Goodbye, Molly White. The Republican Texas House member from Belton lost her re-election bid when she was defeated in her party primary Tuesday by Hugh Shine. (White has asked for a recount.)
Some Texas politicians haven’t exactly been friendly to Muslims. For instance, every single session, we have to fight a “Sharia law” bill or two or three. And more recently, we’ve had the state’s top leaders — Gov. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton — unsuccessfully try to bar Syrian refugees from settling in Texas. Let’s also remember what a magnet for anti-Muslim extremists the State Board of Education can be.
But even in that environment, White stood out.
There was that time in February 2015 when White took to Facebook — during Texas Muslim Capitol Day, no less — to declare the following:
Today is Texas Muslim Capitol Day in Austin. The House is in recess until Monday. Most Members including myself are back in District. I did leave an Israeli flag on the reception desk in my office with instructions to staff to ask representatives from the Muslim community to renounce Islamic terrorist groups and publicly announce allegiance to America and our laws. We will see how long they stay in my office.
How welcoming.
Then late last year, again on Facebook, White pretended to be Donald Trump. Waco TV station KXXV reported:
State Representative Molly White (R. 55) stirred controversy after a post on her personal Facebook. It read “Let’s ban ISLAM and all those who cower to it,” along with a link to a conservative website, reporting that a school had to ban Christmas, because the holiday insulted Muslims.
Naturally, and not that it mattered what the truth was, there was more to that story.
White’s defeat is not only a loss for islamophobes, it was also a defeat for the most extreme of anti-abortion activists in Texas. Sadly, there will probably others to take her place on both fronts.
