Three years ago, at the outset of the 88th session of the Texas Legislature, Salman Bhojani placed his hand atop a 19th-century Quran in the state House chamber and became one of the first two Muslims ever sworn in to craft Texas laws.
The then-42-year-old lawyer, who was raised in Pakistan and Canada before coming to Texas at 19, entered as one of 64 Democrats in a shrinking minority. His barrier-breaking election had been a thin silver lining. In his first session, he saw plenty of red meat seared into sizzlingly reactionary statute, including a Constitution-testing anti-immigrant assault. But he also saw a coalition of rural Republicans and Democrats hold the line against Governor Greg Abbott’s private school voucher offensive.
Well, that would prove the last time. The next year, Abbott ran those rural rebels out of office, replacing them with more compliant creatures of our Christian nationalist moment. Come the 89th session, vouchers passed, and the stubbornly independent Texas House submitted to Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick’s machine across the rotunda.
