I’m Mihaela Plesa and I’m running on a platform of people over power and policy over party. I stand by my successes as a legislative director in Austin. Some members sit in the legislature for a decade and never get a bill passed. In the past three sessions working for members of the minority party, I’ve written a dozen bills that were signed into law. Bills that have helped families like yours, including Prop 8 the constitutional amendment to help Gold Star families that Texas voters overwhelmingly approved last November, Medicaid expansion for San Antonio, and improved care of foster children.

 

A lifetime resident of North Texas, Mihaela Plesa, 39, is the only child of immigrant parents who fled Eastern Europe, seeking a better life in the United States. 

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Mihaela is the proud product of local schools, including Plano ISD. She attended the University of North Texas where she graduated with her Bachelors in Political Science, graduating in 2006. In 2012, Mihaela graduated Cum Laude from Southern Methodist University as one of the first graduates from the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development with a master’s in Liberal Arts focusing on Global Studies.

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After college, Mihaela spent some time working with entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout Texas, managing their brands and building their public relations. Throughout her career, she continued to stay true to her passion for civics and worked with a wide range of organizations stretching from the Young National Organization of Women (Young NOW) to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law (NORML). 

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In 2017, after years of marching, protesting, and advocating with little felt results, she left her job at a small business to get her hands dirty down in Austin at the Texas Legislature. Throughout three legislative sessions and four special sessions, Mihaela developed institutional knowledge of the Texas Legislature leading to multiple legislative wins. One of the most notable and recent successes was the drafting and passage of Proposition 8 which was on the November 2, 2021, ballot.: 

 

In 2020, Mihaela became engaged to her long-time boyfriend and tech CEO Todd Hollenshead of Garland, Texas. They have lived in Collin County for the last ten years with their two dogs Napoleon and Oliver. They enjoy gardening, running, and love snow sports.