WENDY DAVIS

Wendy Davis is a former Texas State Senator who gained national prominence during her political career. She was born on May 16, 1963, in West Warwick, Rhode Island. She moved to Texas as a child and grew up in Fort Worth, where she faced significant challenges early in life.

Her father quit his job to pursue an acting career and was unable to provide child support, while her mother, who had only a ninth-grade education, supported four children by working menial jobs.

Davis became a single mother at 19 and lived in a trailer park while working to support her daughter. Despite these obstacles, she pursued her education with determination. She started at Tarrant County College, then transferred to Texas Christian University, where she graduated first in her class, before going on to earn a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1993.

She began her political career by serving on the Fort Worth City Council from 1999 to 2008. Shortly after, she was elected to the Texas State Senate, where she represented District 10 until 2015 — unseating a Republican incumbent to win the seat.

Davis gained national attention in June 2013 when she conducted an 11-hour filibuster against Senate Bill 5, which proposed strict abortion regulations in Texas. Standing in now-iconic pink sneakers, she spoke for 11 hours straight to prevent the bill from passing during that legislative session.

Following the filibuster, Davis ran as the Democratic nominee for Texas Governor in 2014 but lost to Republican Greg Abbott.
After leaving office, she founded Deeds Not Words, a nonprofit organization focused on mobilizing young women as advocates for gender equality and equity.

In more recent years, Davis has remained a prominent voice in the fight for reproductive rights. In 2023 — a decade after her historic filibuster — she was appointed Senior Advisor to Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, the political fundraising and advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood's Texas affiliates. In this role, she has focused on strategic planning, leadership development, and supporting efforts to restore reproductive healthcare access in Texas, which has seen some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Davis has also continued her advocacy through the courts and public speaking. She filed a lawsuit challenging Texas' ban on abortion after approximately six weeks of pregnancy — a direct challenge to the state's post-Roe legal landscape — and founded DefendTheFrontline.org, a fund created to support individuals and organizations facing civil or criminal penalties for assisting with abortion access.

Through these efforts, she has remained one of the most visible and active champions of reproductive rights in the United States.
‍