Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday appointed outgoing state Rep. Shawn Thierry, who recently switched from the Democrat to Republican party, to the state’s juvenile justice board.
Thierry was elected to the House from a Houston-based district for four terms until last year when she lost her primary election to Rep.-elect Lauren Simmons. The race was seen as a referendum on Thierry who had broken with Democrats during the 2023 legislative session to support bills that barred gender-transitioning care for minors and removed books deemed “sexually explicit,” which advocates feared would be used to target literature that supported gay, transgender and queer Texans.
