Today, the Human Rights Campaign announced the endorsement of Sara Stapleton Barrera in her bid to unseat anti-equality lawmaker state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr.

As a constitutional lawyer, Sara Stapleton Barrera has been in the trenches defending those whose constitutional rights are violated. Stapleton Barrera has seen firsthand how the system is rigged against working families, women, immigrants, the LGBTQ community and other minorities. She has committed to voting against any anti-LGBTQ legislation and also supports proactive measures like statewide nondiscrimination protections – something her opponent has long refused to do. She also is committed to protecting reproductive rights, immigrant rights and public education.

“Sara Stapleton Barrera is a true champion for the LGBTQ community,” said Rebecca Marques, Texas State Director for the Human Rights Campaign. “Time and again, Sen. Eddie Lucio has dehumanized and attacked our community. By electing Sara, Senate District 27 can turn the page and work toward giving more than 850,000 LGBTQ Texans the protections they deserve – protections that 70% of Texans support. Texas deserves better than Eddie Lucio."

"I'm honored to be endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign, and joining their effort to bring about justice to the LGBTQ community,” said Sara Stapleton Barrera. “For too long politicians like Gregg Abbott, Dan Patrick, and Senator Lucio have targeted the LGBTQ community - pitting Texans against each other. As a result, the LGBTQ community has been at the receiving end of draconian policies that undermine their humanity, and put them at higher risk of hate crimes. I look forward in working alongside the Human Rights Campaign on anti-discrimination legislation to protect Texans all across the state. "

Texas state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. is one of the Texas Senate’s loudest anti-LGBTQ voices. He is referred to as “Dan Patrick’s favorite Democrat” often for standing by his anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice crusades. Years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for marriage equality, Lucio still refers to it as “the end of the family.” During the fight around the so-called “bathroom bill,” Lucio played a key role in attacking activists, particularly transgender activists, who testified against the discriminatory bill.

In the closing weeks of the 2018 election, HRC had 17 staff on the ground organizing Equality Voters in  Texas. In the midterm elections, HRC members and supporters completed over 1,480 volunteer shifts. In the final four days of GOTV alone, our staff and volunteers knocked on over 11,300 doors. Members and supporters also sent over 52,000 text messages to voters in the final weeks with voting resources. Since 2018, we've helped over 1,500 Texans register to vote by mail, online, and at in-person events. HRC hosted 22 Equality Action Academy trainings to give HRC members and supporters the tools they need to take action locally in legislative advocacy and in support of pro-equality candidates.

In the 2018 midterms, HRC helped register more than 32,000 voters and recruited more than 4,200 volunteers, who worked over 8,500 shifts and clocked more than 30,000 volunteer hours. In the critical final four days of the campaign, HRC staff and volunteers in get-out-the-vote efforts alone knocked on more than 80,000 doors, and held 36,400 conversations with voters at their doors and by phone on behalf of our endorsed candidates. HRC's unprecedented grassroots mobilization worked to recruit volunteers, mobilize constituents, register voters and grow the organization's grassroots army in an all-out effort to pull the emergency brake on the hateful anti-LGBTQ agenda of the Trump-Pence administration and elect a Congress that would hold them accountable. In 2020, our engagement and mobilization efforts will only deepen.  HRC will have at least 45 full-time staff in seven priority states and an additional 20 staff focused on a second tier of states and districts.