Shawn Nicole Thierry (born August 6, 1969) is an American politician. She is a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives, after an August 30, 2024 switch from the Democratic Party,[3] representing the 146th District. She won the November 2016 general election and was sworn into office on January 10, 2017.[4] She lost her re-election bid for her Texas House seat on May 28, 2024 after being defeated by Lauren Simmons by 65% to 35% in the Democratic primary runoff.[5] Thierry was an unsuccessful candidate for the 57th Civil District Court in 2010.[6]
Positions
In April 2023, Thierry voted in favor of HB 900, to ban books from public schools deemed "sexually explicit". The bill was heavily criticized by LGBT advocates for including books containing reference to LGBT topics in its definition of sexually explicit.[7][8]
In May of that year, Thierry broke ranks with her party to vote in favor of a bill to ban gender affirming care for trans minors.[9][10][11] She has also voted in favor of bans on trans women from women's sports.[12]
On March 5, 2024, Thierry came in second in the primary elections to her challenger, Lauren Ashley Simmons, a queer union organizer who ran in opposition to Thierry's anti-LGBT votes and activism,[13][14] and was forced into a run-off. On May 28, 2024, Thierry was defeated by Simmons, having received 35.4% of the vote.[15] After losing her re-election bid, Thierry joined the American wing of the gender-critical group Genspect as the director of political strategy.[16] On August 30, 2024, Thierry officially announced that she would be leaving the Democratic Party and joining the Republican Party.[a][3] Thierry further discussed her decision to leave the Democratic Party at the 2024 national summit for the right-wing group Moms for Liberty.[17]
^“The Democratic Party has veered so far left, so deep into the progressive abyss, that it now
champions policies I cannot, in good conscience, support—policies like promoting sex changes
for vulnerable children and dismantling Title IX protections for women in sports,” Thierry wrote in her statement. “That’s why I am leaving the left and joining the party of family, faith, and freedom. I now stand with colleagues, friends, neighbors, women, and mothers in the Republican Party.”
