Miss Tarrant County Ellie Breaux was crowned the new Miss Texas 2023 over the weekend.
Breaux, who is from Houston, graduated from the University of North Texas with a bachelor's degree in marketing with a focus on fashion design.
Breaux posted her first message on Miss America Texas Instagram account saying, "I still can't believe this is real life. I am constantly having to look at myself in the mirror to be sure I'm not dreaming."
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
Breaux was not only crowned Miss Texas 2023, but during preliminary competitions, she won evening gown and talent. Breaux performed a dance and rhythmic gymnasts routine to Lady Gaga's Top Gun: Maverick anthem "Hold My Hand."
The university's official dance team the North Texas Dancers tweeted congratulations to Breaux and said they'll be cheering her on all the way to Miss America.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
Breaux takes home a $20,000 college scholarship and moves on to the Miss America 2024 pageant. An official date and location have not been announced.
After the pageant, Breaux talked about her platform -- Cops in the Community.
"I am hoping to unify Texas. My dad's a police officer, my uncle's a police officer, my cousin's a police officer -- I come from a family of law enforcement, and there's such a miscommunication between police officers and their communities and I'm really trying to bridge that gap so we can unify Texas and ultimately unify America," she said.
The first runner-up was Miss DeWitt County Madison Matlock a graduate of Southern Methodist University. She received a $10,000 scholarship.
The 86th annual Miss Texas competition featured 57 women from all over the state and was held at Eisemann Center for Performing Arts in Richardson and was broadcast on COZI-TV
