After the bruising battles of last year’s voucher-focused Texas Legislature and amid an equally unsettling back-to-school season, we know how critical this November’s election is.
We also know exactly what we’re fighting to win. Without new leadership that makes public education a real priority, we cannot build the future we want to see: one with public schools funded and supported to thrive.
One of the key races we’re watching in Texas is in House District 121, encompassing a large swath of San Antonio and its suburbs.
Laurel Jordan Swift, a moderate Democrat, is running for what is now an open seat in HD 121. Her opponent, Marc Lahood, a pro-voucher Republican, recently defeated an anti-voucher Republican incumbent, Rep. Steve Allison, in the primary.
A lifelong resident of the San Antonio district, Swift has received endorsements from Texas AFT COPE, the Human Rights Campaign, and numerous local Democratic officials. Her campaign has already knocked on over 15,000 doors, positioning this race as a prime opportunity to flip a seat from red to blue in Texas while preserving an anti-voucher vote.
Swift’s platform emphasizes enhancing public education, expanding affordable healthcare access, and fostering unity and respect. Her campaign website highlights some of her key education priorities, including resisting efforts to divert public school funds to unaccountable private schools, boosting state funding to public schools, and ensuring competitive pay for educators.
She has already shown herself to be a stalwart ally for our members’ priorities, joining us in a press conference earlier this month to announce our Educator’s Bill of Rights for the 89th Legislature.
We’ll leave the final words here to Swift herself, as she accurately and forcefully described the stakes of this election on her social media pages:
“Our public schools need to be protected. Across the country, we are seeing the dangerous consequences of voucher programs on our schools. Public schools and their teachers are losing funding at a rapid rate in exchange for a rise in private schools that are being funded with taxpayers’ dollars. As a result, we’re seeing public schools facing bigger class sizes and fewer extracurricular activities for students and less resources to educate our kids.
Texas could be next as Greg Abbott turns against his own colleagues to oust those who don’t agree with him. Join me, let’s fight for our schools!”
Texas AFT asks all who care about Texas public schools to get in the fight now. Head to vote.texasaft.org for information on this November’s election, as well as a list of Texas AFT COPE’s current endorsements. Make your plan to vote, plug into volunteer opportunities, and donate to our political fund if you can.
Right now, our schools are in a fight to survive. This November, with our votes, we can build a future in which they thrive.