WASHINGTON \u2014 Since it joined the Union, Texas has sent just five Republican women to the U.S. House. Next year, there could be four at once.<\/p>\n
That would be a high-water mark for the Lone Star State, which has more Republicans in Congress\u2019 lower chamber than any other state, yet has continued to send mostly GOP men to Washington as the ranks of Republican women have grown elsewhere in recent years.<\/p>\n
But that could change this November, thanks to Texas\u2019 new congressional map and a wave of retirements, which helped make way for two Republican nominees in the Houston area \u2014 Alex Mealer and Jessica Steinmann \u2014 who are favored to win their red-leaning districts. They were among the 31 Republican women who filed for a U.S. House seat in Texas this cycle, outnumbered 4-to-1 by the 124 male candidates in the GOP primaries.<\/p>\n
Also emerging from those contests were incumbent Reps. Monica De La Cruz<\/a>, R-Edinburg, and Beth Van Duyne<\/a>, R-Irving. But that cohort still has to make it through the general election, when De La Cruz will be defending one of Texas\u2019 most competitive congressional seats. And while Mealer is running in a newly drawn district that President Donald Trump carried by 20 points in the 2024 presidential race, Democrats also see an outside shot of competing for her Hispanic-majority district if a blue wave lands this fall.<\/p>\n Two other GOP women, Martha Fierro and Lauren Pena, secured nominations in heavily Democratic districts that are generally seen as out of reach for Republicans.<\/p>\n The tough fight ahead for De La Cruz is one example of why groups like Winning for Women have focused their recent efforts on safer districts like those of Mealer and Steinmann, both of whom are backed by the organization.<\/p>\n Winning for Women, which operates a super PAC and a nonprofit arm, provides financial and mentorship support for female GOP candidates. They spent more than $300,000 on Steinmann\u2019s campaign and over $450,000 on Mealer\u2019s, contributing to a total $48 million raised and spent since the 2020 cycle, working to reverse the fallout from the prior midterms, when the number of Republican women in the House cratered to 13, a low point this century. Since then, Winning for Women and other like-minded groups have helped shepherd more than 30 Republican women in Congress.<\/p>\n Winning for Women President Danielle Barrow said her group made a deliberate choice to move away from battleground districts \u2014 and this year, Texas offered an opening to continue that approach.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving women serve in those battleground seats means it\u2019s more difficult for them to really grow in seniority and build leadership if they\u2019re constantly running to just save their seat every two years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The pivot traces back to Mayra Flores, the former Republican congresswoman who won a June 2022 special election for a South Texas congressional district only to lose the seat five months later to Democrat Vicente Gonzalez<\/a>. It was a reminder of how fragile any such gains have been since Kay Granger became the first Republican woman to represent Texas in Congress in 1997. It wasn\u2019t until Flores\u2019 election 25 years later that the number would grow to three in the House.<\/p>\n Mealer said the push for more GOP women is about securing seats at the table for voices like hers and Steinmann\u2019s that she argues are underrepresented in the current Republican conference.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about being a mom with young kids \u2014 it\u2019s a different set of issues, generically, much more focused on basic kitchen table issues, and I think a little bit more of an emphasis on trying to get something accomplished,\u201d she said, noting that Steinmann is also a mother.<\/p>\n Mealer credited her candidacy to generational turnover in the Texas delegation, made possible in part by last summer\u2019s redistricting that forced some members to retire or run in different districts \u2014 as was the case with U.S. Rep. Al Green<\/a>, a Houston Democrat whose district was dismantled to make way for the new seat Mealer is seeking. <\/p>\n Green\u2019s district was one of the five Texas Republicans approved redrew to be more favorable for the GOP in its new congressional map.<\/p>\n Mealer said the wave of departures, which also included retirements unrelated to redistricting, opened the door for more young parents like herself to run. Steinmann\u2019s district opened up through one of the voluntary retirements, with U.S. Rep. Morgan Luttrell<\/a>, R-Magnolia, deciding not to seek election after just two terms in the solidly Republican seat anchored north of Houston.<\/p>\n Even as Winning for Women tries to increase the number of GOP women in Congress, Barrow said her group is careful not to flatten its candidates into a single mold just because they share the same gender.<\/p>\n \u201cThey each bring their own unique value to the Republican conference and the Texas delegation, and the fact that they have diverse perspectives and represent diverse areas is what\u2019s going to benefit\u201d the party, Barrow said.<\/p>\n Since Winning for Women\u2019s launch, Texas\u2019 roster of GOP women has barely budged: of roughly 21 open primaries since 2017, only Van Duyne, who succeeded Kenny Marchant in 2020, has gone to a woman. Granger\u2019s seat, after nearly three decades in the hands of the first Republican woman to represent Texas on Capitol Hill, went to then-state Rep. Craig Goldman<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Democrats have made relatively more progress. Texas sent its first Democratic women, Lera Thomas<\/a>, to Congress in 1966, and has since elected 8 more to the House.<\/p>\n