Beth Llewellyn McLaughlin is an award-winning public school teacher. She taught for 32 years, 29 of them at Southwest High School in Fort Worth. At 17 she spent a year as an exchange student in France which led her to pursue a degree in French, German and Political Science at the University of Nebraska. She graduated magna cum laude, with Phi Beta Kappa honors. 

Family, across time and space, made Beth who she is today. She is one of five siblings who have remained close throughout their lives, despite living all across the USA. Her father’s profession in the newspaper industry meant the family moved often. Beth was born in Portland, Oregon, and raised in California and Nebraska. Her two brothers, following their father’s footsteps, had distinguished careers in the Navy. One sister is an attorney, the other an environmental biologist, All, like Beth, spent their careers in the public sector. Service to and love for country and community was a core value that her parents nurtured in their children. 

Beth’s passion for public education, social justice, a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body, and access to affordable healthcare inspired her to run for State Representative in Texas House District 97 in 2018. When her husband John Paul, also a teacher, was diagnosed with blood cancer in 2011 Beth became his full-time caregiver-and insurance advocate. He endured two years of chemotherapy and a blood transplant, which left him in remission, but disabled. They learned firsthand the devastating financial consequences of a serious illness. John Paul McLaughlin passed away in 2023.