Mihaela Plesa

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Mihaela Plesa

| image = Mihaela Plesa (October 7, 2022).jpg

| caption =

| nationality = American

| state = Texas

| district = 70th

| state_house = Texas

| term_start = January 10, 2023

| term_end =

| predecessor = Scott Sanford

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1983|7|28|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = Dallas, Texas, U.S.

| party = Democratic

| website = https://www.plesafortexas.com/

}}

Mihaela Elizabeth Plesa (born July 28, 1983) is an American politician who is the Representative for Texas's 70th House of Representatives district, following the 2022 Texas House of Representatives election. Her district covers parts of Collin County. She is a member of the Democratic Party.{{cite news |title=Plano's Mihaela Plesa becomes first Democrat in decades to win Collin County House seat |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2022/11/09/planos-mihaela-plesa-becomes-first-democrat-in-decades-to-win-collin-county-house-seat/ |access-date=November 13, 2022 |work=The Dallas Morning News |date=November 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221113234129/https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2022/11/09/planos-mihaela-plesa-becomes-first-democrat-in-decades-to-win-collin-county-house-seat/ |archive-date=November 13, 2022}}

Early life and education

Plesa was born in Dallas, Texas, in a Romanian-American family. Plesa graduated from Newman Smith High School in Carrollton, Texas.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}} She received a bachelor's degree from the University of North Texas in 2006 and a graduate degree from Southern Methodist University in 2012.{{cite web |title=Mihaela Plesa |url=https://ballotpedia.org/Mihaela_Plesa |website=Ballotpedia |access-date=September 26, 2023}}

Political career

Before running for office, Plesa served for four years as the legislative director for Ray Lopez, a Democrat from San Antonio.{{cite news |last1=Love |first1=Caroline |title=Democrats and Republicans in Collin County vie for open Texas House House District 70 seat |url=https://www.keranews.org/news/2022-10-28/democrats-and-republicans-vie-for-open-texas-house-seat-in-competitive-plano-district |access-date=September 26, 2023 |work=KERA News |date=October 28, 2022}}

Plesa ran for Texas's 70th House of Representatives district in 2022 as a Democrat. This district is based in Collin County and had been redrawn to be more favorable to Democrats, with the goal of making other seats in Collin County more safe for the Republican incumbents. Plesa narrowly defeated Republican Jamee Jolly.

Electoral history

{{Election box begin no change

| title = 2022 Texas's 70th House of Representatives district election{{Cite web |date=2022-11-07 |title=Texas election results for governor, attorney general, Congress and more |url=https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2022/texas-2022-election-results/ |access-date=2023-03-13 |website=The Texas Tribune |language=en}}}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change

| party = Democratic Party (United States)

| candidate = Mihaela Plesa

| votes = 29,660

| percentage = 50.73

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change

| party = Republican Party (United States)

| candidate = Jamee Jolly

| votes = 28,801

| percentage = 49.27

}}