Political novice Kristen Hook is seeking to unseat Republican incumbent Chip Roy in the race for U.S House District 21. Credit: Twitter / @Kristin_Hook

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, a high-profile member of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, has a Democratic challenger for his 2024 reelection bid.

Scientist Kristin Hook is the first person to file for the 2024 Democratic primary for Texas’s 21st Congressional District. Roy was first elected to represent the district — which spans parts of San Antonio and Austin along with a wide swath of the Hill Country — in 2018.

Hook announced her candidacy Monday on social media.

“This is what a scientist running for office looks like,” she wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Hook holds a PhD and worked until October as a biological scientist for the U.S. Accountability Office in Washington, D.C., according to her LinkedIn profile. Prior to that, she was at the National Institute of Health and also served as an ASA Congressional Science and Tech Policy Fellow in the office of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts.

Despite those credentials and Roy’s reputation as a partisan bomb thrower, Hook faces an uphill battle in the right-leaning 21st District.

During Roy’s 2022 reelection bid, he defeated Democrat Claudia Zapata 62.8% to 37.2%.

Over the past two years, Roy has grabbed headlines for stunts including a meltdown defending drug company profits, telling his colleagues to “kiss his ass” for not funding a border wall and threatening to derail a defense bill because the Air Force dared to recognize Pride Month.

Roy was also the only member of San Antonio’s congressional delegation to vote against removing George Santos from office earlier this month.

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This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 12, 2023.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...