This series is called Meet the Candidates. Over the next three months, I’ll spotlight a handful of Democratic races each month, mainly in the Legislature and in Congress. These aren’t endorsements. They’re introductions, a way to understand who’s running, the districts they hope to represent, and what’s at stake for people across Texas.
Who is Michelle Williams?
Michelle Williams taught in Houston ISD for twelve years. She knows the difference between what a legislature says about public schools and what actually happens when the bell rings. That is why she’s running for HD127.
When the state’s hand-picked New Education System started ignoring special education protections, bilingual ed requirements, and IEP mandates, Williams reported it. HISD’s response was to try to fire her. Twice.
An independent hearing examiner looked at the case and found no good cause for termination. The Board of Managers (under Mike Miles) overruled that finding anyway. Williams fought it. She won. Twice.
Now she wants to take that fight from the classroom to the Capitol. She’s only the second Democrat to run in HD127 in twelve years.
Her priorities are to repeal vouchers and fund public schools for real, fix educators’ working conditions, expand access to healthcare, take flood mitigation seriously, and restore reproductive rights Texas women lost. Nothing on that list is radical. All of it is overdue.
The district.
You probably can’t tell, but that HD127 shape-thing is in the northeast corner of Harris County.
Non-Anglo residents are now 56.5% of the district; Anglo residents are 43.5%. Hispanic 29.2%, Black 21.5%, Asian 5.1%. That’s a majority-minority district on paper. But look at the voting-age population instead. Anglo 50.7%, Non-Anglo 49.3%. Black VAP 18.1%, Hispanic VAP 25.0%. The district is majority-minority in total population but functionally split down the middle in who’s actually old enough to vote. That gap between population share and VAP share is where turnout organizing lives or dies.
This isn’t a poor district. Per capita income is $45,623, above the state’s $40,752. Only 2.7% of households make under $10K. Nearly 40% make six figures. 39.3% hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, well above the state’s 33.8%. Homeownership is 73.1%, and the average home value is $330,912.
HD127 looks like the kind of educated, higher-income suburban district that’s been drifting away from the GOP nationally since 2016.
2024 results:
The state house race ran ten to eleven points worse for Democrats than the top of the ticket. Cunningham pulled 55,048 votes. Cruz, running countywide against a much better-funded Allred, only pulled 50,398 in this same district. Cunningham outran Cruz by more than 4,600 votes. Lehr underran Allred by nearly 4,900.
That’s a down-ballot visibility and turnout-execution problem. Plus, 51,307 registered Harris County voters in this district didn’t show up in a presidential year.
The reality in Texas is that in 2022 and 2024, Democrats mostly stayed home. We aren’t expecting a repeat of that again this year.
To flip it, a Democrat needs to net 9,559 additional votes relative to Lehr’s performance, assuming turnout holds flat.
Two ways to get there, and you don’t have to pick just one:
Close the ticket-splitting gap. If a 2026 candidate matches Allred’s 2024 performance in this district instead of Lehr’s, that’s already +4,877 votes recovered, half the gap, from persuasion and turnout that already existed in this electorate two years ago.
Work the non-voter pool. 51,307 registered non-voters, in a district where Black and Hispanic VAP combined is 42.5%, but those groups have historically had turnout gaps relative to Anglo voters in midterms. You don’t need to move all 51,307. You need a few thousand of them, concentrated in the precincts where Democratic partisan lean is already established.
This year, if there is a wave for Democrats, I wouldn’t call this district a 100% flip, but I would definitely put it in the “good chances” territory.
The incumbent.
Charles Cunningham (R) has been in this seat for four years and will turn 70 this year. He has yet to make any splashes among the GOP Caucus. He is one of the lowest Republican fundraisers in Texas, and during the Legislative sessions, he mostly blends into the background.
However, he votes precisely along party lines, rarely deviating from Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick’s agenda:
In Michelle Williams’ own words.
Below are some questions I asked Williams, based on previous reader polls, along with her answers.
Q: Do you support a statewide minimum wage increase to at least $15/hour?
Yes. As a teacher, I’ve seen too many parents working two minimum-wage jobs to keep a roof over their kids’ heads and food on the table. Raising the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour — nearly double where it stands today — would mean fewer families forced to choose between a second job and time with their children.
Q: Should Texas end tax subsidies and abatements for large corporations?
Absolutely. If everyday Texas families are expected to pay their fair share in property and sales taxes, corporations shouldn’t get a pass. I support ending tax subsidies and abatements for large corporations that already have the resources to compete without public handouts. That revenue belongs in our classrooms, our flood infrastructure, and property tax relief for the families who actually live here — not subsidizing companies that can afford to pay their own way.
Q: Do you oppose school vouchers and efforts to privatize public education?
Yes. I oppose school vouchers and any effort to privatize or compete with our traditional public school system. The Texas Constitution mandates that the legislature support and maintain a free, efficient system of public schools — vouchers divert public dollars into private hands with none of the accountability or oversight taxpayers deserve. As a 26-year educator, I’ve seen firsthand what our public schools need: full funding, not competition from a system designed to drain it.
Q: Should Texas guarantee free school meals to all K–12 students, regardless of income?
Yes. No child should have to learn on an empty stomach. I support guaranteeing free school meals for every K–12 student in Texas, regardless of income — and I believe we should do it the way our Agriculture Commissioner candidate, Clayton Tucker, has proposed: by sourcing that food from Texas farmers. That means feeding our kids well while investing in the rural economies and family farms that make up so much of this state, instead of relying on the cheapest processed option available.
Q: Do you support automatic voter registration and same-day registration in Texas?
Yes. I believe we need to promote voting and make registration as accessible as possible for every eligible Texan. I support both automatic voter registration and same-day registration — no one should lose their voice in our democracy because of a missed deadline or an outdated system that makes participation harder than it needs to be.
Q: Should local police be barred from enforcing federal immigration law?
Yes. Local police should be focused on keeping our communities safe, not acting as an extension of federal immigration enforcement. When local law enforcement gets pulled into immigration enforcement, people become afraid to report crimes or cooperate with investigations. Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility.
Bonus Question: Who are your political role models, living or dead?
Barbara Jordan and Stacey Abrams. Barbara Jordan showed what it means to hold power accountable to the Constitution with clarity and conviction, and as a fellow Texan and Houstonian, I can relate to her story and legacy. Stacey Abrams showed that you can lose an election and still change the future of a state — through organizing, persistence, and refusing to let people be shut out of the democratic process. Both remind me that public service is about the people you fight for, not the title you hold.
Democrats keep leaving votes on the table in a district that’s already showing up for the top of the ticket.
Fix the turnout problem, and this seat starts looking a lot less safe for Cunningham than Republicans are comfortable with.
Cunningham is 70 this year, raises less money than almost anyone else in the House GOP caucus, and hasn’t done a single thing in four years worth writing home about. What he has done is vote exactly the way Abbott and Patrick tell him to, every single time. That’s the whole résumé. He’s not dangerous because he’s effective. He’s dangerous because nobody’s had to hold him accountable for anything, and incumbency does the rest.
Michelle Williams beat HISD twice when they tried to fire her for telling the truth about kids getting failed by a state takeover. She wants a $15 minimum wage, an end to corporate tax giveaways, universal free school meals sourced from Texas farms, and cops who investigate crimes instead of doing ICE’s job for them. Barbara Jordan and Stacey Abrams as role models tell you exactly what kind of legislator she’s trying to be.
This district didn’t get more Democratic by accident. It’s educated, it’s got money, and it’s the kind of place that’s been quietly souring on this version of the Texas GOP since 2016. The only question is whether anybody shows up to ask for the votes that are already sitting there.
HD127 isn’t a lock. It’s a “good chances” district, and good chances turn into flips when candidates like Williams get the money and attention they need to close a gap that’s already half-closed by the electorate itself. Watch this race.
You can learn more about Michelle Williams from her website, Facebook, Instagram, or Bluesky.
73 days until the November election!
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