Despite sending more Republicans to Congress than any other state, Texas has elected only five GOP women to the U.S. House in its history. WASHINGTON — Since it joined the Union, Texas has sent just five Republican women to the U.S. House. Since then, Winning for Women and other like-minded groups have helped shepherd more than 30 Republican women in Congress. Texas sent its first Democratic women, Lera Thomas, to Congress in 1966, and has since elected 8 more to the House. That means a new crop of open races — the next front in the fight to finally establish a lasting bench of Republican women in Texas.