Tom Luck Responds to Ellen Troxclair’ Report

Response to Ellen Troxclair’s

Interim Report, 2026

On Monday, July 20, 2026, I received a mailing from Representative Ellen Troxclair that is her report of the 89^thLegislative Session to her constituents in District 19. This report looks impressive at first. But after researching a few things it is startling for what it fails to say. What it fails to say is that the Texas Republican Party, and Ellen Troxclair, only want to serve White Christian Nationalist Fascist people. They think Texas is only for those who support the straight, white, male domination of our economy, our culture, and our politics. In their view, if you are a person of color, or not straight, or not a particular kind of Christian, you are not worthy of having rights in Texas.

First, there is no mention that this Legislative Session did an extraordinary and appalling mid-decade redistricting for the expressed purpose of trying to create more white majority voting districts in Texas, and presumably create more safe seats for Republicans, through HB 4. Well, this is one white guy who is not persuaded to vote for a party that has been in power in Texas for over thirty years, and who is taking Texas backwards.

This gerrymander disenfranchised millions of people of color who were the majority in their districts and are now reduced to being voiceless in the Texas legislature. There is no mention of this in Representative Troxclair’s Report because this is a shameful action on the part of the Republican Party to create false majorities in order to maintain power. They can’t win if elections are fair, so they pretend that it didn’t happen. They are not allowing the voters to choose their legislature, so that the legislature can choose their voters.

But it doesn’t get better. Troxclair touts HB 229 as the Women’s Bill of Rights, a cynical title from a party that does not support equal pay for equal work or a woman’s right to have reproductive choice. This bill is an attempt to deny trans people the right to be so identified in any aspect of their lives. It uses the ruse of trans athletes competing against girls, which is less than 1% of the population. As a father and grandfather of seven young women I am sympathetic to having fair competition in sports.  There are other common-sense solutions than banning all trans people of their rights.

SB 10, which Troxclair supported, requires not only that the Ten Commandments be posted in every classroom, but that the translation comes from the so-called King James Version of the Bible. My church, the Episcopal Church, is a sister church to the Church of England, which produced the King James Version. It has beautiful poetry. But as a translation it is out of date and is hardly used today by any serious student of holy scripture. Even Jewish Rabbis object to this law. Religion has played an important part in Texas history. If we want to seriously look at the role of religion in our state’s history then let’s have students learn objectively about all of the religious traditions in Texas history, beginning with indigenous religions to this part of the world.

SB 37 reduces academic freedom and leaves too much authority to whatever party is in power in Austin. It was opposed by the Texas Conference of the American Association of University Professors because: 1) it threatens the quality of higher education in Texas because great faculty will leave Texas universities and future great faculty will not come to Texas, 2) it threatens public health because many of our medical schools and research centers are at state universities, and 3) it threatens innovation.

SB 12 is touted as strengthening parental rights. Instead it has rules I object to as a parent and grandparent. It restricts instruction about sexual orientation, gender identity, prevents people from choosing their preferred pronouns, and people working for diversity, equity, and inclusion. These are not rights that I, as a parent, want in my public schools.

In the section on the effects of the New World screwworm, Troxclair fails to mention that the Trump administration reduced funding for the very programs that would have kept this outbreak from happening in the first place. She points out that Texas has eradicated the New World screwworm before, but fails to mention the Trump administration took down the guardrails, which is why we have to deal with this agricultural catastrophe all over again.

All in all, I am disappointed in the decisions that Troxclair has made, along with her Republican colleagues. But I most outraged that she is dishonest with Texans about what she is doing, or why. THAT IS WHY I AM RUNNING FOR HOUSE DISTRICT 19! I NEED YOUR SUPPORT!