Texas
Texas state representative flips to GOP, says Democrats have plunged into 'progressive abyss'
A Democratic state politician in Texas is flipping to the Republican Party for her final four months in office.
State Rep. Shawn Thierry published a statement to social media on Friday decrying the Democratic Party’s march into the “progressive abyss” after she lost her primary for supporting a GOP-led bill protecting minors from gender transition procedures.
“The Democratic Party has veered so far left, so deep into the progressive abyss, that it now champions policies that I cannot, in good conscience, support — policies like promoting sex changes for children during a vulnerable stage of their lives, and dismantling Title IX protections for women in sports,” Thierry wrote.
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Texas State Rep. Shawn Thierry during a campaign event alongside African American pastors at Sunnyside Park in Houston. Thierry lost in the Democratic Primary run-off election earlier this year after breaking with the party over access to gender transition procedures for minors. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Thierry said because of her break with the values of her party, she will serve her final few months in office as a member of the GOP.
“I now stand with the party of Lincoln, the party that fought to preserve our Union and fought to end the atrocities of slavery,” she added.
Thierry lost to primary challenger Lauren Ashley Simmons during a runoff election in May.
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A major factor in her failure within the Democratic Party is believed to have been her support for a 2023 Republican bill that barred gender transition for minors.
“Mothers around our country from all backgrounds, races, and communities understand that it’s our sacred duty to preserve the innocence of our children, protect them from being sexualized, and sterilized,” Thierry wrote. “To respect universal truths, and to uphold the rights of biological women as defined by science, nature, and common sense.”
![Lauren Ashley Simmons](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/08/1200/675/GettyImages-2033061516-scaled-e1725124394166.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
State Representative District 146 Candidate Lauren Ashley Simmons speaks to volunteers from Equality Texas and union members before heading out for a round of door-knocking in the afternoon in Houston. Simmons defeated Thierry in a Democratic run-off election in May. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
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“I will not be alone; I will be with millions of courageous women and men of good conscience, who are willing to place people over political ideology,” she concluded.