She took a stand for sanity among Democrats — now she’s turning her back on the party.
A Texas state representative who clashed with progressives over the party’s lunatic leftist positions when it comes to kids, sex and “transgender” athletes, ended up losing a primary runoff in May that cost her a chance for a fifth term in the statehouse.
Now, Rep. Shawn Thierry is going to finish her run as a Republican.
Thierry made the announcement in a lengthy statement published to the social media platform X on Friday, as Fox News reported.
It had harsh words for her former colleagues.
A thread 1/ of x
As a woman, a mother, and a lawmaker, I have dedicated my life to championing the values that fortify our families and uplift our communities. After much reflection, prayer, and soul-searching, I have come to a decision that aligns with my core values and the… pic.twitter.com/jyBC82lLfn
— Shawn Thierry (@ShawnieT146) August 30, 2024
“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.
“This is not the party I grew up with. I have witnessed firsthand how the so-called ‘liberal’ left now stifles thoughtful debate, silencing dissent with an iron fist—demanding blind allegiance to ideology, where one must ‘comply or be cast out.’ This is not the Democratic Party I once supported and represented.”
Will the Democratic Party ever stop marching to the left?
And she lowered the boom on the party that claims to represent the downtrodden of the United States: The mantle of freedom belongs to Republicans.
“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 wrote.
Now, it would be reasonable to ask “what took so long?” The Democratic Party has been increasingly unhinged since Barack Obama returned it to the White House in 2008.
It would also be reasonable to suspect opportunism in Thierry’s move, given that she’d lost a primary election in a party that doesn’t appear to be on the road to regaining moderation any time soon. Thierry might well have a political future only as a Republican.
It would also be churlish — and counterproductive for Republicans.
As the San Antonio-based KSAT-TV noted after Thierry’s May primary defeat, the representative had taken on the powers of her own party “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 also broke ranks from her party to support a GOP bill aimed at removing sexually explicit books from school libraries, a designation critics feared would be used to target LGBTQ+ literature,” the KSAT report continued.
“She also voted for a bill requiring transgender college athletes to play on teams that align with their sex assigned at birth.”
In other words, on cultural issues that divide the parties most starkly — on issues where Democrats have become increasingly divorced from human reason and Republicans are holding positions based on logic, morality and human biology — Thierry was on the right side.
If it took a primary defeat to drive that point home to her, then so be it.
And Texas Republicans, starting at the top with Gov. Greg Abbott, wasted no time in welcoming Thierry to the cause.
“The radical leftist agenda doesn’t align with most Americans,” Abbott wrote in a post on X.
“Look forward to working with Rep. Thierry to build a brighter future.”
Proud to welcome Rep. @ShawnieT146 to the Republican Party!
Democrats abandoned her after she supported a law I signed to protect Texas children.
The radical leftist agenda doesn’t align with most Americans.
Look forward to working with Rep. Thierry to build a brighter future. pic.twitter.com/ZImg0v7DOO
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) August 30, 2024
Keen-eyed readers will note that the picture in Abbott’s post shows Thierry is a black woman — a demographic that has been painted as firmly in thrall to Democratic plantation politics.
The fact that a member of that demographic — a woman who wrote that she has voted Democrat “my entire life” — is capable of the kind of epiphany that leads her to leave the leftist party and join the right is proof positive that change is possible.
Considering she’s been bounced from the Texas House, Thierry’s party switch won’t affect the balance of power in Texas politics (where Republicans are firmly in control).
But more switches like hers could well change the balance of power in the politics of the country.
It takes a special kind of blindness for sane individuals to remain in a party that pretends innate sex differences are a matter of medical choices, not immutable reality.
It takes a special kind of blindness to maintain that parents should not be the arbiters of their children’s health and well-being.
It takes a special, absurd blindness, to pretend that a reality known to human beings since there have been human beings — that most men are stronger than most women — is a matter of cultural distinction.
Obviously, Thierry is not interested in maintaining that self-imposed blindness.
There are no doubt millions of others like her for Republicans to reach.
Thierry shows it’s possible.
