
Papari, the Green Party candidate, is finishing his degree in government at UT Austin in May 2027, according to his LinkedIn. Papari said he used to be affiliated with the Democratic Party, even going to the Democratic National Convention in 2024 as a delegate, but became disillusioned after he felt the party was not doing enough for the ceasefire in Gaza.
“I’ve already been sort of ostracized from most of the establishment folks,” Papari said in an interview with KUT News, “and pretty much all of the establishment folks, that would be donors, right? It’s really hard to find donors who can heavily fund something that goes against their own class interest.”
Papari described himself as anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, and pro-human rights and said he strongly opposes the war in Gaza.
In order to grab people’s attention, he’s created a unique brand for himself. Papari wears a large, eggshell white cowboy hat, a plum purple suit with a pocket square and uses an Eldredge knot with his ties. Papari also has a Salvador Dali-esque mustache, which he said came naturally through his appreciation for thick mustaches.
“It was very much so, at the early point, an adaptive method for success in legislative testimony,” he said, “which I hope to not be like that anymore at some point. But, unfortunately we still have a lot of folks that really could care less about student voices and I’ve seen a lot of success with wearing more formal attire in those situations.”
Papari’s platform focuses on freezing rents, taking corporate power and money out of elections, protecting student free speech and implementing universal childcare.
Election Day is on Nov. 3. Early voting runs from Oct. 19 to Oct. 30.