Thierry in HD 146
Incumbent brings needed pragmatism and perseverance to move the Legislature.
Shawn Thierry traces her interest in politics back to early childhood when she was the first black child in her Houston public elementary school. Thierry’s teacher quit because she said she couldn’t teach a “colored child.”
Her mother, the first black teacher to integrate Sharpstown High School, used to call her “little Barbara Jordan,” after the revered Texas politician who was the first African-American woman in the Texas Senate and the first from the Deep South elected to the U.S. Congress.
In this past legislative session, Thierry counts as one of her accomplishments a bill to rename a section of Texas 288 — from Loop 610 to Almeda Genoa Road — the “Barbara Jordan Memorial Parkway.”
It is a symbolic victory, but one that also highlights how in her first two terms, she has learned to navigate effectively within the reality of a Republican-controlled Legislature and under a Republican governor
Thierry, 50, was able to get six bills through the House of Representatives in her first term alone, working with both Republican state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst and Gov. Greg Abbott to extend a task force on maternal morbidity.
Thierry also understands that it can often take several tries — and relationships across the aisle — to get legislation passed.
One of her biggest disappointments in the last session was Abbott’s veto of a bill to that would have protected child sex trafficking victims by removing children from the definition of prostitution in the Texas penal code. If she is re-elected, Thierry says one of her first priorities will be to refile the bill.
Thierry is being challenged for the seat, which represents a demographically diverse community from Sunnyside through Meyerland and Westbury past Sharpstown, by Houston Black Lives founder and community activist Ashton P. Woods.
Woods, who ran for City Council last year, brings passion for communities that often go unheard, especially on issues impacting the LGBT community. His is a much-needed voice that we hope will be heard.
Thierry, however, brings pragmatism and perseverance that is critical in making change happen in the Legislature. We endorse Thierry for House District 146.