TWU Center for Women in Government

Across the state of Texas, women have filed to run for county, state, and federal offices at high levels, making up 40% of all political candidates, but where in Texas is this participation growing? Which Texas counties have the highest number of women running for office in 2026?

According to the CWG’s new She Runs Texas report, focused on tracking the progress of women in Texas across election cycles, the four counties with the highest number of women running for office are Harris, Bexar, Dallas, and Tarrant Counties. Denton County comes in 7th place with 16 women running for office in 2026.

Interested in learning more about women’s gains as political candidates in Texas? Check out She Runs Texas, for free at https://twu.edu/center-women-government/research-projects/she-runs-texas/!

Check out our Speaker's Bureau at https://twu.edu/center-women-government/speakers-bureau/ to find speakers on topics like women in politics, elections, leadership, and more. Our speakers are ready to help you in your next panel or training!

On this day, June 4, 1919, Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Once ratified, the amendment legally guaranteed American women the right to vote. This achievement represents decades of work by the suffrage movement, from lecturing, writing, and lobbying, to marching and civil disobedience. Of the early suffragists, only a limited few lived to see the amendment pass and go into effect.

Happy Birthday Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906) 🎉

Josephine Baker was an American dancer, singer, actress, and civil rights activist. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, but she began her career in Paris at the La R***e N***e. After her time at the R***e, she began her own show, and her career reached new heights. During World War II, she performed for French and American troops and also served as a member of the French Resistance, where she smuggled messages in her lyrics to the French forces. Baker was also the only woman speaker at the March on Washington in 1963.

June History Highlight 📜

Susan B. Anthony was born in 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts and is a renowned American social reformer and women’s rights activist. Throughout her life she advocated for abolition, the temperance movement, and women’s suffrage movements.

48 years before the passage of the 19th amendment, Anthony illegally attempted to cast a vote in the presidential election of 1872. She was arrested two weeks later and tried and convicted a year later in June 1873.

Beverly Jones, a Rochester poll official at the scene of the crime,recounted the interaction with Anthony, “She asked me upon what grounds. I told her that the constitution of the State of New York only gave the right of franchise to male citizens. She asked me if I was acquainted with the 14th Amendment to the constitution of the U.S. I told her I was.”

Last week on June 14th, the CWG hosted its annual LBJ Women’s Campaign School Kickoff reception, where we honored the recipients of the 2026 LBJWCS Reimbursement Funding Award. Since the start of our partnership with the LBJWCS at the University of Texas, the CWG has funded the tuition of over 200 students. The CWG is proud to partner with the LBJWCS and to remove some of the financial barriers to campaign training for Texans.

Are you interested in learning what makes a political candidate “likable”? Join us for our upcoming virtual program in June: Spotlight on Candidate Likability, where political scientists Dr. Tessa Ditonto and Dr. David Andersen will share their research into how voters form likability judgments and how candidate gender, race, and partisanship shape those perceptions.

🗓️: June 23, 2026
⏰: 11 AM-12 PM CT
📍: Virtual

Register for the virtual program at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/spotlight-on-candidate-likability-tickets-1986343948220.

The CWG is hiring a Program Coordinator. Interested in supporting operations and programming while helping empower women in Texas to lead? Apply today at: https://twu.edu/humanresources/careers-at-twu/jobs/ /job/12582.

Happy Birthday Sally Ride (May 25, 1951) 🎉

Sally Ride was a physicist and astronaut. She studied physics and English at Stanford University, where she also later earned her master's and doctoral degrees. Ride was one of five women selected to serve as mission specialists for NASA in 1978. On June 18, 1983, Ride made history by becoming the first American woman to go to space on the Challenger STS-7 mission.

Motivation Monday 💡

Sarah Bird is an author, screenplay writer, and magazine contributor from Austin, Texas, where she gained her MA degree in journalism from the University of Texas. Bird has authored 11 novels and 2 essay-based books. Her novels focus on highlighting stories of women that are often excluded in traditional tellings of history. Her writing has been published by NPR, The Texas Observer, Glamour, and Texas Monthly.