Bryan Slaton used to be a Baptist pastor. He also ran for the Republican nomination for the Texas House of Representatives. He lost the primary in 2016 and 2018, but won handily in 2020 after a relentlessly negative primary fight. In the House, he was a culture warrior, introducing a bill that would allow the death penalty for women and their doctors in the event of an abortion. He jumped into the drag show and anti-trans brouhaha and supports Texas secession. He was also expelled from that same House for sexual misconduct in May 2023. The vote was unanimous. The last time the Texas House expelled someone was in 1927, nearly a hundred years ago.
He was carrying on with an intern who was just nineteen, providing her alcohol and having sex with her. As she worked for him, she could not give effective consent. He resigned ahead of the expulsion vote, but they held the vote anyway so he could not continue in office until he was replaced. The election to replace him will be November 7th, so that is several months he would have remained in officer otherwise.
According to the investigation, not only did he provide her alcohol, he harassed her by fabricating an e-mail from someone who seemed to know about their relationship. And of course as an intern working for him, she may have felt she had no choice about sex. And he slandered drag queens as groomers!
- Texas Tribune: Slaton Archives (They broke the story about the complaint.)
- USA Today: Texas Rep. Bryan Slaton resigns after giving alcohol to, having sex with 19-year-old aide
- MSNBC: Texas Rep. Bryan Slaton expelled over ironic groomer allegations
- Houston Chronicle: OK Groomer. Texas Rep. Bryan Slaton is more perverted than any drag queen. (Thumbs)
Valley Morning Star
Harlingen, Texas · Sunday, May 07, 2023