Salon owner who was jailed for defying Covid lockdown orders wins seat in Texas state legislature

by WorldTribune Staff, November 22, 2024 Real World News

The owner of a Dallas salon who was jailed for defying lockdown orders during the Covid pandemic is heading to the Texas state legislature.

Shelley Luther

Shelley Luther, a Republican, handily defeated Democrat Tiffany Drake, earning more than 75 percent of the vote on Nov. 5 to win in Texas State House District 62, which covers Grayson, Franklin, Fannin, and Delta counties.

Luther made national headlines in 2021 when she reopened her North Dallas salon in defiance of countywide Covid restrictions.

After about a month of being closed, Luther says she got a call from one of her hair stylists who said she hadn’t eaten for a couple of days because she was trying to feed her kids.

“And I’m like, ‘OK, well, I’m not going to be the one responsible for that.’ And so, I said, ‘I talked to my husband, and I said let’s just open the salon,’” Luther told WFAA ABC-8 News. “And in our mind, we were just thinking about ourselves and our little business and helping them. We had no idea it was going to be like, honestly, a worldwide event.”

Images at the time showed Luther publicly tearing up the cease-and-desist order she received after re-opening.

Luther was fined $1,000 for each day her salon, Salon à la Mode, was open after a court ordered it closed.

A state district judge found her in contempt of court, and she was sentenced to seven days in jail. She spent three days and two nights behind bars before the Texas Supreme Court ordered her early release.

“A lesson that we learned here is we can’t pick winners and losers in any situation. We can’t say someone is essential or non-essential when that’s the way that they provide for their family. And so, that was the biggest thing that we learned from that. The dog groomer next door to the salon was open and essential,” said Luther.


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