While several hypocrites in the GOP posted celebrations of MLK’s life and legacy on their social media, yesterday; Representative Matt Schaefer took it one step further.
Pictured above is HD06 Representative Matt Schaefer walking in the Martin Luther King Jr. parade in Tyler yesterday. It wouldn’t be so appalling if Schaefer didn’t vote to take away voting access from millions of Texans, a cornerstone of what MLK stood for.
The truth is that Matt Schaefer doesn’t care about Martin Luther King Jr’s legacy or the freedom for Texans to vote because if he did, he wouldn’t have voted in favor of SB1.
SB1 is one of the most restrictive bills against voting rights in Texas’s history and the complete opposite of what Reverend King stood for.
Matt Schaefer’s vote for SB1 was a vote to erode democracy. Yet, he showed up to march for the legacy of a man who stood for everything Schaefer has done.
How hypocritical was Matt Schaefer’s presence there yesterday?
Before SB1 passed, Texas was already the most challenging state in the nation to vote in. SB1 targeted minorities and people with disabilities with wide-reaching limits on early voting and voting by mail. In addition, they’ve limited polling locations in diverse communities and made it a felony for election officials to send voter applications.
Since SB1 became law, mail-in ballots are being rejected at almost a 50% rate, as seen in both Bexar and Travis counties. These ballots aren’t being rejected because of fraud. They’re being rejected because they require that voters provide the same ID number — driver’s license, Social Security, etc. — on their vote-by-mail application that they provided on their voter registration. Many folks who registered a long time ago may not remember what ID they used. Under the new law, officials must reject the application if the ID numbers don’t match.
Matt Schaefer voted for this bill, which reduces early voting hours and prohibits drive-thru voting. The purpose of SB1 was to make sure that Texas remained the state with the lowest voter participation because it’s the only way that Republicans can stay in power.
Why did Matt Schaefer show up yesterday?
Schaefer has spent his time in office not only seeking to take voting rights away from Black and brown Texans, but he’s worked hard to get behind bills that hurt Texans the most.
It’s performative. But we can only speculate on his true motives.
There was a lot of chatter about Schaefer’s appearance yesterday among Tyler residents. Most of them were baffled by his presence. Schaefer and other Texas Republicans are trying to destroy everything MLK Jr fought for. Many in Smith County posted about him online, furious he showed up and accused him of looking for opportunities to sell homes.
If Reverend Martin Luther King Jr were alive today, Schaefer and other Republicans would call him a communist or Antifa. Marching in this parade was gaslighting to the third degree.
Schaefer counts on the 40% of non-white voters in his district to see him in the parade but not know his voting history to win their votes.
Vote him out.
Matt Schaefer doesn’t care about his Black, brown, disabled, female, or LGBTQ constituents. No matter how many parades he walks in or events he shows up at, his legislative history tells the truth.
Democrat Cody Grace is running against Schaefer and will work for all the people, which is why Living Blue in Texas endorsed him.
We can do better. In November, let’s vote to get Schaefer out of office once and for all.
You can now read an ad-free version of Living Blue in Texas and help support our mission to turn Texas blue. Sign up now.
You agree to receive updates from Living Blue in Texas by clicking submit. We will not sell or share your information. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt-out at any time.
You must be logged in to post a comment.