Former Miss Texas Averie Bishop is running for a seat in the Texas State House.
According to San Antonio Express-News, the 26-year-old filed as a candidate in Texas House District 112, north of Dallas. If she wins the Democratic primary, she would face Republican Rep. Angie Chen Button incumbent who has been in the House since 2009.
Since winning the Miss Texas pageant, Bishop has used her platform to speak out on political issues in Texas, Dallas Observer reports. She recently wrote an Op-Ed for MSNBC criticizing attacks on DEI policies from conservative Texas state lawmakers.
Bishop, a Filipino American, graduated from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in May 2022. In June 2022, she became the first Asian American to win Miss Texas.
“Representation saves lives,” she told Narcity after winning the competition. “I convinced myself for the longest time that I did not deserve to be Miss Texas because I never saw anyone who looked like me represent our state.”
Bishop was the second runner-up at the Miss America competition in 2002.
The Dallas Observer and San Antonio Express-News reached out to Bishop for comment about her candidacy but did not hear back.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
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