The Trailblazer: Akilah Bacy

Akilah Bacy has been fighting for her community for years, now she's fighting for one of the most competitive seats in Texas!

If you’re looking for a difficult internet challenge I have one: Try to find a picture of the Democratic nominee for Texas House District 138 Akilah Bacy NOT smiling ear-to-ear. Despite being in one of the toughest and most expensive races in all of Texas, Bacy seems to always be in a phenomenal mood; a massive asset in a race that is one the few that may deliver the Texas House of Representatives to the Democratic Party for the first time in over 15 years. Lucky for Texas Democrats, Akilah Bacy came with a biography as impressive as her smile in this Northwest Houston race.

A native Houstonian raised with a sister and twin brother, Akilah attended Cypress-Creek High School of Cypress- Fairbanks I.S.D, achieved a B.A. in English from the prestigious Spelman College, followed finally by law school at from Texas Tech University. After completing her studies, she would begin her legal career at the Harris County District Attorney’s office as an Assistant DA. Although she was grateful for the up close exposure to the criminal justice system, she moved on from the DA’s office to serve her community more intently. She began her own legal practice with a focus on indigent clients and those who were suffering from employment discrimination. In addition to her own practice, Akilah has made it a point to give back by advocating as a pro-bono immigration attorney for asylum seekers, mentoring in her local school district, teaching adult literacy, ESL, and legal rights classes in the West Houston community, and as a Sunday school teacher. Armed with a wealth of life experiences, she is an unusually strong candidate; exactly the kind of all-star needed to win one of most competitive districts in the Houston metro area.

House District 138, covering the areas of Spring Branch, Katy, Bear Creek, and Cy-Fair, was never created with the intention of anything other than a Republican winning. The district has been held tightly by Representative Dwayne Bohac since 2003 and was not a source of concern for Texas Republicans for the next 15 years; then came the “Blue Wave”. When 2018 Democratic nominee Adam Malisincic came 47 votes shy of unseating Bohac, alongside the narrow defeats of other Republican representatives in West Houston, the reality changed on the ground. Bohac chose retirement rather than face another battle for his political life and Malisinic declined to contest the seat a second time, setting the stage for a true open seat contest. In the Democratic primary, Bacy would face two spirited challengers before absolutely routing one of them in the following runoff election. With her place as the Democratic nominee in place, she was on the way to facing off against the Republican champion, Lacey Hull, in a race that has eyes watching from all over the State of Texas.

On the campaign trail, Bacy does not deviate from the issues she has championed in her professional career or personal volunteerism. From creating equity in education, fighting for employment rights, establishing access to healthcare, and demanding action on flooding in our communities; Akilah Bacy does not intend to be a quiet voice in the Texas State Legislature. If you see her in action at the polling locations in her community, or decide to do the challenge I mentioned earlier and surf her social media, you’ll see exactly why she has a great chance of using that voice in Austin this January.