Primary runoff for Texas Democrat who broke with party on LGBTQ+ votes

HOUSTON (KXAN) — A primary runoff will happen between a challenger and a Democratic incumbent in the Texas House of Representatives who faced backlash over breaking with most of her party last year on passing restrictions to the LGBTQ+ community.

Lauren Ashley Simmons, a union organizer and first-time candidate, captured more votes than Texas Rep. Shawn Thierry in the Democratic primary for House District 146 in south Houston. However, Simmons’ lead was not enough to reach the 50% needed to unseat the incumbent in the primary, so voters will have to head back to the polls for a runoff election between the two candidates on May 28.

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According to unofficial results from the Texas Secretary of State’s Office, Simmons received 49.5% of the votes (6,255), while Thierry got 44.4% (5,608). That’s only a difference of 647 votes. A third candidate in the primary, activist Ashton Woods, secured 766 total votes, which equated to about 6%.

Thierry is running for her fifth term in the Texas House. She drew scrutiny, though, by joining a handful of Democrats in voting with Republicans to pass several GOP priorities. Those included banning certain health care options for transgender minors, creating a school book rating system that critics argued would amount to banning books and blocking transgender women from competing on female collegiate sports teams.

Thierry’s public support of measures like Senate Bill 14 angered LGBTQ+ advocates and eventually led to her first serious primary challenge since she first took her seat in 2017. During the campaign, however, she asked voters to look at the rest of her record on issues like addressing maternal mortality, enhancing school safety, combating human trafficking and working on tax relief efforts.

KXAN reached out Wednesday morning to interview Thierry about the upcoming runoff and how she’s preparing for it. This story will be updated once any responses are shared. She posted a message on her campaign’s Facebook page thanking voters for getting her to the runoff.

“We’re grateful for each and every vote, and Team Thierry will need your support for the runoff election!” Thierry wrote. “Our voice matters, so let’s make it count together one more time. Thank you for your support and we are in it to win it!”

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Simmons told KXAN she’s “still in a little shock, honestly” about receiving the most votes in the primary and added how “affirming” it is to see how some voters agreed with her in wanting to change the district’s leadership. She said her campaign is already starting to work on getting out the vote for the May 28 runoff.

“It feels really good to be here, and I’m ready to go knock some more doors. I’m ready to make some phone calls,” Simmons said. “Everybody’s telling me I need to take a break, and I said there’s no way, no. May will be here before we know it.”

Simmons previously told KXAN that she intended to make expanding access to health care and supporting public education as her main focuses during the primary campaign. However, she said the results of some of the Republican primaries Tuesday now makes her want to keep highlighting education and her opposition to vouchers.

“I mean, the Speaker of the House…he’s in a runoff fight for his life. That speaks volumes to kind of what the environment and what the climate will be once the session comes back,” she said, “so I want people to really understand that public education is on the ballot. You’re voting for an individual or individuals, but what’s really at stake is our children’s futures.”

The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, a political group that supported Simmons in the primary, put out a statement Wednesday about her advancing to the runoff.

“Lauren’s victory today proves that voters don’t want leaders focused on bigotry – they want progress,” Annise Parker, the fund’s president and CEO, said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the campaign Lauren and her team ran, making sure they didn’t leave any voter behind in the fight for better representation.”

Woods, the third-place finisher in the primary, wrote on X that he’s now endorsing Simmons and congratulated her for making it to the runoff.

“You have my full support, let’s get this win!” he wrote.

Thierry is not the only incumbent who didn’t win the primary outright. Eight Republican members of the Texas House will also have to face their challengers in a runoff on May 28. Meanwhile, nine GOP incumbents lost their primaries Tuesday.

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