1. Florence Donald Shapiro was born on May 2,1948 and is an American politician from Texas.
15 Facts About Florence Shapiro
1. 2.
Florence Shapiro's mother was pregnant with her on the ship passage from England to New York City.
3.
Florence Shapiro began her professional career as a public school English and speech teacher at Richardson High School in Richardson, Texas for two years.
4.
Florence Shapiro quit her job as a teacher in 1972 in order to have a baby and turned to community involvement.
5.
Florence Shapiro won her first election in 1979 by 39 votes and was elected to serve six terms from 1979 to 1990.
6.
In 1990, Florence Shapiro ran unopposed and was elected the first female and first Jewish Mayor of Plano.
7.
Florence Shapiro was involved in efforts to advocate for human rights and Holocaust education.
8.
Florence Shapiro was the first senator from Collin County to serve in that position in more than forty years.
9.
When both Governor Rick Perry and Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst were out of the state on official business on April 9,2005, Florence Shapiro served as the Governor for a day, the sixth woman in Texas history to do so.
10.
On July 15,2008, Florence Shapiro announced the formation of an exploratory committee for Hutchinson's seat, chaired by her friend and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach.
11.
Florence Shapiro was the first candidate to formally announce an exploratory committee, but local media expected additional candidates to jump into the fray, such as US Congressmen Pete Sessions and Kay Granger, former Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams, and Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst.
12.
Florence Shapiro raised $226,000 in the fourth quarter of 2008 and ended the year with $373,556 in her campaign war chest.
13.
Hutchinson subsequently announced on January 13,2011, that she would not run for re-election in 2012 and would retire after 18 years in the US Senate The next day, Florence Shapiro decided against running to replace Hutchinson in the 2012 United States Senate election in Texas, ultimately won by Texas solicitor general Ted Cruz.
14.
On September 19,2011, Florence Shapiro announced that she would not stand for reelection to the Texas Senate.
15.
Florence Shapiro's seat was ultimately won by State Representative Ken Paxton, who would later serve as the Texas Attorney General.