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In 2020, Shelley Luther made national headlines after she was arrested for criminal contempt of court and sentenced to a week in jail after reopening her hair salon in Dallas despite Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s stay-at-home order.
Luther served at least a day in prison, although she was released early, and Abbott eventually changed his orders so that no one else could be imprisoned for violating those orders.
[She then went into politics and lost a 2020 race for state senate. Then in 2022, she lost to incumbent Texas House Rep Reggie Smith. And now the rematch.]
This time, she defeated Smith by more than 2,000 votes and will now face Democratic candidate Tiffany Drake in the general election.
Despite toeing the party line on border security, abortion and the Second Amendment, Smith may have run afoul of his voters when he voted to impeach fellow Republican and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last May.
Paxton was later acquitted by the state Senate, and many state lawmakers who tried to oust him were themselves ousted in this year’s primary election.
[As Paxton and his allies have prosecuted an intraparty loyalty purge.]
ETA: speaking of purges
Tuesday featured a very successful purge of moderate and insufficiently MAGA Republicans that could reverberate well beyond the state’s borders.
The basics: Both Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) targeted a number of incumbent Republicans who had run afoul of them — Abbott for opposing his school voucher plan, and Paxton for supporting his impeachment and watering down his authority.
Luther served at least a day in prison, although she was released early, and Abbott eventually changed his orders so that no one else could be imprisoned for violating those orders.
[She then went into politics and lost a 2020 race for state senate. Then in 2022, she lost to incumbent Texas House Rep Reggie Smith. And now the rematch.]
This time, she defeated Smith by more than 2,000 votes and will now face Democratic candidate Tiffany Drake in the general election.
Despite toeing the party line on border security, abortion and the Second Amendment, Smith may have run afoul of his voters when he voted to impeach fellow Republican and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last May.
Paxton was later acquitted by the state Senate, and many state lawmakers who tried to oust him were themselves ousted in this year’s primary election.
[As Paxton and his allies have prosecuted an intraparty loyalty purge.]
ETA: speaking of purges
The Texas GOP purge and other below-the-radar Super Tuesday nuggets
As the Republican Party continues to shape its identity in the Trump era, the events in Texas shouldn’t escape notice.Tuesday featured a very successful purge of moderate and insufficiently MAGA Republicans that could reverberate well beyond the state’s borders.
The basics: Both Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) targeted a number of incumbent Republicans who had run afoul of them — Abbott for opposing his school voucher plan, and Paxton for supporting his impeachment and watering down his authority.
- Of 10 state House GOP incumbents Abbott targeted, only twowon renomination on Tuesday. Five lost, and three others were pushed into runoffs.
- Paxton was less successful in the state legislature; of the 35House GOP incumbents he targeted, most won. But seven lost, and eight others were pushed into runoffs — including, most notably, state House Speaker Dade Phelan (R), who led the failed impeachment charge.
- Paxton also successfully targeted all three Republican judges on the state Court of Criminal Appeals who were up for reelection — two of whom lost by landslide margins. The trio had voted in an 8-1 majority to strip him of power to prosecute voter fraud without the approval of local prosecutors.
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