Celia Marie Israel (born July 15, 1964) is an American politician. She previously represented the 50th district in the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...

and was succeeded by State Representative James Talarico when she chose to run for Austin Mayor. She is a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

Early life and career

Israel was raised in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

. She moved to the Austin area in 1982 to attend the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

. After graduating with a degree in government, she served in

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Ann Richards Dorothy Ann Richards (née Willis; September 1, 1933 – September 13, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995. A Democrat, she first came to national attention as the Texas State Treasurer, w ...

' administration. Israel is a licensed Texas realtor.

Political career

Israel won a special election on January 28, 2014, to represent the 50th district in the

to succeed

Mark Strama Thomas Mark Strama, known as Mark Strama (born September 10, 1967), is an American businessman and Director of the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life, and a Professor of Practice in the Department of Communication and Media Studies in the ...

. Israel was a member of the Legislative Study Group, the Women's Health Caucus, the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, and was a founding member of the Texas House LGBTQ Caucus. She previously served as Vice Chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, overseeing the Steering and Policy Committee. She proposed legislation to introduce online

voter registration In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote. The r ...

in Texas. In September 2019, she was chosen to lead the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee, a political action committee tasked with electing more Democrats to the Texas House. Israel served on numerous boards and committees focused on multimodal transportation, food scarcity, and empowering the next generation of female leaders. During her first term in the legislature, she was named Freshman of the Year by the Legislative Study Group, a Champion of Equality by

Equality Texas Equality Texas is a statewide political advocacy organization in Texas that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights, including same-sex marriage. History Equality Texas was founded in 1989 as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit cor ...

, and a Progressive Champion by Progress Texas. In 2018, Israel was inducted into the Austin Women's Hall of Fame. In January 2022, Israel announced that she would run for

mayor of Austin The mayor of Austin is the official head of the city of Austin in the U.S. state of Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km ...

in the 2022 Austin mayoral election. In the November 8 general election, she advanced to a runoff election against

Kirk Watson Kirk is a Scottish and former Northern English word meaning "church". It is often used specifically of the Church of Scotland. Many place names and personal names are also derived from it. Basic meaning and etymology As a common noun, ''kirk'' ...

and subsequently lost by a narrow margin.

Personal life

Israel lives with her wife, Celinda Garza, and their dogs, Pippa and Libby, in northeastern

Travis County Travis County is located in south central Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,290,188. It is the fifth-most populous county in Texas. Its county seat is Austin, the capital of Texas. The county was established in 1840 and is n ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Israel, Celia 1964 births 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American LGBT people American real estate brokers American lesbian politicians LGBT state legislators in Texas Living people Texas Democrats