Politics is really strange sometimes. Last Tuesday, I was thrilled when my friend Beverly Powell won the Democratic primary election in Senate District 10. Lisa and I were leaving Beverly’s victory party when I saw this tweet from the Star Telegram’s Bud Kennedy:
“That’s weird,” I thought. “What could she have said that made it sound like she was running against me?”
I pulled up the statement and sure enough. After a number of false statements about Beverly and her supporters, Burton turns her attention to…me.
She wrote, “…Chris Turner is also enthusiastically working for my opponent. As Democrat (sic) Caucus chairman, Turner was responsible last session for organizing their party’s lock-step opposition to legislation I coauthored that is broadly supported across Senate District 10.”
If that wasn’t enough, she went on to attack my support of fixing our broken school finance system, which is the only solution to address rising property taxes. She attacked my support of a woman’s constitutional right to choose. She attacked my opposition to the unconstitutional “show me your papers” law.
After naming me SIX TIMES in a string of false attacks, (again, I am not her opponent), Burton concluded by saying, “And now he hopes you’ll ignore the issues and send him reinforcements in November.”
She’s right on one thing. I do hope voters across our state will send reinforcements. We sure could use them in Austin.
We need more members of the Legislature who will fight for our public schools, improve access to health care and make college affordability a top priority. We also need more voices and votes against extreme measures like the so-called bathroom bill (one of Burton’s top priorities).
As probably the most ineffective legislator in the Capitol, Burton puts her extremist agenda above the interests of the women, men and children she represents. She has fought against more funding for our public schools, opposed increasing access to health care and voted against bringing good jobs to Tarrant County. And, we know she doesn’t like being confronted with inconvenient facts about her record, which is why she stormed out of an Arlington luncheon a few weeks ago when GOP County Judge Glen Whitley called out the Legislature for hypocrisy on property taxes.
I guess I wasn’t surprised that Burton came out swinging so early. With a record of failure and such a strong opponent in Beverly Powell, she is on the defense.
Between now and November 6th, I will do everything in my power to spread Democrats’ message and get voters who reject Burton’s brand of right-wing Trump-style extremism to the polls.
Last week’s record turnout in the Democratic primary was a testament to how excited and engaged people are across our state. It’s obvious that Texans want real solutions to fix the challenges they face every day.
To be successful on Election Day, it will take hard work and it will take money.
Together, we can elect more common-sense leaders like Beverly Powell and send lots of reinforcements to Austin.
