Texas House Democrat Michelle Beckley announces run against Republican U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne

[TexasTowelie]

by Patrick Svitek, Texas Tribune


State Rep. Michelle Beckley, one of the House Democrats who is camped out in Washington, D.C., announced Tuesday that she is challenging U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Irving, a national Democratic target.

Beckley unveiled her plans in a video filmed inside a hotel room in the nation’s capital, where House Democrats fled earlier this month to break quorum in protest of Republicans’ priority elections bill. In the video, Beckley contrasted her commitment to the voting rights battle with Van Duyne’s vote earlier this year to object to the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania.

“Beth Van Duyne can walk away from her duty to defend democracy, but not me,” Beckley says.

Beckley launched her campaign with endorsements from 30 fellow House Democrats, including caucus Chair Chris Turner and Joe Moody, whom House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, removed as speaker pro tem in retaliation for the quorum break.

Beckley is the second serious Democratic opponent that Van Duyne has attracted. Earlier this month, she drew a challenge from Derrik Gay, a Carrollton tax lawyer and former intelligence officer in the Marine Corps.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/07/20/texas-michelle-beckley-beth-van-duyne/

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Good! That vile Van Duyne woman is a hateful anti everything bigot.

https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/09/03/ex-mayor-beth-van-duyne-known-anti-sharia-crusade-running-congress

https://www.texasobserver.org/when-islamophobia-backfires/

[Shell_Seas]

2. I'm not so thrilled about this.

I really dislike Van Duyne.

It's not that I dislike Beckley, but I'm on the fence on whether I believe she is a strong enough candidate for TX24. She has made some past decisions I don't agree with.