Super Tuesday has arrived, and incumbent Matt Shaheen shared with The Dallas Express that he is already looking forward to returning to work in the Texas House of Representatives for his district.
Shaheen (R-Plano) has been a member of the Texas House of Representatives for nine years, first assuming office in 2015. According to the last census, District 66 encompasses nearly 200,000 people and 19% of Collin County, which includes portions of Carrollton, Celina, Frisco, Hebron, McKinney, Plano, and Prosper.
On March 3, Shaheen posted the scripture verse John 10:10 on social media: “The thief comes only to steal & kill & destroy. I came that they may have life & have it abundantly.”
When asked why he chose to post this particular bible verse, Shaheen told The Dallas Express, “When you look at some of the targeting of children, whether it’s sex trafficking, the sexually explicit books we found in our schools, the sexual performances in front of students like the drag shows… it is very clear that our children are being targeted.”
“This is without a doubt evil, and we need to call evil out when we see it,” said Shaheen.
Shaheen referenced his sponsorship of Senate Bill 12, which went into effect on September 1, 2023, as an example of his fight to protect children. The bill relates to “the authority to regulate sexually oriented performances and to restricting those performances on the premises of a commercial enterprise, on public property, or in the presence of an individual younger than 18 years of age; authorizing a civil penalty; creating a criminal offense.”
Regarding protecting children within the school system, Shaheen noted a recently passed bill and the importance of having people on the Texas State School Board of Education and local school boards who will continue to look out for our children.
“My great friend from Denton County, Jared Patterson, is the one who passed HB900 that if you’re a book vendor and you sell that sexually explicit trash to a school in the state of Texas, you’re banned from doing business in Texas with any schools.”
“The great news is there are a lot of moms and dads, not just in Texas but across the nation, who have opened up their eyes and are targeting these school board races,” said Shaheen, adding, “Quite frankly, these school board elections are really important.”
“In Texas, we’re winning the culture wars,” said Shaheen, offering several examples.
For instance, “I passed legislation that if you sex traffic a child in the state of Texas, you will get life imprisonment with no parole,” he said.
“I am also looking at the death penalty for those who sex-traffic children in the state of Texas. We’re actually examining that right now and researching that right now,” he added. “When it is this unspeakable evil, I firmly believe the death penalty is totally appropriate.”
“I’ve also passed one of the strongest religious freedom bills in the nation. No government can shut down a church in Texas,” said Shaheen.
“There are two pieces to a lot of these issues,” explained Shaheen. “We need to address these issues legislatively and as Christians who are out sharing the Gospel.”
“A lot of these people are, quite frankly, deceived. A lot of the transgender issues that are going on… we have to have some compassion and understand that people are being deceived and are hurting,” said Shaheen. “As Christians, we need to come alongside them and love them, and remind them that God loves them no matter what has happened in their past. But, also, we are supposed to be warriors.”
“We fight from a position of love and ultimate victory,” said Shaheen.
Shaheen is not naive to the notion that by professing his faith, arrows of attack will follow.
“Of course, we are going to get arrows, but we have the Lord Jesus Christ beside us, we have His Holy Spirit in us, and we need to remember that we are fighting these important issues from a very strong position of strength and a firm foundation,” said Shaheen.
“At the end of the day, I am going to do everything I can to protect the children of Texas, and if I have to take a few arrows for it, so be it,” Shaheen told The Dallas Express.