Penny Morales Shaw (born March 17, 1966)[1] is an American attorney and politician. She was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2020 to represent the 148th District, which includes parts of Spring Branch, Garden Oaks/Oak Forest, Carverdale, and Cypress-Fairbanks. She is a member of the Democratic Party.[2]
Early life and education
Morales Shaw is one of seven children, raised primarily in Houston, Texas while attending public schools. Her father was in the Air Force and her mother was a pharmacist technician.[3] She cites her father's service for her advocacy for veterans affairs issues.[4]
She is a local business owner and held a multi-state law practice.[6]
Elections
Morales Shaw ran for Harris County Commissioner Court in 2018, but lost with 48% of the vote in a close race.[7]
Morales Shaw served as the Deputy Chief for Harris County Commissioner, Precinct 2 before running for public office.[2]
She also ran for the Texas House of Representatives District 148th seat in a special election in November 2019, but only came out to 8% of the vote. Anna Eastman won the special election in January 2020.[8]
In the primaries, none of the five democratic candidates received the threshold to move on for the November 2020 election.[9] Morales Shaw and Eastman were the top two candidates and advance to a runoff election in July.[9][10] In the democratic primary runoff, Shaw defeated Eastman in a close race only by less than 3 points (or 200 votes).[8] Morales Shaw ran defeated Republican Luis LaRotta in the general election with 63% of the vote.[11]
Following redistricting, Morales Shaw ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and defeated Republican Kay Smith with 55.5% of the vote in the November 2022 election.[12] She is facing Smith again in the November 2024 election.
Texas House of Representatives
Morales Shaw took office on January 12, 2021. She was one of the Texas House Democratic members who walked out on the July legislative session, travelling to Washington, D.C. to advocate for federal voting rights legislation in response to state legislation following the 2020 election.[13][14]
During the 87th Legislative Session, she was appointed to serve on the House Environmental Regulation Committee and the House Urban Affairs Committee. During the 88th Legislative Session, she served on the Defense & Veterans' Affairs, Environmental Regulation, and Local & Consent Calendars committees.[15]
She is a member of the House Innovation & Technology Caucus, House LGBTQ Caucus, Legislative Study Group, Mexican-American Legislative Caucus (MALC), Texas Legislative Ports Caucus, Texas Women’s Health Caucus, and the House Caucus on Climate, Environment, and the Energy Industry.[16]
