Plano Democratic Rep. Mihaela Plesa declares victory over Republican challenger

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Democratic state Rep. Mihaela Plesa of Plano has declared victory over Republican challenger Steve Kinard for control of a Collin County seat that Republicans hoped to flip as they look to shore up votes to try and pass school voucher-like plans in next year’s session.

Plesa won 54.09% of the votes, according to final unofficial election results posted by Collin County elections officials.

“This is not my win, this is a win for my community and a win for Texas,” Plesa said when reached by phone at her North Dallas home late Tuesday.

“This race shows that when you focus on the issues, you win,” she added. “We ran this race on public education, access to health care and keeping extremism out of the Legislature. We have shown that these are the things the people of Collin County want.”

Plesa was elected in 2022, becoming the first Democrat in nearly 30 years to win a Collin County seat in the Texas House, and replaced retiring McKinney Rep. Scott Sanford. The five other Texas House members that represent Collin County are Republicans.

Her close election victory 2 years ago, where she beat her Republican opponent by less than 1,000 votes, signaled that the GOP would likely try and flip her seat this election.

That push intensified after last year’s push by the Republican-controlled Legislature to pass a bill that would have earmarked public funds for families to send their children to private schools, also known as school choice.

Democrats in the House, along with a coalition of rural Republicans, voted to strip education savings accounts from a massive school funding bill in a special legislative session in 2023. Abbott helped unseat eight Republican incumbents that voted against his school choice priority.

In order for Republicans to guarantee they had the votes, they needed to try and increase their majority. Abbott pumped at least $17,000 into Kinard’s campaign. Kinard supports Abbott’s school choice plan.

Plesa was among the Democrats who voted against the school voucher plan last session and believes he Legislature should instead prioritize more funding for public schools.

Democrats worked to defend the seat and the Texas House Democratic Caucus gave at least $43,000 to Plesa in her race against Kinard – the second most they donated to a candidate for the general election.

Collin County is a predominantly red district but a population rise in the last 20 years has started showing signs of shifting in Democrats favor. As a result, the GOP-controlled Legislature redrew some of the districts in Collin County to fortify the seats held by Reps. Matt Shaheen of Prosper and Jeff Leach of Allen.

Fortifying those seats, however, led to lawmakers redrawing House District 70 to make it more competitive, leading to Plesa defeating a Republican challenger Jamee Jolly by 859 votes. Plesa served on three legislative committees in the 2023 legislative session: International Relations and Economic Development; Pensions, Investments and Financial Services; and Resolutions Calendars.