Biography
Rhonda Hart is the Democratic nominee for Texas's 36th District. She is a U.S. Army veteran and public policy advocate whose daughter, Kimberly Vaughan, was killed in the 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting, and she has since advocated for gun-storage laws. She ran for Texas's 14th District in 2024 and is running on gun safety, veterans' issues, and affordability.[1][2]
Rhonda Hart was born in Nebraska and graduated from Wasilla High School in Alaska.[1] She served in the U.S. Army from 2000 to 2003 and earned an associate degree from the University of Alaska Southeast in 2009. Hart describes herself as a disabled veteran who receives her care through the VA.[1]
Her daughter, Kimberly Vaughan, was one of ten people killed in the May 18, 2018, shooting at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas.[2] After the shooting Hart became an advocate for stricter gun laws; in 2019 she attended the State of the Union address as a guest of Rep. Lizzie Fletcher and a House Judiciary Committee hearing on H.R. 8. In her Candidate Connection survey, she says she has spent six years advocating for safer gun-storage laws and was an advocate for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 and Texas SB 435.[2][1]
Hart won the Democratic nomination for Texas's 14th District in 2024 and lost the general election to Rep. Randy Weber. She won the March 3, 2026 Democratic primary for the 36th District.[1]
- 1.Rhonda Hart · Ballotpedia (quoting Hart's campaign website and Candidate Connection survey) Candidate's own words
- 2.Rhonda Hart on Going to the SOTU with Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher · Houstonia Magazine · 2019-02 News report
Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21.
