For Immediate Release: Date: 11/15/21
Lawyer and small-business owner Erin Shank announces run for Texas State House Wacoan with almost 40 years of experience in the law will be the advocate McLennan County needs and deserves
WACO, TX - Erin Shank, a bankruptcy attorney who has spent the last four decades advocating for more than 6,000 Central Texans, launched her campaign for Texas House District 56 today. Shank is running to be a voice for McLennan County in Austin, fighting for the expansion of rural broadband, investing in the grid, and bringing the district’s hard earned tax dollars back home.
“I am running for Texas House because I believe that all Texans deserve a safe place to live with good roads, good schools, and the opportunity for a good job. McLennan County needs an advocate, and I believe our current representative has not passionately and aggressively represented our community. I’ll fight for access to affordable healthcare, the rights of women and children, a stronger and more reliable electrical grid—and I’ll work with both sides to find common sense solutions.”
A wife, mother, Christian, small business owner, lawyer, and Wacoan, Shank brings forty years of experience as an advocate to the race.
“I have been practicing bankruptcy law in Texas for the past almost 40 years. I know how to listen to folks, understand their issues and then fight for them in Court. I've also spent the last twenty four years taking on health insurance companies on behalf of my daughter, Rachel, who was born with Down Syndrome, Epilepsy, and a set of bad lungs. My experience as a lawyer and an advocate makes me the strongest candidate to listen to the needs and desires of McLennan County, not the needs and desires of one party.”
Background on TX HD 56: Texas House District 56 (population 176,727) includes the cities of Waco, West Waco, Ross, Gholson, Crawford, McGregor, Woodway, Valley Mills, Bruceville-Eddy, Moody, Lorena, Hewitt, China Spring, Lacy Lakeview, Beverly Hills, Robins, and Riesel. In 2018, only 53% of registered voters turned out to vote. There are nearly 43,000 identified “swing voters” in HD 56.
The current incumbent is Republican Representative Charles Anderson. He has served seven consecutive terms, over the course of which he has won Texas Monthly’s annual Furniture Awards— awarded to legislators for being ineffectual— not once, but twice.