Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
With two weeks left until the primary runoff, state Rep. Shawn Thierry’s fight for political survival is intensifying, as more of her current and former legislative colleagues have lined up behind her opponent and grown increasingly vocal in their criticism of the Houston Democrat.
This past weekend, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Dallas Democrat who previously served in the Texas House with Thierry, spoke at a campaign event where she condemned her former colleague and restated her support for Lauren Ashley Simmons in the May 28 contest.
“I don’t show up for [just] anybody. Shawn Thierry is just that bad,” Crockett said. “She’s got to go.”
Thierry, a 54-year-old Houston attorney, has been in her own party’s crosshairs since last spring, when she voted for a measure barring gender-transitioning care for minors, and then delivered an emotional speech from the House floor explaining why she broke with her party. Thierry’s vote, and her viral remarks, prompted a spirited and well-funded challenge from Simmons, a 36-year-old labor organizer who finished ahead of Thierry in a three-way March primary.
The two are now facing off in a runoff that will effectively decide who represents the solidly blue south Houston district next year, while testing the staying power of Democrats who vote for GOP bills opposed by the LGBTQ+ community. Thierry, the only Democrat in the Texas House to be pushed into a runoff, has countered with her own slate of endorsements from Black church leaders and six of her Democratic colleagues.
Simmons, meanwhile, has picked up support from eight Democrats who currently serve with Thierry in the Texas House and two others — Crockett and former lawmaker Garnet Coleman — who previously overlapped with her in the lower chamber. Several of them, including Crockett, appeared with Simmons over the weekend for a rally and a round of block-walking.
“She ain’t never had y’all’s back,” Crockett said, after recounting a story in which Thierry allegedly asked House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, if Democrats would be allowed to retain their committee positions if they went ahead with a plan to flee the state to thwart a GOP elections bill. “They were targeting her constituents. And you know what she cared about? Her damn seat on a committee.”
Thierry wound up joining more than 50 House Democrats who flew to Washington, D.C., to temporarily deny Republicans the quorum needed to pass their bill overhauling the state’s elections. She denied the details of Crockett’s account, calling it a “made up scenario” designed to boost Simmons’ campaign.
“I will conclude that it’s disappointing and beyond bizarre that these Members ever believed that holding a hyperbolic press conference solely to attack a fellow Dem colleague in a Democratic runoff was a good idea,” Thierry wrote on X.
Thierry added that she “never raised my hand in any meeting to ask [Phelan] such a dumb question,” and she suggested that some of Simmons’ legislative supporters should be blamed for helping Republicans restore the quorum they used to pass the elections bill.
Thierry, for her part, is touting support from a coalition of church leaders that she said is “the largest collective of African American Baptist ministers ever assembled in a Democratic primary runoff.” She framed it as a “major political shift” in the primary, pointing to “the pivotal role that the Black church has shaping African-American civic engagement and mobilizing communities against societal injustices.”
“I would like for this to be a sign to all legislators, and those who seek to be a legislator, that you too can enjoy this type of support when you stand for righteousness,” M.D Morrison Sr., pastor at Houston’s New Faith Baptist Church Northeast, said while flanked by Thierry and other ministers at a recent campaign event. “You too can enjoy this type of solidarity from the faith community when you stand simply for what is right.”
Thierry is seeking her fifth term representing House District 146, a heavily Democratic seat that covers parts of south and southwest Houston. The district is three-quarters nonwhite and anchored by Sunnyside, a low-income, majority-Black neighborhood that once was a thriving economic hub that is trying to revitalize.
Thierry is hoping her support from the Black faith community will be enough to overcome Simmons’ mounting support from Democratic politicians and local political groups. Since the runoff, Simmons has added endorsements from U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher and Houston state Reps. Alma Allen, Ann Johnson and Christina Morales.
Five of Thierry’s House colleagues had already gotten behind Simmons in the first round, including Houston-area Reps. Jon Rosenthal and Gene Wu. Simmons has also been endorsed by former Senate and gubernatorial nominee Beto O’Rourke.
Asked about her fellow Democrats who had lined up behind Simmons’ campaign, Thierry said that in “a political climate like we are seeing unfold on both sides, it’s understandable that some individuals have made choices to support candidates based on highly charged issues.”
“Ultimately, it is the voters of District 146 who will decide,” she added.
Thierry has added recent endorsements from state Reps. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, and Sergio Muñoz Jr., D-Palmview. She is also backed by Democratic state Reps. Nicole Collier of Fort Worth, Harold Dutton of Houston, Barbara Gervin-Hawkins of San Antonio and Eddie Morales Jr. of Eagle Pass.
The animus toward Thierry from within her own party comes after she broke ranks on three major GOP bills that became law: the ban on gender-transitioning care for minors; a bill aimed at removing sexually explicit books from school libraries, a designation critics feared would be used to target LGBTQ+ literature; and a requirement that transgender college athletes play on teams that align their sex assigned at birth.
Critics of Thierry’s remarks on the gender-transitioning bill noted she ignored the fact that treatment decisions for minors could only be made by parents or legal guardians. A consensus of major medical groups has also argued that gender-transitioning care should be available to children and teens in the care of doctors.
A number of Republicans praised Thierry’s comments, calling it a brave rebuke of what they view as a radical stance. She has received the bulk of her campaign funding from a mix of GOP donors, PACs that advocate for charter schools and school vouchers, and the PAC affiliated with Las Vegas Sands, which is aiming to legalize casino gambling in Texas. Also among Thierry’s top donors is Adam Loewy, an Austin personal injury lawyer who mostly donates to Democrats.
Thierry was not the only Democrat to support the GOP legislation — 11 others voted for the book-banning bill, including Collier, Dutton, Morales, Muñoz and Raymond— but she was by far the most outspoken. She said in another floor speech that the book bill would set up guardrails against explicit materials that have “infiltrated” schools, noting one that she said teaches children how to access dating websites.
Crockett said she decided to weigh in on the race after the Houston Chronicle editorial board quoted Thierry appearing to dismiss Simmons’ Texas House supporters as “the gay ones.” Thierry said the quote was “taken completely out of context from a larger discussion,” but in any case, Simmons’ campaign told the Chronicle that they received a major surge in fundraising after Thierry’s remarks were published.
Simmons’ top donors are the Texas Organizing Project, the Texas Gulf Coast AFL-CIO and the Houston Federation of Teachers.
Voting FAQ: 2024 Elections
When is the next election? What dates do I need to know?
Election Day for the general election is November 5, and early voting will run from Oct. 21 to Nov. 1. The deadline to register to vote and/or change your voter registration address is Oct. 7. Applications to vote by mail must be received by your county of residence – not postmarked – by Oct. 25.
What’s on the ballot for the general election?
In addition to the president, eligible Texans have the opportunity to cast their ballots for many Texas officials running for office at the federal, state and local levels.
This includes representatives in the U.S. and Texas houses and the following elected offices:
-1 U.S Senator (Ted Cruz)
– 1 of 3 Railroad Commissioners
– 15 State Senators
– 7 State Board of Education members
– 3 members of the Texas Supreme Court
– 3 members of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
– 5 Chief Justices and various justices for Texas Courts of Appeals
Lower-level judges and local county offices will also appear on the ballot:
– Various district judges, including on criminal and family courts
– County Courts at Law
– Justices of the Peace
– District Attorneys
– County Attorneys
– Sheriffs
– Constables
– Tax Assessor-Collectors
How do I make sure I’m registered to vote?
You can check to see if you’re registered and verify your information through the Texas Secretary of State’s website. You’ll need one of the following three combinations to log in: Your Texas driver’s license number and date of birth. Your first and last names, date of birth and county you reside in. Your date of birth and Voter Unique Identifier, which appears on your voter registration certificate.
What if I missed the voter registration deadline?
You must be registered to vote in a Texas county by Oct. 7 to vote in the Nov. 5 presidential election. You can still register for other elections.
If you’re registered but didn’t update your address by the deadline, you may still be able to vote at your previous voting location or on a limited ballot. (Voters are typically assigned precincts based on where they live. In most major counties, voters can vote anywhere on Election Day, but some counties require you vote within your precinct. If that is the case, you may have to return to your previous precinct. See which counties allow countywide Election Day voting here. You can usually find your precinct listed on your voter registration certificate or on when checking your registration online.)
If you moved from one county to another, you may be able to vote on a ballot limited to the elections you would qualify to vote in at both locations, such as statewide races. However, limited ballots are only available during early voting. Find your county election official here and contact them to ask about or request a limited ballot.
What can I do if I have questions about voting?
You can contact your county elections official or call the Texas Secretary of State’s helpline at 1-800-252-VOTE (8683). A coalition of voting rights groups is also helping voters navigate election concerns through the 866-OUR-VOTE (687-8683) voter-protection helpline. The coalition also has hotlines available for voters who speaker other languages or have accessibility needs.
For help in Spanish, call 888-VE-Y-VOTA or 888-839-8682.
For help in Asian languages, call 888-API-VOTE or 888-274-8683.
For help in Arabic, call 888-YALLA-US or 888-925-5287.
For help in American Sign Language through a video, call 301-818-VOTE or 301-818-8683.
For help from Disability Rights Texas, call 888-796-VOTE or 888-796-8683.
Sponsored by
We’ve got big things in store for you at The Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 5–7 in downtown Austin. Join us for three days of big, bold conversations about politics, public policy and the day’s news.
Learn about The Texas Tribune’s policies, including our partnership with The Trust Project to increase transparency in news.
