We are influential
Founded in 2012, we are a vehicle for women to be an influential, effective, and a positive voice for promoting and preserving conservative family-oriented Republican values in the local, county, state, national politics, and legislation.
We are age and culturally inclusive
We have an active and vital membership focused on identifying, developing, and electing conservative Republican candidates through education, political action, and community outreach.
We are dedicated to promoting voter participation
We support conservative Republican candidates through voter education and registration activities.
Hays County Republican Women
Executive Board
Sandi M. Ellen, President
Sandi Ellen, a member of HCRW since 2016, is currently serving her 2nd term as President of the Hays County Republican Women. She is a lifelong conservative Republican whose first vote for president was cast for George H. W. Bush. Sandi is a strong pro-life, conservative, Christian voice in Hays County. She has worked directly on two county campaigns for her husband, Hays County Constable John Ellen, as well as strongly supporting numerous other state and county level campaigns. Sandi has proudly served as a delegate to three State conventions and looks forward to her fourth. Sandi is a small business owner who has enjoyed a 30-year career in design, sales, and marketing. Focused on strong family values, she enjoys traveling with her husband and spending time with their three children and six grandchildren.
Need to get in touch with Sandi? Send her an email.
Kelli Whigham, Vice President
Kelli Whigham is a proud native Texan, born in San Antonio and raised in Midland, Texas. She is a graduate of Midland Lee High School and attended Midland College where she received an Associate Degree in Applied Science. She continued her education at Texas State University where she received a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences.
A member of HCRW since 2016, Kelli has served as Legislative Chair, and Campaign Activities Chair and is currently serving her 2nd term as Fundraising Chair. Kelli is also a member of the Wimberley Area Republicans and is active in many other local activities. She is an active member of the San Marcos Kiwanis Club, holding the position of President three times and serving as the chair of many committees. She is a past member and Treasurer of the Bluebonnet Lions Club, former member of the Main Street Advisory Board in San Marcos and served on the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce Special Events Committee for many years. Kelli has worked for MVBA Law Firm for 28 years. She is married to Steven and has one daughter, Lauren. In Kelli’s spare time, she and her husband attend sporting events at Texas State University as Bobcat Club members and season ticket holders for all sports.
Need to get in touch with Kelli? Send her an email.
Becky Hites, Treasurer
Becky E Hites is a small business owner providing strategic direction to the steel industry. A lifelong Christian conservative, she was first introduced to political activism while attending Dr. Jerry Fallwell’s Liberty Baptist College (now Liberty University) in the 1980s. Working on Wall Street and eventually in NYC didn’t accommodate opportunities to be involved in grassroots campaigns but that changed in 2020 when she put her business on hold to run for Congress in GA’s District 13 against an 8-term incumbent in a district ranked by the Cook Partisan Voter Index (2018) as D+20. Despite COVID, running in the most gerrymandered district in the USA and being a complete political newbie, she won 69% of the Republican primary vote and 89% of the precincts across 6 counties. She won 100% of the districts in the county where she lived. In late 2022, Becky moved with her elderly mother to Hays County to be closer to her brother and is very excited to be joining the HCRW leadership team. She holds an MBA in business with a minor in finance from Georgia State University, and is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the National Society United States Daughters of the War of 1812, the National Society Daughters of the Union 1861-1865 and the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
Need to get in touch with Becky? Send her an email.
Cris Peterson, Campaign Actives and Membership Chair
Cris Peterson has been a member of HCRW since 2017 and currently serves as Campaign Activities Chair and Chair of the Membership Committee. After a long career in advertising and marketing, she and her husband Tom made the move east to Texas and settled in Wimberley.
After more than 30 years as an Art Director and Graphic Designer, Cris has recently published her first children’s book entitled, “What If You Fly?” which was inspired by her unstoppable new grandson. Cris and Tom also continue their work here with Pepper Project, the company they founded in 2010, at their booth at Wimberley Market Days.
She looks forward to getting to know the membership and helping create a strong and active club.
Need to get in touch with Cris? Send her an email.
Morghan Armenta, Legislative Chair
Morghan Armenta is a recent Political Science graduate of Texas State University and is from Bulverde, Texas. She was previously a scholar in the Clements Legislative Study Program, which is provided to conservative students and is affiliated with the largest conservative legislative caucus in Texas, the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute. Morghan has also worked on local campaigns in Hays County as well as on a Republican presidential campaign.
Morghan most recently served in the Texas House of Representatives under two Republican state representatives. She first worked in Representative Brad Buckley's office for House District 54, where she supported the House Public Education Committee during the 88th regular session. Her responsibilities included preparing for hearings, communicating with stakeholders, and managing correspondence, including drafting letters and official communications.
She then worked in Representative Ryan Guillen's office for House District 31 during the following three emergency called special sessions, where she supported the House Homeland Security & Public Safety Committee. Her duties included analyzing priority issues for future legislation, monitoring local news for legislative memos, and coordinating with agencies to assist law enforcement along the southern border with grant applications.
Currently, Morghan works at a public policy advocacy group in Austin. Through a fellowship program, she specializes in education policy research and is eager to address the challenges facing children in our education system today.
In her spare time, Morghan serves as a Volunteer Voter Deputy Registrar for Hays County, passionately ensuring her local community is actively engaged in the political process. She also enjoys horseback riding and kayaking on the San Marcos River. Most recently, Morghan attended her first state party convention as a delegate for SD-21.
Need to get in touch with Morghan? Send her an email.
Susan Cooper, Secretary
Susan Cooper has been a member of HCRW since 2020. Susan grew up in Austin and graduated from Westlake High School. She is also a graduate of Texas A&M University in College Station, and continued her education at the University of Houston where she received an MBA in business and management.
Susan had a 27 year career in Austin starting with her employment at the Texas Lottery Commission as Retailer Accounting and Collection Manager. She then spent many years at Dell, Inc. in various roles in internal audit, business controls and traveled extensively to perform audits at Dell manufacturing facilities internationally. Before retiring to Wimberley, Susan spent 6 years at Seton Ascension Hospital System in an administrative capacity for the 4 Seton Foundations in the Austin area.
Susan has served on the executive boards of many non-profit organizations including the Victoria (TX) Community Theater, the Junior League of Austin, the Austin Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumnae Association and the Wimberley Community Civic Club. She also served as a Province Director and as a Regional Director for Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity.
Susan and her husband, Jim, are very loyal conservatives, and have attended many Republican events in the Wimberley area. They enjoy traveling in their RV, walking at Blue Hole and being engaged in the Wimberley community. They have 2 cats, Catherine and Caroline.
Need to get in touch with Susan? Send her an email.
Carly French is currently a junior at Texas State University. During her freshman year, Carly was approached to join the Texas State College Republicans, and after the first meeting, she was sold. She joined the executive board her sophomore year as the Outreach Coordinator and is currently serving as the Vice President. Carly is also active in the student body senate where she was appointed as Senate Leader for this year’s term.
During the summer, Carly took on an internship with the Texas Department of Agriculture in the International Marketing Program. Carly has had the opportunity to meet with many different organizations to learn the most she can about international trade and how it can impact Texas’ economy. Carly’s internship was extended into this next school year, and she is very excited to see where the opportunity takes her
In her spare time, Carly enjoys listening to music, spending time with her family and friends, being outside, fishing, and hunting. After graduation, Carly hopes to find work within the Texas Department of Agriculture or USDA to continue serving the industry that is the backbone of America.
Need to get in touch with Carly? Send her an email.
Carly French, Communications Chair
Olivia Alexander, Events Chair
Olivia Alexander is a first-generation student majoring in Political Science at Texas State University. She is very active in local and state politics interning her freshman and sophomore years for US Senator Ted Cruz and serving as a legislative aide for Texas State Senator Bryan Hughes her Sophomore year.
Olivia is the current Student Body President, elected to serve as the voice for almost 40,000 students at Texas State University
Mary Clarkson, Caring for America
Mary Clarkson serves as Caring for America chair. Mary has been a resident of Hays County for over 25 years. She's been very active in the Republican party throughout the years serving as precinct chair and election judge for 20 years. She has been a delegate at 4 state conventions. She spearheads our Border Patrol initiative for Hays County collecting countless supplies for our Border Patrol Agents. For her tireless work for the Republican party, Mary was awarded the Mary Joe Roddie award in 2020.
Need to get in touch with Mary? Send her an email.
