She spent 26 years teaching in Houston classrooms before Houston ISD's state-appointed board voted twice to fire her for leading the teachers' union.
Michelle Williams is a longtime Houston ISD teacher and, since 2021, president of the Houston Education Association union. After the district's state-appointed board of managers moved to fire her — first over classroom livestreaming allegations, then again despite an independent examiner recommending reinstatement — she launched a campaign for House District 127, saying the fight for public education had moved to the Capitol. She won the Democratic primary unopposed and is challenging incumbent Charles Cunningham in a district that has historically leaned Republican.
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Williams’s take on Texas values
Her campaign platform calls for repealing the private-school voucher program and increasing funding for public schools instead, and she entered the race after opposing school-voucher legislation as a teachers' union president. [michelleforstaterep.com; Houston Public Media]